Our guest today is none other than Dave Chesson of Kindleprenuer, Publisher Rocket, and an all-around great guy. Read more about his bio and products below. But first, he shares with us the 5 Things Your Amazon Book Sales Page Should Have

Seasoned authors know that writing a riveting book is just the first step in a long process that leads to sustained book sales. 

The most crucial component of your marketing strategy is your book’s sales page. Your book’s sales page is the Amazon landing page that allows you to tailor your message to your audience and convert them from browsers to buyers. 

In this article, we’ll look at how to optimize your sales page to make it as effective as possible. 

Amazon Book Sales Page Must-Have Number 1: A Compelling Book Cover

Book covers are crucial to your book’s success. People tend to be visual, and, when a book cover is done right, it clearly communicates a message to potential readers in a way that text just can’t. 

Depending on whether you are writing non-fiction or fiction, that message is going to look very different, but readers should be able to tell right away what they are in for. That means choosing a book cover design that fits your genre. 

So, if you’re writing science fiction, for instance, your cover might look something like this: 

Amazon Book Page

Notice how every cover has a big ship on it and similar color schemes? If you design your cover right, you’ll draw in readers who are expecting exactly what you have to offer. This takes a bit of market research on your part, but it’s well worth it. 

If you need a little help with sprucing up your book cover, I’ve got you covered.

Amazon Book Sales Page Must-Have Number 2: A Captivating Book Description

While book covers do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to setting reader expectations, you can only communicate so much with one image. That’s where your book description comes in. If you can catch a reader’s attention with less than 300 words, they will dive deeper into your book and make a purchase.

Make sure your book description is targeting the words your potential readers use and want to see. You’ll also want to do a little text formatting using HTML–here’s a tool I created to help you format your description for Amazon. This will help certain sentences pop and make it more readable or scannable.

A great book description contains several elements: 

  • A tagline. This is the hook that draws readers in and gives them a taste of the conflict in your book. 
  • A synopsis. A very short description of the main conflict, the character, and the setting in an enticing fashion. 
  • A selling paragraph. This is your call-to-action, where you encourage readers to purchase your book. 

Bryan Cohen’s, How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis is a great resource if you want to learn how to craft enticing book descriptions. 

Remember, your description should be genre-specific. That means, if you’re writing a romantic mystery book, you should research what other authors — who are selling well — are doing with their mystery descriptions. Learn from the best then craft something unique and interesting within the genre norms. 

Amazon Book Sales Page Must-Have Number 3: Customer Reviews

Social validation is powerful. The very first thing I do when viewing a book I might want to purchase is to check out the reviews. Do other people love this book? Do they hate it?

Even if you only have 6 reviews, that’s something that readers will consider before purchasing your book. But how do you get those coveted reviews? A great way to gather reviews is to offer ARC (Advanced Reader Copies) to your readers. You can do this by reaching out to people on your mailing list, or by using services like BookSprout to reach them. 

You’ll find that once you have a few reviews, getting more will be easier. People tend to leave reviews on books that already have some, strangely enough. 

Amazon Book Sales Page Must-Have Number 4: Enticing Look-Inside 

Look Inside

You’ll notice that readers have the ability to click on your book’s cover and check out the first few pages of your book. Here’s the thing: that first impression, those first 500 words or so, must entice your reader to want to buy the book.

You can accomplish this by: 

  • Making sure the book is neatly formatted 
  • Ensuring the text is edited and there aren’t any typos or grammatical errors
  • Writing an opening chapter that will surprise them but meet their expectations for the genre 

All of this is easier said than done, but if your cover is great, your book description is great, and you’ve got good reviews, a buyer will probably click the look-inside. The last thing you want is to put them off buying with a boring start to your story. 

Amazon Book Sales Page Must-Have Number 5: Editorial Reviews

editorial reviews

I like to think the editorial review section is a secret selling weapon that not many authors pay attention to. A lot of traditionally published books make use of this section because it is pretty powerful. 

As it turns out, a lot of buyers will check out this section and pay special attention to who has given the book quotes. So, obviously, a quote from the Wall Street Journal will count more than one from your uncle, but here’s the thing: it’s surprisingly easy to get editorial reviews for your books. 

They’re different from customer reviews in that you can get them from anywhere and anyone, and you can upload them yourself by heading over to your Author Central Account and editing them in your book’s details. 

You can gather editorial reviews by asking: 

  • Friends/colleagues with relevant qualifications 
  • Other bestselling authors in your genre
  • Book bloggers 

Once you have them, you can format them with HTML using the tool I created specifically for this, and then uploading them directly to your book’s details page via Author Central. Pretty neat! 

Final Thoughts 

Once you’ve got these 5 things working correctly, your Amazon book sales page will become a converting machine! As long as you understand your market, write a good book, and do your best to entice readers with a great cover, description, look inside, and reviews, you’ll reap the rewards. 

Let the selling begin!

Cheers!

Hey Guys, I’m Dave and when I am not sipping tea with princesses or chasing the Boogey man out of closets, I’m a Kindlepreneur and digital marketing nut – it’s my career, hobby, and passion.