November 7, 2025 • 37 mins
The algorithm finally caught up with reality: readers want real authors, not content mills. We unpack Amazon’s A10 shift and share a clear plan to stand out with signals that only humans can create—engaging pages, authentic reviews, meaningful off-site links, and a living brand that shows up beyond the buy button.
We start with the quick wins you can tackle today. Then we raise the ceiling with strategies that compound over time. You’ll hear why external links matter more than ever, and creative ways to place them.
From there, we explore community and collaboration. We also demystify Amazon ads: how to target with intent, and why ads rarely convert on first click.
If you want a roadmap that respects your time and boosts your odds in a crowded marketplace, this one’s packed with practical steps you can implement this week and habits that will pay off at your next launch. Subscribe, share with a writer friend, and leave a review to help more authors find these strategies. Which tactic will you try first?
Help shape our 2026 content by taking our 30-second listener poll!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansberry and AmyCornell.
And we are really lookingforward to doing this show
today.
I have to say we were in thegreen room talking talking about
it, all about the Amazon stuff.
But I wanted to start fightfirst by uh uh apologizing.
(00:21):
I know we tried to get supercreative with the Halloween
show, and our poor sound editorguy was like, you can't do this
again.
So Amy's so awesome that you gotthe echo of her like two or
three times.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
I think it was my children's nightmare.
So I apologize to any of thelistening because that's so
funny.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Oh my god.
Yeah, we were we were so I I waswe were talking to the we were
talking the green room and Itold Amy, I'm like the next time
that we do special music, andeven our sound guy was like,
okay, listen, ladies, like Iappreciate the thought.
So that's just us gettingcreative.
We'll try not to do it again.
Right, we just have to stay inour lane now.
Right.
We just stay in our lane, justlike we tell authors, right?
(01:08):
Stick to the facts, stick to theshow.
Um, and and speaking of which,by the way, so our podcast have
started our podcast textnotifications have started going
out and we really want to hearfrom you.
So what you like, what you don'tlike, what you'd like to see
more of.
This you the pod texting us is adirect way to communicate to
(01:29):
both Amy and myself.
So it's a really, really coolthing.
If you haven't signed up for thetext notifications yet, text the
word podcast to 888-402-8940.
And I'll tell you something.
So Amy and I are a little bit onthe fence about the
notifications when there's ashow.
So let us know what you think.
Like, we'd love to know do youwant notifications when we drop
(01:50):
a show?
Amy thought, you know, we shouldjust notify people when there's
like a special show.
And I'm like, no, let's notifythem about everything.
But this goes, but this goesinto I have like when when we're
in in the room together and shelooks at my my phone and she
sees like 9,000 notifications.
I'm sort of used to that.
(02:11):
Amy is very much not like that.
So let us know what you think.
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Yeah, if there's one notification on any of my apps,
it's like I'm ready to burn myphone.
Like, what what is happening?
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Like I wake up and I just scroll through all these
notifications, and that's justlike another day at the office
for me.
Yeah.
So um, yeah, but let us knowwhat you think.
We really we we love showfeedback and we build a lot of
our shows.
Um, as I mentioned before, webuild a lot of our shows around
show feedback.
So let us know.
Sign up for those text alerts,um, all the things.
(02:45):
So here's the really interestingthing about um so the Amazon A10
shift, the Amazon A 10 algorithmshift, this happened back, was
it like August or July,something like that?
And one of the things that wesaid at the time was that um
(03:12):
this algorithm shift had a lotto do with the fact that Amazon
is battling a lot of bookswritten by AI.
Right.
And one of the things that weknow, so if somebody is going to
put a book, if somebody's justgonna let an AI write a book and
(03:33):
then throw it up on Amazon,there are a few things that you
don't care about.
You probably don't care aboutyour author persona, right?
You probably don't care aboutexternal promotion, right?
You're literally just there tojump on trends.
Yeah, right, exactly, to jump onthe topical bandwagon.
(03:55):
And I remember, so actually, andyou know, this is not so even
though I realize AI at theconsumer level is very new, the
concept of this is really notnew.
So I knew somebody years ago,and she actually knew a group
where they would outsourcetopics to people in other
countries, so let's say Vietnamor India or whatever, and they
(04:19):
would find somebody who couldwrite prolifically and craft a
book on whatever.
So, like when Prince died,right?
All of a sudden you see allthese books show up on Amazon
and they were all written bypeople who just scoured the
internet for information.
So there wasn't any newinformation.
They were literally justregurgitating what was already
(04:41):
out there, throwing it in a bookand throwing it up on Amazon.
Yeah, I know.
And so this has been going onfor a long time, but the problem
now is that the volume, right,right?
So the volume of this stuff isreally challenging Amazon, even
though Amazon has that silly,like, sorry, Amazon, but I mean
(05:02):
that silly little question whenyou upload your book to to KDP.
Was your book written by AI?
Like somebody who wrote hadtheir book written by AI, like
right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
I know.
Gary, huh?
I hope nobody's lying.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
Thank you.
Right?
It just it's so, so, so weird.
So, um, so what the A10algorithm is doing is
essentially it's looking at notjust your exposure on Amazon
directly.
And I'm gonna have Amy um takethe next segment because that's
what that's what that sort offocuses on, but it also focuses
(05:36):
on your presence off of Amazon,which is something that somebody
trying to push a book on A, youknow, written by AI is not gonna
do.
So we so a couple months ago, Italked to a guy and we taught,
we we refer to him now as ChatGPT author.
And he basically said, I want towrite 50 books in the next year,
(05:56):
all on different topics, allnonfiction.
And he's using Chat GPT.
And we we can't, I I wouldn'twork with somebody like that
first and foremost.
But in fact, we never even gotback to him with no, we're not
sending you a proposal.
Like I just ignored him becauseI'm just like I'm so offended by
what you're saying.
Right.
Um, but that's where somebodylike that is not gonna spend the
(06:19):
time developing different authorpersonas because they're not
gonna have the time.
SPEAKER_01 (06:24):
No.
SPEAKER_00 (06:25):
You know, so that's where Amazon is really going.
So we thought it would be areally good idea to kind of take
you through things that you cando to prevent, you know, to help
your visibility on Amazon and toprevent Amazon from looking at
your author persona andwondering if you're an AI,
basically.
(06:46):
You know, Amy, do you want totake the do you want to take the
first um some of the some of thequick and easy fixes that
authors?
SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
I love this because so much of this is what we talk
about all the time.
So I love when we look supersmart.
Like these are all things we'vebeen recommending for a long
time, but it it's true, theseare becoming, and you know, we
did a show on this on um was itlast year already, Penny?
Wow, but on just generalpresence online.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
And how Google is getting so much more focused on
the user experience and all theold tricks that you used to be
able to do to trick Google arenot working anymore because they
are user experience focused.
And, you know, as you alwayssay, Penny, like Amazon very
much likes to do what Googledoes.
You know, if it's working forGoogle, Amazon likes to follow
(07:39):
suit, right?
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:42):
Yeah.
And so let's talk about quickfixes.
Tighten your book page forengagement.
This is something I love helpingclients with this.
One, because it is it's acreate, a very creative part of
what we do, but also it just sospeaks to we can all put
ourselves in the shoes of areader if you're a reader.
You know what I mean?
And sometimes it's easy toforget about that when you're
(08:04):
have your author hat on and yourauthor business hat.
You forget like you're a readertoo.
And think about what you wouldwant that experience to be like,
how you respond, you know?
So do a checkup.
You know, your title, yoursubtitle, your description, A
plus content.
If you don't have it, get it.
Categories, keywords, you know,your author central, all of
(08:25):
those fields where you can addadditional content to improve
the reader-shopper experience.
You know, that is so important.
And it says so much about kindof that next level, like Penny
said in the intro, that showsthat you are committed to the
reader, the shopper, the userexperience.
And that's what Amazon wants tosee.
That is where they want to sendtheir traffic to product pages
(08:49):
that are tailored to the userexperience.
Also, make sure your look insidefeature grabs readers in 10
seconds.
You know, I see this all thetime, Penny, and I'm sure you do
too, where you go to the lookinside and you can tell that
like somebody clicked the optionbut didn't actually look at what
was being presented.
Does that just drive you nuts?
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
Makes me, it drives me nuts.
