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Making the Most of Amazon.com

by: Penny C. Sansevieri

Besides being a great place to shop, Amazon also offers considerable marketing opportunities for anyone willing to take the time to explore them. Here are just a few you might want to consider. Keep in mind that Amazon's site is not static, meaning that they are in a constant state of change. If any of these items aren’t available on the site, keep checking back because Amazon will often shuffle features to gauge their individual popularity.

Tell Amazon Who You Are

One of the first things you’ll want to do is register yourself on Amazon. Once you do you’ll be sent to a "Friends & Favorites" page (or you can click through to there by clicking on your name i.e. "Jack’s Page" on the top tabs), when you get there you’ll see a space to add info on yourself. You can add bio information, your website, email and also a picture. I highly recommend you do this as this information will follow any reviews you should make on the Amazon site.

Have people review your book

Very few people buy a "naked" book - meaning that they won’t buy a book that has no reviews on it. Have people review your book and add any reviews that you’ve gotten from other sources!

The Publishers Page

A page on Amazon will allow you to upload content related to your book to their site. This will allow you to add reviews, descriptive text, bio info and much more. The link for this page is:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/partners/publishers/publishers.html/102-5354958-1668109

Amazon.com Reviewers

Take a look at other books similar to yours and see who’s reviewed them. If they are Amazon.com reviewers you might want to go after them. Especially if they are one of the top 10 reviewers, these reviewers carry a certain amount of "clout" on the site and with other readers, and many times reviewers like Harriet Klauser (Amazon's #1 reviewer) will send your review out to other sites as well!

Reviewing Books

It’s always a good idea to review other books in your genre. When you do this, don’t just review from the perspective of a reader, review from the perspective of an expert and make sure to add your contact info (or your website) in the review area!

Make a recommendation!

Recommend an item on Amazon.com similar to yours! This is a great thing to do whenever a new book comes out in your genre.

So You’d Like To... (SYLT) Guides!

This is another great place to promote any articles you’ve written. You can load your advice/articles/book excerpts onto the So You’d Like To... Guides at Amazon.com by clicking on the "Friends and Favorites" link at the top of the Amazon site, then look for "Write a So You’d Like To..." Guide and start the process. They key here is to make sure you have a list of books you recommend to go with your SYLT guide (including yours!). The links to your article will be featured on each of your recommended book pages.

Using Amazon as an additional promotion tool is a savvy way to make sure your presence on the net doesn’t end with your web site. Go where the readers go and in so doing, you’ll lead them right to your book.

Happy Selling!

About the author:
Penny C. Sansevieri
The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed
the ranks at Amazon.com to the ##1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@booksbypen.com
Copyright ã 2005 Penny C. Sansevieri