If you enjoy audiobooks, I have FREE Audible codes for most of my Monster Mystery Series titles, and the Caribbean Chronicles series. I also have FREE codes for The Day The World Sneezed. email: eddie@eddiejones.org for free codes.
Whether you are a traditionally published or self published, if you have at least one book released on Amazon you can set up your Author page. It’s FREE, hosted on one of the world’s most popular websites (Amazon), and does not require any special knowledge of web page coding.
To add books to your bibliography, claim your books in Author Central (you can do this via your book’s ISBN or title) Then:
We encourage you to add or update information about yourself for your Amazon Author Page. Here’s some quick links to important places:
Add a video book trailer to your author page. You can also share video interviews, book signing videos, and other videos with visitors. Your videos should focus on specific features of your books or your experience as an author.
The Books tab in Author Central lists all your books. If any of the books display incorrect information or are not correctly assigned to you, it’s easy to correct.
These are the books on Amazon’s (your-name-here) page. Click on any book below to view additional product details or submit corrections.
If a book you’ve written does not appear in the selection below, you may add it now. Please note that only one edition of each work is shown in this list. Click an edition to make sure all related editions are also listed.
In the Search field, enter the book title, ISBN, or author name and click Go.
Once you’ve found the missing title, click “This is my book” below that book. If Amazon’s catalog lists your name as the author, you’re all set.
Amazon recommends you write your bio offline and keep a saved copy. Once you have proofed your bio, copy the text and paste it onto the Author Central Profile Page. Click on the Author Page tab, then edit “Biography.”
Eddie is founder and CEO of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He is also an award-winning author with Harper Collins.
Learn more about Eddie at EddieJones.org
Please follow the below guidelines to ensure your submission is acceptable:
Click Preview biography to review your work. When you’re satisfied, click Save biography. Your uploaded biography will appear on the Author Page within 30 minutes.
Promote your blog from your Amazon author page. When you add your blog’s RSS feed, your latest posts will appear on your Amazon author page. Author Central supports all versions of RSS and Atom blog feeds. Posts created before you add this feed will not be imported. If you want previous posts to appear on the Author Page, you will need to re-post them on your home blog.
Example RSS feed URLs:
http://www.omnivoracious.com/atom.xml
http://www.aldenteblog.com/rss.xml
http://www.chordstrike.com/index.rdf
When you add a blog feed, you are linking to a blog you’ve created elsewhere. Whenever you update your blog, the blog teasers that appear on the Author Page on Amazon.com update automatically, within 24 hours of being posted on your blog.
Announce your speaking appearances and book tour stops. Keep your events calendar current. This gives readers a chance to connect with you in person. Plus, groups, schools and churches may invite you to speak!
After you’ve created an event, it will be displayed in the Scheduled Events section. Customers can see the detail of the Event: Venue, location, time, a short description of the event, and the book you’re touring with. This information appears on the Author Page and on BookTour.com. Your personal information is not shared with BookTour.com and remains confidential.
“Lord, is there life after Amazon?”
That’s the question isn’t it? For authors and publishers? If Amazon conquers Barnes & Noble, LifeWay, Family Bookstores, and Books-A-Million, will there remain the freedom to write, publish, and sell novels and nonfiction outside of Amazon?
In July Amazon banished LPC from its KDP Select program. When I asked to be re-admitted, they replied, “We can’t offer any additional insight or action on this matter.” So while our titles continue to appear on Amazon as Kindle eBooks, they are no longer prominently featured or promoted by Amazon.
Thus my question to God: “Lord, reveal to me what you want me to learn from this. Show me the next step for LPC.”
Here are a few insights God gave me this week, followed by my prayers.
David was banished from the presence of Saul. I Chronicles 12:1
“Lord, may you be with us and bless us during our time of exile.”
Some Gadites defected to David. I Chronicles 12:8. The least was a match for a hundred. I Chronicles 12:14
“May the God of our fathers see what has happened to Christian publishing, and send modern-day Gadites to help change the face of publishing. Individuals who are strong in faith, where the least is a match for a hundred.”
Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you. I Chronicles 12:18
“I do not assume this verse of success is for LPC, but if it is your will, please give us success in the marketplace.”
Day after day men came to help. I Chronicles 12:18
“I ask that you send men and women to help LPC grow and reach new markets and more readers.”
Will not God also graciously give [you] all things? Romans 8:32
“Lord, show us a better way. Create opportunities for us outside of Amazon. If the LPC Ambassador Program is your idea, bless it.”