SPEAKER_01 (09:10):
You know, when it's like, oh, I saw the copyright
page and something else that wassuper random that tells me
nothing about the writing style,the storyline, the content,
nothing.
It's like, okay, so clearly theyjust went with this option
because they thought, yeah, thatsounds like a good idea, but
didn't actually take that nextstep to figure out what is going
to represent my book best, youknow?
Right.
Right.
(09:31):
So that's a huge, huge one.
SPEAKER_00 (09:34):
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree with that totally.
I think that um paying attentionto that.
And then, you know, the otherpiece of it though, too, is you
know, okay, ask for reviews, Iget it, but I I get that asking
for reviews is not alwayssomething that an author wants
to do.
(09:54):
But the majority of authorspushing, like like ChatGPT guy
who's pushing out 50 books in ayear, this person's not going to
spend the time on reviews.
They're literally just trying tomake money based on volume,
right?
They're not really reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
Yes, and we see that.
And I, you know, we get authors,it doesn't happen a lot, but we
still get authors that get intouch with us that say they've
gotten so far down the rabbithole of producing content that
they forgot that they're also abrand.
And when you go check out theircollected works, it's they've
got all these books with andoftentimes zero reviews.
(10:32):
Like they've done nothing.
And that is not a good look whenit comes to pleasing the Amazon
gods.
I know we've talked about theGoogle Gods before, but now it's
the Amazon gods.
They do not want to support abrand that is just pushing out
content that is not getting anypositive feedback from shoppers.
Right.
You know, it may sound unfair,but that's the reality.
(10:54):
You know, Amazon wants to makemoney.
They would love you to makemoney too.
They're okay with both of youmaking money, but you have to
put in the work on your end.
Right, exactly.
And reviews matter for that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:06):
Yeah, reviews matter for that.
And and I would say, you know,even if you have if you're
listening to this and you havenot a single review, start, you
know, aim for 10, and then onceyou've hit 10, aim for 20, and
then once you've hit 20, and soon and so forth, right?
Exactly.
Um, but I mean, I think, andwe've talked about this before,
so I don't know if we don't Idon't have to spend a ton of
time on this, but you know, ifyou have a um if you have a
(11:29):
newsletter, when was the lasttime that you asked for reviews?
Oh my gosh, we have an author,and I know that she listens this
to this podcast.
I did a coaching call with herlast week.
We've worked with her with herbook launch, and I told her, I'm
like, you need to ask forreviews, ask for reviews.
And I just saw she put up a cutelittle video on Instagram uh
yesterday asking for reviews.
(11:51):
And I'm like, you go, girl,that's amazing.
I love that.
It never hurts to ask, right?
Um forget they mean well, right?
Yeah, they mean well, and youknow, and and because it so many
times, in fact, I did a coachingcall with an author yesterday,
and he said to me, He's like,you know, all these people
promised reviews, and none ofthem have reviewed my book.
(12:12):
And I'm like, I know it's athing.
Like it's so a thing.
It's it's a thing.
Um, external links, right?
So make sure.
So this is probably the numberone thing, and and we're gonna
get to that more in the nextsegment.
The number one thing that Amazonis looking for is they're
looking for external links.
So your email footer, a link toyour book, your Amazon link in
(12:34):
your bio, links on your websiteto Amazon.
And obviously, you can list linkto other booksellers and things
like that.
But make sure that your, and youknow, if you have, if you're on
social media, make sure thatyour, you know, there's a book
link in your social profile,your headers, or if you have,
(12:55):
you know, a link tree on, youknow, your Instagram and TikTok
or whatever, make sure thetripbook is listed there.
Again, Amazon is looking for, Iand I hate to put it like this,
but Amazon's looking for a liveperson.
Like they want to know thatyou're not just some guy like
the 50-book chat GPT guy outthere just popping stuff up and
throwing it up on Amazon, right?
(13:15):
Amazon links in your newsletterat least once a month.
Every external link helps, andAmazon's really paying
attention.
This is what's reallyinteresting, and then we'll get
to the other one and pop over tothe next segment, is that Google
does this too.
So, one of the things thatGoogle looks for, so something
that we with our website havealways aspired to is we have
(13:36):
aspired to external links fromother trusted sources into our
site.
So I do this by like writingarticles and getting placements
in other publications and thingslike that.
Those links validate you in yourwebsite, right?
And that's how Google viewsthis.
Amazon's very much the same way.
(13:57):
And Amazon, I think, is going tobecome even more aggressive
about this in 2026, too.
SPEAKER_01 (14:02):
Right.
And I know we'll get into more,you know, tips when it comes to
the marketing side, but this isalso where those supporting, you
know, I like to call themsupporting actor strategies like
running limited time discountpromotions, peppering in some
book bug ads, things that aren'tsuper expensive, but that show
Amazon, you're trying to sendtraffic.
You're trying to send peoplethere to buy things.
(14:24):
You know what I mean?
All that matters, like you arechecking the boxes off, and it
doesn't have to be superexpensive.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then the Amazon follow.
This is something that I I feellike too many authors forget
about.
And I get it, there's a lot toremember.
Y'all are probably looking atlike if you're taking notes,
like they've already given melike eight things to do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:43):
I know, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
But truly, this is a simple one, and it can just get
incorporated.
Like once you get in the habitof incorporating it into
everything else that you promoteon a regular basis.
But have people follow you onAmazon.
Click that button, followauthor.
You know what I mean?
Because I love, we follow all ofour clients that we work with
because I love to see theemails.
(15:05):
I love to show our clients whatthey look like too, because a
lot of times authors don't getthose.
It's like, look at this.
Look how many everybody thatfollowed you got this
announcement that your book isready to release.
Like that is amazing.
And so, especially if you planto do this for a long time,
prioritize having people followyou on Amazon.
And that's something, you know,like Penny already mentioned,
(15:26):
very simple to put in your emailsignature, promote on social,
goodreads, newsletter, all thethings.
Just don't forget to incorporatethat as well, you know.
So newsletter signups, alsofollow me on Amazon, you know,
throw it in there.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Yeah.
The follow link, by the way, andI know we have another, we've
done another show on this, butthe follow link is gold because
when you get people to followyou on Amazon, not only does it
notify them when you put yourbook up for pre-order for free,
by the way.
Yeah, but then when your bookgoes live, it also notifies
them.
We have an author that we'veworked with, and she has
(16:00):
something like 30,000 followerson Amazon, which is amazing and
awesome.
So she puts a book up forpre-order and 30,000 people are
notified.
Brilliant.
Yeah, it's it's a brilliant, andthen when the book goes live,
again, they get another follownotification.
If nothing else, like grab allthe free tools on Amazon while
you can, because you never knowwhen Amazon's gonna be like,
(16:21):
well, now you have to pay forthat.
Right.
Um so social media.
We talked, I talked about thisjust a minute ago.
Make sure that um, so I lovesharing social proof.
I love sharing, and we encourageauthors to share.
In fact, we're getting ready toshare some social proof for an
(16:41):
author that we worked with whogot um like literally like a
banner mentioned from Amazoninfluencers.
Book is right next to likeFrieda McFadden and some really
big best-selling authors.
We're sharing the heck out ofthat.
But that's the kind of thing,social proof that you really
want to be sharing in yoursocial media posts.
(17:03):
So again, think of the thingsthat you know, robot AI is not
gonna be doing.
Okay.
Um and, you know, I realize thatbuy my book feels really
awkward.
Like you don't want to have abunch of posts.
You don't want to run from thisshow and go, oh my gosh, now I
have to throw up a bunch ofposts that say, you know, buy my
(17:24):
book.
That's not really what we'resaying.
We're saying that, you know,grab your book copy is your call
to action, certainly.
But this is in the context ofposts where maybe you're sharing
quotes from quotes from thebook.
Basically, you are populatingcommunication in social media
that's all around the book.
There's a link in your socialmedia back to your book on
(17:46):
Amazon.
Those are kinds of things thatwe talk about in other shows,
active author stuff, but now itmatters because Amazon's paying
attention.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Yes.
And I I love this next one.
And I think we've said it beforethat I really feel like this is
going to be the next like bigchange, hopefully, and how
authors promote their books.
Because I realize now I'mleading the witness.
Sorry, cross-promote.
Pair up with other authors.
You know, we've done a show,we've I know I keep sounding
(18:16):
like a broken record.
I know we did a newsletter showrecently and we talked about
this a lot.
But find another author that iswithin your genre, within your
topic, typically works bestbecause obviously their audience
is your audience, is vice versa,and it just makes sense.
And set up an agreement tocross-promote each other's work.
You know, whether it's a releasemention or a limited time
(18:38):
discount, you know, get creativewith it.
But everybody, I mean, unlessthey're a, you know, a household
name author, everybody can usenew introductions to readers.
You know, there are no, so ifyou're thinking like, oh, I feel
like I'm not big enough to dothat yet, you know, don't talk
yourself out of something thatcould be great for you.
(18:59):
There are a bunch of otherauthors that are probably saying
similar things.
So once you reach out and say,hey, this could be great for
both of us, you'll probably besurprised at the reaction you
get.
Don't you think, Penny?
SPEAKER_00 (19:09):
I agree.
Yeah, I agree with you totally.
SPEAKER_01 (19:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's one of those things like,uh, it sounds like I'm not ready
for this yet, but you are.
And the fact that there arethousands of other authors that
feel the same way just goes toshow like this needs to happen.
You just have to start makingthe right connections, get, you
know, get that conversationstarted.
But that's huge because again,their traffic can become your
traffic, vice versa.
(19:32):
It's just a great way to expandyour reach, especially if you're
thinking, I feel like I do a lotof the things and it's like, you
know, my my followers are arebuilding slowly and it gets a
little frustrating.
Well, this is a great way toskirt that for a while.
You know, if you feel like it'sgoing a little slow, expand your
reach into other authors'networks as well and offer them
(19:52):
the same in return.
And that's a great way to getover that hump if you're feeling
discouraged that things are kindof moving too slowly.
SPEAKER_00 (19:58):
Right, exactly.
And I love the idea ofcross-promoting.
I think cross-promoting issomething that we don't do
enough and we don't talk aboutenough.
But the more that you can get,in fact, I was just writing an
article on um Amazon, uh, theAuthor Central, and talking
about cross-promoting booksthere, because now Author
(20:21):
Central lets you recommendbooks.
And yes, you can recommend yourown books, absolutely.
But you can also share thiscross-promotion.
Like if you know somebody, youknow, if you you're connected
with some authors, they're asimilar genre.
Maybe you eat to recommend your,you know, each other's books on
your Amazon Author Central.
That's another really great wayto cross promote.
So the newsletter swaps aregreat, the bundle deals are
(20:43):
awesome, but we're just keep inmind the things that Amazon's
going to be looking for, right?
Um, the other piece of this, sowe talk a lot about, and I'm not
gonna spend a lot of time onthis because we have some other
really cool ones to get to, andwe have done a ton of shows on
categories and keywords.
Freshen up your categories andkeywords.
And here's why.
Not just because the Amazonalgorithm changes, you know, the
(21:06):
keywords can get updated, thingslike that, also seasonally, but
because this is something thatreally tells Amazon that you are
actively engaged in your book.
And a lot of the tips that we'regiving you today are about being
actively involved and payingattention to your book on
Amazon.
So not just throwing it up thereand hoping that something
(21:26):
happens, right?
SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
Right, exactly.
You know, the we, yeah, likePenny said, we talk about it all
the time.
But those little touches on yourretail page, keeping it updated,
keeping it current, keywords andcategories.
And honestly, you know,keywords, I feel like we could
say this over and over again asa reminder.
Search terms, you know, think ofkeywords as search terms, not
(21:49):
just like what your book isabout.
They really should reflect whatpeople are looking for on
Amazon.
And as a shopper yourself, youshould know that that changes
throughout the year.
That changes as, you know,things become popular within
categories.
So user behavior is what you'reaiming for with keywords, not
just short, punchy ways tosummarize your book.
(22:11):
That's a really key differencewhen you, you know, when you
frame what are my keywords andwhy we're so insistent that
those are evolving all the time.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Do you want to take the nextone?
Or, okay, building a readercommunity off of Amazon.
So these are kind of in case wehaven't said it yet, we're kind
(22:32):
of building in terms of uh maybecomplexity is the wrong word,
but we tried to start off withthings that you could really
check off your list quickly andeasily, you know, and that are
definitely uh short, quickfixes.
Some of these are going to startgetting a little more complex, a
little more long term, butthat's also really important.
If you want to be doing this along time, you have to also do
(22:53):
things that are for yourlongevity, not just something
that you can check off your listthat you can fix this week,
because those are great, but youhave to have both, you know.
So starting a reader list or aFacebook group, um, you know,
again, small is fine, but thosekind of things where you have
people recommending your book,you have other people sharing
(23:15):
your book.
You know, there's a new, andthis was mentioned, Penny and I
chatted about this recently.
You know, a lot of authors, andwe help our authors with this,
are starting to build uh listsin Goodreads that include their
book and other books that aresimilar to theirs that readers
would like.
You know, this is veryreader-centric, you know,
showing.
And people are like, wait, nowshe's talking about Goodreads.
(23:37):
Goodreads is owned by Amazon.
You know, they talk, they aredoing more and more, they're
they're kind of adding moreintegrations all the time.
And so don't sleep on theGoodreads element and the
connection it has with Amazon.
SPEAKER_00 (23:52):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (23:53):
You know, in general.
Right.
So, but every time you post, youknow, with that group or on that
list, you know, you include yourAmazon link.
You are putting your booksomewhere that once somebody
goes, that's intriguing, that'sinteresting, that sounds like
something I like, they clickthrough and Amazon is
registering that they came fromoutside of the site.
(24:13):
And they go, Wow, that showsthat people are actually
interested in this product.
And then that again, to simplifyit, that triggers the algorithm
and tells Amazon that yourproduct is worth showing to more
people.
And that is how you gain organicvisibility within the system
itself.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Right, exactly.
Um so invest in a consistentcontent engine, which I know
sounds really complicated.
So I that's why I sort ofhesitated when I first I'm like,
oh, this is, I know this isgonna sound painful, but listen,
you don't have to do all of it.
In fact, I'm rewriting my book,Five Minute Book Marketing for
(24:51):
Authors, and and I talk aboutthe importance of breaking
something that feelsoverwhelming down into just like
a five-minute bite-sized taskthat you can do.
But creating content offline,not just about social media.
So if you're into postingvideos, post videos regularly.
Uh, if you're wanting to pushyourself out to podcasts, um,
(25:13):
you know, get regular interviewsbecause those links are now
going to come back to yourwebsite, potentially also, you
know, your Amazon page or yourauthor profile, uh, blogging,
blogging on your website.
I think, you know, and it'sfunny because I talked to an
author yesterday.
Uh, I did some coaching withhim, and he was a worked in the
(25:33):
federal government um as anagent and has tons and tons and
tons of interesting stories andwrote a fiction book.
And I'm like, dude, you need tobe blogging about all the
things, like to the degree,obviously, that you can, because
there's a lot that you know youcan't really talk about.
Think about your blog as anextension of your brand.
If blogging is not your thing,you know, videos, something that
(25:57):
creates content on your websitethat shows that you're a real
person.
Because again, this is now whatAmazon's looking for.
And the other piece of this,though, too, is that I think
that this is all going to windinto Amazon's experimentation
with putting Amazon ads intoGoogle.
(26:18):
So, in other words, the Amazonads are going to be continually
continue to show up on Amazon,but they're also experimenting
with the Amazon ads showing upin Google.
Right.
And I think that to the degreethat you have external content
that links back to your websiteand then obviously your Amazon
profile, I think these, if youshould decide to dip into these
(26:42):
ads when they are launched, Ithink these ads are gonna, you
know, it's gonna help youroverall um visibility with
running um with running theseads on Google.
Like I said, Amazon hasn'tlaunched them yet, but I think
that's the long-term agenda.
And I think that the A10algorithm, though designed to
sort of AI proof your, you know,books, is also with an eye to we
(27:05):
want to emulate what Google doesmore and more in everything that
we do.
And this is a big piece of that.
SPEAKER_01 (27:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:11):
Yeah.
Really, really big piece ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (27:14):
Um, what's the next one?
Okay, this is this is for thoseof you that write a series or
write extensively on a topic.