I do not know what will become of book publishing in the wake of Amazon’s growing influence, but the trends remain discouraging. Here are a few recent headlines from the book publishing industry.
Beacon Hill Press Closing – Kansas City-based Nazarene Publishing House, parent company of trade imprint Beacon Hill Press, will shut down on December 1.
Abingdon re-evaluates publishing programs beyond 2015 – Abingdon Press, an imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House, announced Thursday that it is reassessing and realigning its Christian Living and Abingdon Fiction programs as a result of shifts in the industry.
Last week I received word that another popular romance imprint was shutting its doors. Each time a house or imprint contracts, another group of authors looks at the landscape and considers self-publishing with Amazon – a company that demands total loyalty.
Where are our Gadites of our day? Where are those men and women eager to change the face of book publishing? If you feel called by God to rise up and run at the giant, please email me. Together, I believe we can make a difference.
One percent of anything with God by your side is a recipe for success.
(All typ0s are orijinal and copywrited. Any rebroadcast or distribution without the XPress riden permission of the author is just find by me.)
Thanks to Lilly Maytree for inviting me to participate in the World Blog Book Tour. Lilly is an Inspirational Adventure Novelist and fellow Harbourlight Books author. Lilly is currently on her 2014 Mystery Tour, traveling north to Alaska aboard the sailboat GLORY B. You can follow along by visiting: LillysArmchairTravelers.blogspot.com which is waaaay easier than trying to sail a boat to Alaska and share “dock tails” with Lilly. If you’re looking for a five-star summer read, check out Lilly’s novel, The Pandora Box and Gold Trap.
What am I working on?
Currently I’m very sloooowly working my way through Dead Calm, Bone Dry, the second book in the Caribbean Chronicles series (title is subject to change). I re-write more than I write. I used to have a daily word count goal but I tossed that out months ago. Running a book publishing company (Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas) and serving as co-founder of Christian Devotions Ministries doesn’t leave much time for writing.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I write for middle school age boys, not their moms, aunts, or sisters. That means my stories are somewhat edgy. There’s no sex or cussing, but I do treat my characters as adults. This may seem strange but in our current culture, boys in middle school are bringing guns to school (or know someone who does), having sex, joining gangs, and seeing the ugly side of humanity. I don’t promote these types of activities in the Caden Chronicles series, but I do recognize that a sterilized view of the world will seem boring to boys. My goal is to entertain first, and weave in God’s truth second.
Why do I write what I do?
I write middle grade fiction for boys because I believe we’re on the verge of losing the male reader in America. When ranking leisure activities, boys rank reading near the bottom. Which is a shame since boys really, really, need to be reading. Here’s why.
I write funny romances, like Bahama Breeze, because I think most of us take life too seriously. If you can’t laugh at yourself and see the humor in life, there’s a good chance you are holding on too tightly. I believe God has a huge sense of humor and we’re His sitcom. So I write about couples that aren’t perfect (like toilet paper salesmen) who do crazy stuff (surf in a hurricane, hang from the bottom of a sea plane) but who ultimately realize they’re broken and can only be fixed by love.
How does my writing process work?
I try to write for an hour each morning. I used to write eight hours a day but then running Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas took over my life, so now I spend most of my time helping other authors grow legs on their books. When I was under contract with HarperCollins, I was on a deadline. That was brutal. I’d jet off to a writers’ conference to teach and try to cram a few hours of writing between classes and appointments. I loved the support I received from HarperCollins and Zonderkidz, but I’m glad the third book in the Caden Chronicles, Dead Low Tide, is released.
Next stop on the World Blog Book Tour?
Before I go, I’d like to introduce you to a few authors participating in the World Blog Book Tour: Kevin McAteer, Nivine Richie, and Stu Summers.
Kevin’s book, Daddy, Can You Make Me Pancakes? is the true story of a young mother’s battle against cancer and her husband’s journey to bring healing to their family. Nivine’s latest work, Enduring Faith – An 8-Week Devotional Study of the Book of Hebrews, is a short devotional Bible Study for those who think they’re too busy to study the Bible. And Stu? Well, Stu is somewhat of a recluse. He lives on an island in the Caribbean without cell or Internet. He’s agreed to participate in the tour but we have no idea what to expect. Oh, his latest novel is Summers’ Love, a whimsical, romantic comedy about a best selling author who employs a ghost writer to write all of his books.