You know, if you're a topicexpert, if you have multiple
books, make sure you'reinterlinking them in your back
matter for the book and makesure readers know what to buy
next, what you have available.
(27:35):
And this sounds very simple, buttoo few authors don't take
advantage of this.
So make sure within your bookfiles, you are actually
reminding them like, this is thenext book in this series.
These are the previous books.
These are, you know, I mean, Iread a couple authors, Penny,
that write multiple series withslightly different storylines,
but within the same world.
And they make sure that you knowabout those as well.
(27:57):
So if you've already binged oneseries, it's like, I've got this
other one that I think you'lllike also.
And same thing with topics, likenonfiction authors can take
advantage of this too.
If you've got multiple books oryou have multiple resources,
even include that because Amazonis absolutely paying attention
if you are keeping readersengaged.
(28:19):
So, I mean, and we talk toauthors all the time that
struggle with their followers,their read-throughs, their
sales, their reviews, all thosethings slowly tapering off book
to book, you know, and that'schallenging.
Like that's a very real thing.
But a lot of that has to do withhow you're branding, how you're
(28:41):
engaging, how you're keepingreaders interested and, you
know, during between releases.
You know, we do a lot of showsabout that, that what you do
between releases is just asimportant what you do for when
you release a book.
Yeah, that's very true.
You want to get those readersback.
And again, if you're a seriesauthor or if you write multiple
(29:03):
books in a single topic, youreally want to show Amazon that
you have convinced readers tocome back for additional
purchases, additionalread-throughs, things like that.
And you can do that by makingsure readers feel involved in
your brand, in what you'reputting out there, in your
content, in your authority.
But you have to nurture thoserelationships.
(29:24):
And again, we've done a ton ofshows on nurturing
relationships, but this it's sogreat that you know, these
things that we've talked aboutbefore is like you should do
this, you should do this.
Amazon is now saying that youshould be doing this as well.
This is not just like it's agreat idea because it's a well
rounded brand.
Like Amazon is telling you thatif you start doing this, you
(29:45):
will get reciprocal support fromyou know our platform as well.
SPEAKER_00 (29:49):
Yeah, exactly.
And I think that, you know, uhso let's talk for a second about
running Amazon ads.
So I just we just I justmentioned Amazon ads in con in
the context of them wanting tohave.
These ads show up at Google.
But if you are running, so it'svery easy to I I love running
Amazon ads.
We've done whole shows onrunning Amazon ads.
(30:11):
I love to, I think Amazon adsare great for a whole variety of
reasons.
But um make sure that you'rerunning these ads thoughtfully.
So a lot of times, if you areinclined to like if the ads seem
confusing and you want to justrun automatic ads and be done
(30:32):
with it with no ad copy and justyour book, that's something that
somebody who is trying to pushan AI book would probably do
because they're not going toinvest the time in looking for
keywords and whatnot, right?
So just give that a little bitof thought.
Not saying that that automaticads are completely out the
window.
Because I love running automaticads and sometimes they do
really, really well for a book.
They can cost you a lot of moneyif you are not careful because
(30:56):
Amazon will just spend yourmoney willy-nilly.
But don't rely solely on Amazonads for your clicks and your
traffic and whatnot.
You know, we talked a lot aboutexternal links and things like
that and keywords and categoriesand all that stuff.
Just make sure that there's abalance.
And like I said, I'm not sayingdon't ever run automatic ads,
(31:19):
but don't rely solely onAmazon's automatic ads because
it's really simple.
Like literally, Amy, I know thatyou don't run ads, and I know
you like to stay blissfullyaware of the ads in general,
which I don't blame you becauseit can get very complex.
But you know, literally, like anautomatic ad will take you maybe
five minutes to set up.
(31:39):
Basically, you just boom, getthe book, automatic ad.
If you're not writing any adcopy, boom, you're done, the
ad's running.
That's pretty easy for somebodyto do if they just want to
willy-nilly promote promote abunch of books.
And but it's it's a nice way forauthors to get their feet wet in
at in ads, but just keep in mindthat keywording category ads do
tend to, you know, show thatyou're more engaged in your
(32:01):
book.
So just kind of keep that inmind.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Right.
And oh, sorry.
No, go ahead.
But we also, I think this issomething else that we don't
talk about enough, but it'sworth reminding everybody that
Amazon ads, you know, when Iexplain this to clients, I like
to say that it's the start ofthe conversation.
A lot of times, ads, a directclick from an ad is not the goal
(32:24):
of those, because it's notrealistic, is going to be an
immediate buy.
And so I hope I didn't blow upanybody's brain right now.
But the reality is, I know thereality is the ad starts the
conversation and it generatesthe traffic.
But this is where this all likeorganically comes together.
More likely than not, personwill come, someone will come
(32:46):
back and buy because they hadanother interaction with your
book.
And all these other things we'vebeen talking about for getting
your book out there and being ondifferent platforms and through
different channels and throughmultiple different organic
introductions, that is whatmakes a difference.
So the Amazon ads are such agreat consistent traffic driver.
(33:07):
And I also like to remindclients that it's literally the
only thing that can work 24-7 topromote your book, which is
nothing to sleep on.
That's amazing.
But they are not, they are lesslikely to be the reason somebody
clicks by right away.
They were clicked by oncethey've been, once they've had
another interaction with yourbook, and sometimes three or
four or five more interactions.
So just keep that in mind.
unknown (33:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:28):
You know, that everything else that we've
talked about doing also supportsspending what you're spending on
ads.
And it will give you betterconversions in the long run
because everything else you'redoing will be that final tipping
point where they go, I am readyto buy that book now.
Does that make sense, Penny?
Yeah, it does, it totally makessense.
SPEAKER_00 (33:47):
So I think that the moral of the story is, you know,
always be linking, be thinkingabout your external links that
are um that are showing that youare a real author, not just
somebody, not just a robot outthere trying to promote
something to make a to make afast buck.
At some point, I think thatAmazon will, I mean, this is
actually a good first start.
(34:08):
And I think it's a really goodthing for authors to focus on
the external links.
I mean, you want to focus onAmazon, obviously, but focusing
on the external links andfocusing on the external traffic
sending, you know, that'sgetting sent to your author
central page and your retailpage.
Um, but yeah, focus on linking.
(34:29):
It's a really, really good firststep.
I think, you know, um we alwayschase sales rank as authors.
I am guilty of that as well.
And I think we've done what Iknow we've done at least a
dozen, if not more, shows onreader loyalty.
Um and how to build that and howto build, you know, how to build
(34:52):
more reader engagement.
And that's really the thing thatAmazon's looking for.
By the way, Amy, I wanted tomention, do you know what today,
do you know what today is?
Oh, geez.
I'm just gonna totally put youon the spot.
I didn't realize I realize thatafter I hit recorded, and I'm
like, oh, I I have to make sureand tell you.
No, this is our 300th show.
(35:12):
Stop it.
Yes.
And and we hit 101 reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (35:21):
It's like early Christmas.
I didn't even oh my gosh, it'slike you were saving all of this
just to catch me off guard onthe show.
I was totally saving all of itto catch me off guard, but yeah,
it's our 300 shows.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
So listen, if you are thank you, everyone.
I know, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (35:36):
I feel like I should have had a speech prepared.
My tiara's not on.
Like, I know, all the things.
SPEAKER_00 (35:42):
I um we I we can't thank you all enough.
You guys, I'll tell yousomething.
It's the listeners.
We don't just love to hearourselves talk.
I know that sounds that waysometimes, like we just love to
hear ourselves talk.
But really, we do the show fory'all.
We want to make, you know, goodinformation.
Information is power, right?
(36:03):
Education is power, and uh wehope that this show helps uh you
all to reach the success thatyou so deserve.
And we love a review.
I know we're gonna keep askingfor reviews, even though we've
obviously exceeded ourexpectations with the 100
reviews.
We're gonna keep asking forreviews, but I also want to
remind you um, we want to hearfrom you.
So text the word podcast to888-402-8940.
(36:27):
Send us your show ideas, send usyour thoughts.
Let us know, you know, if you'reon in Amy's camp, if you hate
the weekly show updates or ifyou love them.
Um we have no ego around us.
This is all, the show is allbuilt around y'all.
So we want to thank you so muchfor listening and for being um
you know, for being such adedicated fan base.
We love that.
(36:47):
If you are new to the show,obviously we have 299 other
shows that you can dig into.
So make sure to go back throughthe five eighths of parts of it.
Don't make any plans.
Don't make any plans.
We have your weekend covered.
Um, and listen, happy November.
I can't believe it's alreadyNovember.
Exciting.
I know.
Thank you so much, and we'll seeyou next week.
(37:08):
Bye bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips
and Author Success Podcast.
This is Penny Sansberry and AmyCornell.
And we are really lookingforward to doing this show
today.
I have to say we were in thegreen room talking talking about
it, all about the Amazon stuff.
But I wanted to start fightfirst by uh uh apologizing.
(00:21):
I know we tried to get supercreative with the Halloween
show, and our poor sound editorguy was like, you can't do this
again.
So Amy's so awesome that you gotthe echo of her like two or
three times.
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
I think it was my children's nightmare.
So I apologize to any of thelistening because that's so
funny.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Oh my god.
Yeah, we were we were so I I waswe were talking to the we were
talking the green room and Itold Amy, I'm like the next time
that we do special music, andeven our sound guy was like,
okay, listen, ladies, like Iappreciate the thought.
So that's just us gettingcreative.
We'll try not to do it again.
Right, we just have to stay inour lane now.
Right.
We just stay in our lane, justlike we tell authors, right?
(01:08):
Stick to the facts, stick to theshow.
Um, and and speaking of which,by the way, so our podcast have
started our podcast textnotifications have started going
out and we really want to hearfrom you.
So what you like, what you don'tlike, what you'd like to see
more of.
This you the pod texting us is adirect way to communicate to
(01:29):
both Amy and myself.
So it's a really, really coolthing.
If you haven't signed up for thetext notifications yet, text the
word podcast to 888-402-8940.
And I'll tell you something.
So Amy and I are a little bit onthe fence about the
notifications when there's ashow.
So let us know what you think.
Like, we'd love to know do youwant notifications when we drop
(01:50):
a show?
Amy thought, you know, we shouldjust notify people when there's
like a special show.
And I'm like, no, let's notifythem about everything.
But this goes, but this goesinto I have like when when we're
in in the room together and shelooks at my my phone and she
sees like 9,000 notifications.
I'm sort of used to that.
(02:11):
Amy is very much not like that.
So let us know what you think.
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Yeah, if there's one notification on any of my apps,
it's like I'm ready to burn myphone.
Like, what what is happening?
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Like I wake up and I just scroll through all these
notifications, and that's justlike another day at the office
for me.
Yeah.
So um, yeah, but let us knowwhat you think.
We really we we love showfeedback and we build a lot of
our shows.
Um, as I mentioned before, webuild a lot of our shows around
show feedback.
So let us know.
Sign up for those text alerts,um, all the things.
(02:45):
So here's the really interestingthing about um so the Amazon A10
shift, the Amazon A 10 algorithmshift, this happened back, was
it like August or July,something like that?
And one of the things that wesaid at the time was that um
(03:12):
this algorithm shift had a lotto do with the fact that Amazon
is battling a lot of bookswritten by AI.
Right.
And one of the things that weknow, so if somebody is going to
put a book, if somebody's justgonna let an AI write a book and
(03:33):
then throw it up on Amazon,there are a few things that you
don't care about.
You probably don't care aboutyour author persona, right?
You probably don't care aboutexternal promotion, right?
You're literally just there tojump on trends.
Yeah, right, exactly, to jump onthe topical bandwagon.
(03:55):
And I remember, so actually, andyou know, this is not so even
though I realize AI at theconsumer level is very new, the
concept of this is really notnew.
So I knew somebody years ago,and she actually knew a group
where they would outsourcetopics to people in other
countries, so let's say Vietnamor India or whatever, and they
(04:19):
would find somebody who couldwrite prolifically and craft a
book on whatever.
So, like when Prince died,right?
All of a sudden you see allthese books show up on Amazon
and they were all written bypeople who just scoured the
internet for information.
So there wasn't any newinformation.
They were literally justregurgitating what was already
(04:41):
out there, throwing it in a bookand throwing it up on Amazon.
Yeah, I know.
And so this has been going onfor a long time, but the problem
now is that the volume, right,right?
So the volume of this stuff isreally challenging Amazon, even
though Amazon has that silly,like, sorry, Amazon, but I mean
(05:02):
that silly little question whenyou upload your book to to KDP.
Was your book written by AI?
Like somebody who wrote hadtheir book written by AI, like
right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
I know.
Gary, huh?
I hope nobody's lying.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
Thank you.
Right?
It just it's so, so, so weird.
So, um, so what the A10algorithm is doing is
essentially it's looking at notjust your exposure on Amazon
directly.
And I'm gonna have Amy um takethe next segment because that's
what that's what that sort offocuses on, but it also focuses
(05:36):
on your presence off of Amazon,which is something that somebody
trying to push a book on A, youknow, written by AI is not gonna
do.
So we so a couple months ago, Italked to a guy and we taught,
we we refer to him now as ChatGPT author.
And he basically said, I want towrite 50 books in the next year,
(05:56):
all on different topics, allnonfiction.
And he's using Chat GPT.
And we we can't, I I wouldn'twork with somebody like that
first and foremost.
But in fact, we never even gotback to him with no, we're not
sending you a proposal.
Like I just ignored him becauseI'm just like I'm so offended by
what you're saying.
Right.
Um, but that's where somebodylike that is not gonna spend the
(06:19):
time developing different authorpersonas because they're not
gonna have the time.
SPEAKER_01 (06:24):
No.
SPEAKER_00 (06:25):
You know, so that's where Amazon is really going.
So we thought it would be areally good idea to kind of take
you through things that you cando to prevent, you know, to help
your visibility on Amazon and toprevent Amazon from looking at
your author persona andwondering if you're an AI,
basically.
(06:46):
You know, Amy, do you want totake the do you want to take the
first um some of the some of thequick and easy fixes that
authors?
SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
I love this because so much of this is what we talk
about all the time.
So I love when we look supersmart.
Like these are all things we'vebeen recommending for a long
time, but it it's true, theseare becoming, and you know, we
did a show on this on um was itlast year already, Penny?
Wow, but on just generalpresence online.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
And how Google is getting so much more focused on
the user experience and all theold tricks that you used to be
able to do to trick Google arenot working anymore because they
are user experience focused.
And, you know, as you alwayssay, Penny, like Amazon very
much likes to do what Googledoes.
You know, if it's working forGoogle, Amazon likes to follow
(07:39):
suit, right?
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:42):
Yeah.
And so let's talk about quickfixes.
Tighten your book page forengagement.
This is something I love helpingclients with this.
One, because it is it's acreate, a very creative part of
what we do, but also it just sospeaks to we can all put
ourselves in the shoes of areader if you're a reader.
You know what I mean?
And sometimes it's easy toforget about that when you're
(08:04):
have your author hat on and yourauthor business hat.
You forget like you're a readertoo.
And think about what you wouldwant that experience to be like,
how you respond, you know?
So do a checkup.
You know, your title, yoursubtitle, your description, A
plus content.
If you don't have it, get it.
Categories, keywords, you know,your author central, all of
(08:25):
those fields where you can addadditional content to improve
the reader-shopper experience.
You know, that is so important.
And it says so much about kindof that next level, like Penny
said in the intro, that showsthat you are committed to the
reader, the shopper, the userexperience.
And that's what Amazon wants tosee.
That is where they want to sendtheir traffic to product pages
(08:49):
that are tailored to the userexperience.
Also, make sure your look insidefeature grabs readers in 10
seconds.
You know, I see this all thetime, Penny, and I'm sure you do
too, where you go to the lookinside and you can tell that
like somebody clicked the optionbut didn't actually look at what
was being presented.
Does that just drive you nuts?
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
Makes me, it drives me nuts.
SPEAKER_01 (09:10):
You know, when it's like, oh, I saw the copyright
page and something else that wassuper random that tells me
nothing about the writing style,the storyline, the content,
nothing.
It's like, okay, so clearly theyjust went with this option
because they thought, yeah, thatsounds like a good idea, but
didn't actually take that nextstep to figure out what is going
to represent my book best, youknow?
Right.
Right.
(09:31):
So that's a huge, huge one.
SPEAKER_00 (09:34):
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree with that totally.
I think that um paying attentionto that.
And then, you know, the otherpiece of it though, too, is you
know, okay, ask for reviews, Iget it, but I I get that asking
for reviews is not alwayssomething that an author wants
to do.
(09:54):
But the majority of authorspushing, like like ChatGPT guy
who's pushing out 50 books in ayear, this person's not going to
spend the time on reviews.
They're literally just trying tomake money based on volume,
right?
They're not really reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
Yes, and we see that.
And I, you know, we get authors,it doesn't happen a lot, but we
still get authors that get intouch with us that say they've
gotten so far down the rabbithole of producing content that
they forgot that they're also abrand.
And when you go check out theircollected works, it's they've
got all these books with andoftentimes zero reviews.
(10:32):
Like they've done nothing.
And that is not a good look whenit comes to pleasing the Amazon
gods.
I know we've talked about theGoogle Gods before, but now it's
the Amazon gods.
They do not want to support abrand that is just pushing out
content that is not getting anypositive feedback from shoppers.
Right.
You know, it may sound unfair,but that's the reality.
(10:54):
You know, Amazon wants to makemoney.
They would love you to makemoney too.
They're okay with both of youmaking money, but you have to
put in the work on your end.
Right, exactly.
And reviews matter for that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:06):
Yeah, reviews matter for that.
And and I would say, you know,even if you have if you're
listening to this and you havenot a single review, start, you
know, aim for 10, and then onceyou've hit 10, aim for 20, and
then once you've hit 20, and soon and so forth, right?
Exactly.
Um, but I mean, I think, andwe've talked about this before,
so I don't know if we don't Idon't have to spend a ton of
time on this, but you know, ifyou have a um if you have a
(11:29):
newsletter, when was the lasttime that you asked for reviews?
Oh my gosh, we have an author,and I know that she listens this
to this podcast.
I did a coaching call with herlast week.
We've worked with her with herbook launch, and I told her, I'm
like, you need to ask forreviews, ask for reviews.
And I just saw she put up a cutelittle video on Instagram uh
yesterday asking for reviews.
(11:51):
And I'm like, you go, girl,that's amazing.
I love that.
It never hurts to ask, right?
Um forget they mean well, right?
Yeah, they mean well, and youknow, and and because it so many
times, in fact, I did a coachingcall with an author yesterday,
and he said to me, He's like,you know, all these people
promised reviews, and none ofthem have reviewed my book.
(12:12):
And I'm like, I know it's athing.
Like it's so a thing.
It's it's a thing.
Um, external links, right?
So make sure.
So this is probably the numberone thing, and and we're gonna
get to that more in the nextsegment.
The number one thing that Amazonis looking for is they're
looking for external links.
So your email footer, a link toyour book, your Amazon link in
(12:34):
your bio, links on your websiteto Amazon.
And obviously, you can list linkto other booksellers and things
like that.
But make sure that your, and youknow, if you have, if you're on
social media, make sure thatyour, you know, there's a book
link in your social profile,your headers, or if you have,
(12:55):
you know, a link tree on, youknow, your Instagram and TikTok
or whatever, make sure thetripbook is listed there.
Again, Amazon is looking for, Iand I hate to put it like this,
but Amazon's looking for a liveperson.
Like they want to know thatyou're not just some guy like
the 50-book chat GPT guy outthere just popping stuff up and
throwing it up on Amazon, right?
(13:15):
Amazon links in your newsletterat least once a month.
Every external link helps, andAmazon's really paying
attention.
This is what's reallyinteresting, and then we'll get
to the other one and pop over tothe next segment, is that Google
does this too.
So, one of the things thatGoogle looks for, so something
that we with our website havealways aspired to is we have
(13:36):
aspired to external links fromother trusted sources into our
site.
So I do this by like writingarticles and getting placements
in other publications and thingslike that.
Those links validate you in yourwebsite, right?
And that's how Google viewsthis.
Amazon's very much the same way.
(13:57):
And Amazon, I think, is going tobecome even more aggressive
about this in 2026, too.
SPEAKER_01 (14:02):
Right.
And I know we'll get into more,you know, tips when it comes to
the marketing side, but this isalso where those supporting, you
know, I like to call themsupporting actor strategies like
running limited time discountpromotions, peppering in some
book bug ads, things that aren'tsuper expensive, but that show
Amazon, you're trying to sendtraffic.
You're trying to send peoplethere to buy things.
(14:24):
You know what I mean?
All that matters, like you arechecking the boxes off, and it
doesn't have to be superexpensive.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then the Amazon follow.
This is something that I I feellike too many authors forget
about.
And I get it, there's a lot toremember.
Y'all are probably looking atlike if you're taking notes,
like they've already given melike eight things to do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:43):
I know, I know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
But truly, this is a simple one, and it can just get
incorporated.
Like once you get in the habitof incorporating it into
everything else that you promoteon a regular basis.
But have people follow you onAmazon.
Click that button, followauthor.
You know what I mean?
Because I love, we follow all ofour clients that we work with
because I love to see theemails.
(15:05):
I love to show our clients whatthey look like too, because a
lot of times authors don't getthose.
It's like, look at this.
Look how many everybody thatfollowed you got this
announcement that your book isready to release.
Like that is amazing.
And so, especially if you planto do this for a long time,
prioritize having people followyou on Amazon.
And that's something, you know,like Penny already mentioned,
(15:26):
very simple to put in your emailsignature, promote on social,
goodreads, newsletter, all thethings.
Just don't forget to incorporatethat as well, you know.
So newsletter signups, alsofollow me on Amazon, you know,
throw it in there.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
Yeah.
The follow link, by the way, andI know we have another, we've
done another show on this, butthe follow link is gold because
when you get people to followyou on Amazon, not only does it
notify them when you put yourbook up for pre-order for free,
by the way.
Yeah, but then when your bookgoes live, it also notifies
them.
We have an author that we'veworked with, and she has
(16:00):
something like 30,000 followerson Amazon, which is amazing and
awesome.
So she puts a book up forpre-order and 30,000 people are
notified.
Brilliant.
Yeah, it's it's a brilliant, andthen when the book goes live,
again, they get another follownotification.
If nothing else, like grab allthe free tools on Amazon while
you can, because you never knowwhen Amazon's gonna be like,
(16:21):
well, now you have to pay forthat.
Right.
Um so social media.
We talked, I talked about thisjust a minute ago.
Make sure that um, so I lovesharing social proof.
I love sharing, and we encourageauthors to share.
In fact, we're getting ready toshare some social proof for an
(16:41):
author that we worked with whogot um like literally like a
banner mentioned from Amazoninfluencers.
Book is right next to likeFrieda McFadden and some really
big best-selling authors.
We're sharing the heck out ofthat.
But that's the kind of thing,social proof that you really
want to be sharing in yoursocial media posts.
(17:03):
So again, think of the thingsthat you know, robot AI is not
gonna be doing.
Okay.
Um and, you know, I realize thatbuy my book feels really
awkward.
Like you don't want to have abunch of posts.
You don't want to run from thisshow and go, oh my gosh, now I
have to throw up a bunch ofposts that say, you know, buy my
(17:24):
book.
That's not really what we'resaying.
We're saying that, you know,grab your book copy is your call
to action, certainly.
But this is in the context ofposts where maybe you're sharing
quotes from quotes from thebook.
Basically, you are populatingcommunication in social media
that's all around the book.
There's a link in your socialmedia back to your book on
(17:46):
Amazon.
Those are kinds of things thatwe talk about in other shows,
active author stuff, but now itmatters because Amazon's paying
attention.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Yes.
And I I love this next one.
And I think we've said it beforethat I really feel like this is
going to be the next like bigchange, hopefully, and how
authors promote their books.
Because I realize now I'mleading the witness.
Sorry, cross-promote.
Pair up with other authors.
You know, we've done a show,we've I know I keep sounding
(18:16):
like a broken record.
I know we did a newsletter showrecently and we talked about
this a lot.
But find another author that iswithin your genre, within your
topic, typically works bestbecause obviously their audience
is your audience, is vice versa,and it just makes sense.
And set up an agreement tocross-promote each other's work.
You know, whether it's a releasemention or a limited time
(18:38):
discount, you know, get creativewith it.
But everybody, I mean, unlessthey're a, you know, a household
name author, everybody can usenew introductions to readers.
You know, there are no, so ifyou're thinking like, oh, I feel
like I'm not big enough to dothat yet, you know, don't talk
yourself out of something thatcould be great for you.
(18:59):
There are a bunch of otherauthors that are probably saying
similar things.
So once you reach out and say,hey, this could be great for
both of us, you'll probably besurprised at the reaction you
get.
Don't you think, Penny?
SPEAKER_00 (19:09):
I agree.
Yeah, I agree with you totally.
SPEAKER_01 (19:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's one of those things like,uh, it sounds like I'm not ready
for this yet, but you are.
And the fact that there arethousands of other authors that
feel the same way just goes toshow like this needs to happen.
You just have to start makingthe right connections, get, you
know, get that conversationstarted.
But that's huge because again,their traffic can become your
traffic, vice versa.
(19:32):
It's just a great way to expandyour reach, especially if you're
thinking, I feel like I do a lotof the things and it's like, you
know, my my followers are arebuilding slowly and it gets a
little frustrating.
Well, this is a great way toskirt that for a while.
You know, if you feel like it'sgoing a little slow, expand your
reach into other authors'networks as well and offer them
(19:52):
the same in return.
And that's a great way to getover that hump if you're feeling
discouraged that things are kindof moving too slowly.
SPEAKER_00 (19:58):
Right, exactly.
And I love the idea ofcross-promoting.
I think cross-promoting issomething that we don't do
enough and we don't talk aboutenough.
But the more that you can get,in fact, I was just writing an
article on um Amazon, uh, theAuthor Central, and talking
about cross-promoting booksthere, because now Author
(20:21):
Central lets you recommendbooks.
And yes, you can recommend yourown books, absolutely.
But you can also share thiscross-promotion.
Like if you know somebody, youknow, if you you're connected
with some authors, they're asimilar genre.
Maybe you eat to recommend your,you know, each other's books on
your Amazon Author Central.
That's another really great wayto cross promote.
So the newsletter swaps aregreat, the bundle deals are
(20:43):
awesome, but we're just keep inmind the things that Amazon's
going to be looking for, right?
Um, the other piece of this, sowe talk a lot about, and I'm not
gonna spend a lot of time onthis because we have some other
really cool ones to get to, andwe have done a ton of shows on
categories and keywords.
Freshen up your categories andkeywords.
And here's why.
Not just because the Amazonalgorithm changes, you know, the
(21:06):
keywords can get updated, thingslike that, also seasonally, but
because this is something thatreally tells Amazon that you are
actively engaged in your book.
And a lot of the tips that we'regiving you today are about being
actively involved and payingattention to your book on
Amazon.
So not just throwing it up thereand hoping that something
(21:26):
happens, right?
SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
Right, exactly.
You know, the we, yeah, likePenny said, we talk about it all
the time.
But those little touches on yourretail page, keeping it updated,
keeping it current, keywords andcategories.
And honestly, you know,keywords, I feel like we could
say this over and over again asa reminder.
Search terms, you know, think ofkeywords as search terms, not
(21:49):
just like what your book isabout.
They really should reflect whatpeople are looking for on
Amazon.
And as a shopper yourself, youshould know that that changes
throughout the year.
That changes as, you know,things become popular within
categories.
So user behavior is what you'reaiming for with keywords, not
just short, punchy ways tosummarize your book.
(22:11):
That's a really key differencewhen you, you know, when you
frame what are my keywords andwhy we're so insistent that
those are evolving all the time.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Do you want to take the nextone?
Or, okay, building a readercommunity off of Amazon.
So these are kind of in case wehaven't said it yet, we're kind
(22:32):
of building in terms of uh maybecomplexity is the wrong word,
but we tried to start off withthings that you could really
check off your list quickly andeasily, you know, and that are
definitely uh short, quickfixes.
Some of these are going to startgetting a little more complex, a
little more long term, butthat's also really important.
If you want to be doing this along time, you have to also do
(22:53):
things that are for yourlongevity, not just something
that you can check off your listthat you can fix this week,
because those are great, but youhave to have both, you know.
So starting a reader list or aFacebook group, um, you know,
again, small is fine, but thosekind of things where you have
people recommending your book,you have other people sharing
(23:15):
your book.
You know, there's a new, andthis was mentioned, Penny and I
chatted about this recently.
You know, a lot of authors, andwe help our authors with this,
are starting to build uh listsin Goodreads that include their
book and other books that aresimilar to theirs that readers
would like.
You know, this is veryreader-centric, you know,
showing.
And people are like, wait, nowshe's talking about Goodreads.
(23:37):
Goodreads is owned by Amazon.
You know, they talk, they aredoing more and more, they're
they're kind of adding moreintegrations all the time.
And so don't sleep on theGoodreads element and the
connection it has with Amazon.
SPEAKER_00 (23:52):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (23:53):
You know, in general.
Right.
So, but every time you post, youknow, with that group or on that
list, you know, you include yourAmazon link.
You are putting your booksomewhere that once somebody
goes, that's intriguing, that'sinteresting, that sounds like
something I like, they clickthrough and Amazon is
registering that they came fromoutside of the site.
(24:13):
And they go, Wow, that showsthat people are actually
interested in this product.
And then that again, to simplifyit, that triggers the algorithm
and tells Amazon that yourproduct is worth showing to more
people.
And that is how you gain organicvisibility within the system
itself.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Right, exactly.
Um so invest in a consistentcontent engine, which I know
sounds really complicated.
So I that's why I sort ofhesitated when I first I'm like,
oh, this is, I know this isgonna sound painful, but listen,
you don't have to do all of it.
In fact, I'm rewriting my book,Five Minute Book Marketing for
(24:51):
Authors, and and I talk aboutthe importance of breaking
something that feelsoverwhelming down into just like
a five-minute bite-sized taskthat you can do.
But creating content offline,not just about social media.
So if you're into postingvideos, post videos regularly.
Uh, if you're wanting to pushyourself out to podcasts, um,
(25:13):
you know, get regular interviewsbecause those links are now
going to come back to yourwebsite, potentially also, you
know, your Amazon page or yourauthor profile, uh, blogging,
blogging on your website.
I think, you know, and it'sfunny because I talked to an
author yesterday.
Uh, I did some coaching withhim, and he was a worked in the
(25:33):
federal government um as anagent and has tons and tons and
tons of interesting stories andwrote a fiction book.
And I'm like, dude, you need tobe blogging about all the
things, like to the degree,obviously, that you can, because
there's a lot that you know youcan't really talk about.
Think about your blog as anextension of your brand.
If blogging is not your thing,you know, videos, something that
(25:57):
creates content on your websitethat shows that you're a real
person.
Because again, this is now whatAmazon's looking for.
And the other piece of this,though, too, is that I think
that this is all going to windinto Amazon's experimentation
with putting Amazon ads intoGoogle.
(26:18):
So, in other words, the Amazonads are going to be continually
continue to show up on Amazon,but they're also experimenting
with the Amazon ads showing upin Google.
Right.
And I think that to the degreethat you have external content
that links back to your websiteand then obviously your Amazon
profile, I think these, if youshould decide to dip into these
(26:42):
ads when they are launched, Ithink these ads are gonna, you
know, it's gonna help youroverall um visibility with
running um with running theseads on Google.
Like I said, Amazon hasn'tlaunched them yet, but I think
that's the long-term agenda.
And I think that the A10algorithm, though designed to
sort of AI proof your, you know,books, is also with an eye to we
(27:05):
want to emulate what Google doesmore and more in everything that
we do.
And this is a big piece of that.
SPEAKER_01 (27:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:11):
Yeah.
Really, really big piece ofthat.
SPEAKER_01 (27:14):
Um, what's the next one?
Okay, this is this is for thoseof you that write a series or
write extensively on a topic.
You know, if you're a topicexpert, if you have multiple
books, make sure you'reinterlinking them in your back
matter for the book and makesure readers know what to buy
next, what you have available.
(27:35):
And this sounds very simple, buttoo few authors don't take
advantage of this.
So make sure within your bookfiles, you are actually
reminding them like, this is thenext book in this series.
These are the previous books.
These are, you know, I mean, Iread a couple authors, Penny,
that write multiple series withslightly different storylines,
but within the same world.
And they make sure that you knowabout those as well.
(27:57):
So if you've already binged oneseries, it's like, I've got this
other one that I think you'lllike also.
And same thing with topics, likenonfiction authors can take
advantage of this too.
If you've got multiple books oryou have multiple resources,
even include that because Amazonis absolutely paying attention
if you are keeping readersengaged.
(28:19):
So, I mean, and we talk toauthors all the time that
struggle with their followers,their read-throughs, their
sales, their reviews, all thosethings slowly tapering off book
to book, you know, and that'schallenging.
Like that's a very real thing.
But a lot of that has to do withhow you're branding, how you're
(28:41):
engaging, how you're keepingreaders interested and, you
know, during between releases.
You know, we do a lot of showsabout that, that what you do
between releases is just asimportant what you do for when
you release a book.
Yeah, that's very true.
You want to get those readersback.
And again, if you're a seriesauthor or if you write multiple
(29:03):
books in a single topic, youreally want to show Amazon that
you have convinced readers tocome back for additional
purchases, additionalread-throughs, things like that.
And you can do that by makingsure readers feel involved in
your brand, in what you'reputting out there, in your
content, in your authority.
But you have to nurture thoserelationships.
(29:24):
And again, we've done a ton ofshows on nurturing
relationships, but this it's sogreat that you know, these
things that we've talked aboutbefore is like you should do
this, you should do this.
Amazon is now saying that youshould be doing this as well.
This is not just like it's agreat idea because it's a well
rounded brand.
Like Amazon is telling you thatif you start doing this, you
(29:45):
will get reciprocal support fromyou know our platform as well.
SPEAKER_00 (29:49):
Yeah, exactly.
And I think that, you know, uhso let's talk for a second about
running Amazon ads.
So I just we just I justmentioned Amazon ads in con in
the context of them wanting tohave.
These ads show up at Google.
But if you are running, so it'svery easy to I I love running
Amazon ads.
We've done whole shows onrunning Amazon ads.
(30:11):
I love to, I think Amazon adsare great for a whole variety of
reasons.
But um make sure that you'rerunning these ads thoughtfully.
So a lot of times, if you areinclined to like if the ads seem
confusing and you want to justrun automatic ads and be done
(30:32):
with it with no ad copy and justyour book, that's something that
somebody who is trying to pushan AI book would probably do
because they're not going toinvest the time in looking for
keywords and whatnot, right?
So just give that a little bitof thought.
Not saying that that automaticads are completely out the
window.
Because I love running automaticads and sometimes they do
really, really well for a book.
They can cost you a lot of moneyif you are not careful because
(30:56):
Amazon will just spend yourmoney willy-nilly.
But don't rely solely on Amazonads for your clicks and your
traffic and whatnot.
You know, we talked a lot aboutexternal links and things like
that and keywords and categoriesand all that stuff.
Just make sure that there's abalance.
And like I said, I'm not sayingdon't ever run automatic ads,
(31:19):
but don't rely solely onAmazon's automatic ads because
it's really simple.
Like literally, Amy, I know thatyou don't run ads, and I know
you like to stay blissfullyaware of the ads in general,
which I don't blame you becauseit can get very complex.
But you know, literally, like anautomatic ad will take you maybe
five minutes to set up.
(31:39):
Basically, you just boom, getthe book, automatic ad.
If you're not writing any adcopy, boom, you're done, the
ad's running.
That's pretty easy for somebodyto do if they just want to
willy-nilly promote promote abunch of books.
And but it's it's a nice way forauthors to get their feet wet in
at in ads, but just keep in mindthat keywording category ads do
tend to, you know, show thatyou're more engaged in your
(32:01):
book.
So just kind of keep that inmind.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Right.
And oh, sorry.
No, go ahead.
But we also, I think this issomething else that we don't
talk about enough, but it'sworth reminding everybody that
Amazon ads, you know, when Iexplain this to clients, I like
to say that it's the start ofthe conversation.
A lot of times, ads, a directclick from an ad is not the goal
(32:24):
of those, because it's notrealistic, is going to be an
immediate buy.
And so I hope I didn't blow upanybody's brain right now.
But the reality is, I know thereality is the ad starts the
conversation and it generatesthe traffic.
But this is where this all likeorganically comes together.
More likely than not, personwill come, someone will come
(32:46):
back and buy because they hadanother interaction with your
book.
And all these other things we'vebeen talking about for getting
your book out there and being ondifferent platforms and through
different channels and throughmultiple different organic
introductions, that is whatmakes a difference.
So the Amazon ads are such agreat consistent traffic driver.
(33:07):
And I also like to remindclients that it's literally the
only thing that can work 24-7 topromote your book, which is
nothing to sleep on.
That's amazing.
But they are not, they are lesslikely to be the reason somebody
clicks by right away.
They were clicked by oncethey've been, once they've had
another interaction with yourbook, and sometimes three or
four or five more interactions.
So just keep that in mind.
unknown (33:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:28):
You know, that everything else that we've
talked about doing also supportsspending what you're spending on
ads.
And it will give you betterconversions in the long run
because everything else you'redoing will be that final tipping
point where they go, I am readyto buy that book now.
Does that make sense, Penny?
Yeah, it does, it totally makessense.
SPEAKER_00 (33:47):
So I think that the moral of the story is, you know,
always be linking, be thinkingabout your external links that
are um that are showing that youare a real author, not just
somebody, not just a robot outthere trying to promote
something to make a to make afast buck.
At some point, I think thatAmazon will, I mean, this is
actually a good first start.
(34:08):
And I think it's a really goodthing for authors to focus on
the external links.
I mean, you want to focus onAmazon, obviously, but focusing
on the external links andfocusing on the external traffic
sending, you know, that'sgetting sent to your author
central page and your retailpage.
Um, but yeah, focus on linking.
(34:29):
It's a really, really good firststep.
I think, you know, um we alwayschase sales rank as authors.
I am guilty of that as well.
And I think we've done what Iknow we've done at least a
dozen, if not more, shows onreader loyalty.
Um and how to build that and howto build, you know, how to build
(34:52):
more reader engagement.
And that's really the thing thatAmazon's looking for.
By the way, Amy, I wanted tomention, do you know what today,
do you know what today is?
Oh, geez.
I'm just gonna totally put youon the spot.
I didn't realize I realize thatafter I hit recorded, and I'm
like, oh, I I have to make sureand tell you.
No, this is our 300th show.
(35:12):
Stop it.
Yes.
And and we hit 101 reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (35:21):
It's like early Christmas.
I didn't even oh my gosh, it'slike you were saving all of this
just to catch me off guard onthe show.
I was totally saving all of itto catch me off guard, but yeah,
it's our 300 shows.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
So listen, if you are thank you, everyone.
I know, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (35:36):
I feel like I should have had a speech prepared.
My tiara's not on.
Like, I know, all the things.
SPEAKER_00 (35:42):
I um we I we can't thank you all enough.
You guys, I'll tell yousomething.
It's the listeners.
We don't just love to hearourselves talk.
I know that sounds that waysometimes, like we just love to
hear ourselves talk.
But really, we do the show fory'all.
We want to make, you know, goodinformation.
Information is power, right?
(36:03):
Education is power, and uh wehope that this show helps uh you
all to reach the success thatyou so deserve.
And we love a review.
I know we're gonna keep askingfor reviews, even though we've
obviously exceeded ourexpectations with the 100
reviews.
We're gonna keep asking forreviews, but I also want to
remind you um, we want to hearfrom you.
So text the word podcast to888-402-8940.
(36:27):
Send us your show ideas, send usyour thoughts.
Let us know, you know, if you'reon in Amy's camp, if you hate
the weekly show updates or ifyou love them.
Um we have no ego around us.
This is all, the show is allbuilt around y'all.
So we want to thank you so muchfor listening and for being um
you know, for being such adedicated fan base.
We love that.
(36:47):
If you are new to the show,obviously we have 299 other
shows that you can dig into.
So make sure to go back throughthe five eighths of parts of it.
Don't make any plans.
Don't make any plans.
We have your weekend covered.
Um, and listen, happy November.
I can't believe it's alreadyNovember.
Exciting.
I know.
Thank you so much, and we'll seeyou next week.
(37:08):
Bye bye.
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