Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Fun and Games with Amazon’s Author Central



Amazon.com has a feature on their book pages they call More About the Author. (“Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more. Visit Amazon’s So-and-So Page.”) It’s something authors need to set up themselves, with the result that every time I visit Amazon and am reminded of this feature’s existence, I get a nasty sinking feeling. It’s the same harassed niggling I experience whenever I realize just how big the weeds in my poor neglected garden have grown, or when I quickly close the door on a closet while thinking, Someday I have got to clean that thing out. I guess you could call it that I-know-I-need-to-do-this-but-oh-jeez-I-don’t-have-time-and-I-know-it’s-going-to-be-a-hassle feeling.

Well, today I decided, That’s it; I need to set up an Amazon Author page so that readers can find all the books I’ve written under my various names. Whereupon I was quickly reminded of why I avoid things like this.

I began by metaphorically rolling up my sleeves and going to the page for Where Shadows Dance on Amazon to click the “Are you this author?” link. Down the rabbit hole we go.

First, I typed in my email address. But because that email addy is linked to my Amazon account under my own name, Candice Proctor, the system automatically pulled up all my Candice Proctor historical romances and asked, “Are these your books?” Oh, this is easy, I thought. When I replied, “Yes,” they told me they would need to verify my email address with my old romance publisher. But once that was done, they assured me, I could add any of my other books that hadn’t come up.

Sounds simple, right? So, while waiting for Random House to respond to Amazon’s inquiry, I merrily set about uploading a short bio and photo to my new author page. Random House obviously responded quite quickly, because I soon got a little ding from my inbox telling me all systems were go.

Except they weren’t.

As I quickly discovered, Amazon only allows you to list books on your author page that are written under that name; you need to create separate author pages for each pseudonym. Only, when I tried to do that, I hit a snag. I wrote Amazon an email. “Since the system does not allow different pseudonym pages to be merged, how do I create multiple author pages using one email address? In other words, I would like to create pages for C.S. Harris and C.S. Graham, but when I try to sign up using my email address, I am immediately taken to the Candice Proctor page.”

I received a quick, friendly, cheerful response:

Hello,
I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused. Yes, as you mentioned, we aren't able to merge Author Pages for those who write under more than one name. However, Author Central allows you to manage up to three pen names within a single account. You can manage both of the Author Pages from your current Author Central account. Here's how:

1. Log in to Author Central (https://authorcentral.amazon.com).
2. Click the "Books" tab located on the top of the page.
3. Click on the "Add more books" link that appears under "Are we missing a book?"
4. Search for books written by [PEN NAME] by title, author, or ISBN.
5. Click "This is my book."

Once we verify you're an author of the book(s) selected, a second/third Author Page will be available for you to maintain.

In order to switch between pen names in Author Central, select the drop down symbol to the right of your name in the upper right hand corner where it says “Hello [CURRENT PENNAME CLAIMED].” When you select the name you wish to access, you will be brought to the corresponding Author Central dashboard.

We appreciate your feedback and may consider cross-referencing Author Pages with one another in the future. If you have any more questions or concerns, please contact us by clicking on the following link. I hope this helps! We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Well, isn’t that cute? I get to maintain not one but three author pages (if I had four names, I'd be out of luck), each of them only showing the books I’ve written under that particular name. Since the object of this entire exercise was to help readers find all my books, I’m not a happy camper. I decide to write a second email telling Amazon I understood the setup, but maybe they ought to give some thought to changing their system to allow all books to be listed on each page, as well as simply cross-referencing the pages.

The response I receive is considerably less cheerful and friendly than the first, although they’ve obviously learned the old Be Sure To Use “I” Statements When Being Assertive To Avoid Making the Listener Feel Defensive Rule, because they write, “I understand you're upset and I regret that we haven't been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction.” They then repeat the instructions for setting up multiple pages [Duh! Got it the first time, people!] and end by saying, “We won't be able to provide further insight or assistance for your request.” In other words, Go away now and quit bothering us!

Do you think they'd be nicer if I were Dean Koontz or Ruth Rendell?

Anyway, I now have the Candice Proctor author site up. I’ve dealt with their no pseudonymous books rule by mentioning the Sebastian books in my bio, adding a link to the csharris.com website, and putting up the video for Where Shadows Dance. I’m still waiting for Penguin and Harper Collins to verify that I am me, after which I get to do this two more times.

In the meantime, I’ve written less than one and a half pages today.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note to say two things:

1. It was so, so nice to meet you in person at the Poisoned Pen conference. I was probably more excited than a Justin Bieber fan, ha!

2. I call those sinking feelings "NUTS" - nagging unfinished tasks. I heard it somewhere, and although it doesn't prompt me better to do the tasks, at least I have a name for it, lol.

Susan (aka fan who showed you holiday decoration photos. Thanks for the Home Depot tip :))

Unknown said...

I can only imagine your frustration! And now have added Amazon author page to my to do list!
lx

Charles Gramlich said...

Ah the perils of multiple pseudos. I never even thought of this problem. It took me about 10 minutes to set up my author page at Amazon but I've got a lot less to go on it, and only the one name. this is good heads up stuff to writers who do write under multiple names, though, and I know there are a lot of them.

Steve Malley said...

I hear you- every time I do a bit of promotion my sales go up, but that doesn't stop those tasks from ending up somewhere around 'weeding garden' and 'cleaning out garage' on my to-do list!

cs harris said...

Hi Susan, it was lovely to meet you, too! As for the Home Depot Christmas houses, be sure to go in November because around here, at least, they sell out quickly.

Liz, the list of Things To Do for authors can begin to seem overwhelming. Now I'm being told to create a "Facebook Vanity URL"!

Charles, did you catch the part about only being allowed THREE names? Three strikes and you're out.

Steve, I know. I just vowed that I'm not going to another signing/conference this year. They eat so much time and energy.

Susan/DC said...

The Amazon response is another perplexing example of asking "why" only to get the "just because" answer. Amazon presents itself as the go-to place for everything, but there are times it is the 800-pound gorilla that bullies everyone else simply because it can. As you note, you are not the only author with more than one pen name. I don't know if Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb got the same answer, but it still begs the question. Why can't you have one author page with links to each pseudonym? If there's a technical reason that it can't be done, Amazon should say so. If it's because customer surveys show that people don't want to be bothered by information about mysteries when they are looking for romance (or vice versa), then say that. If it's simply for their own convenience, they should say that too ("maintaining author pages is simpler if done separately" or whatever). If you got one of those responses you might not be happy but you'd understand the why.

Barbara said...

I am (and from the beginning have been) an enthusiastic fan of your St. Cyr books and recently discovered (thanks to GoodReads.com)your C.S. Graham books. The good news is that GoodReads also just now allowed me to find you as Candice Proctor. I know from another author (Jayne Anne Krentz) that GoodRead does sometimes list a.k.a.s but not yet for you. How? (I know it is a .com but it's not AS com as Amazon.

cs harris said...

Susan, I really can see no reason for Amazon not to allow authors to group all their pseudonymous books on one page. True, it would require them to verify that all are by the same author. But since Amazon is already contacting publishers to verify email addresses, how much bigger of a step would that be?

It all seemed so symptomatic of dealing with these big faceless websites--Facebook and blogger being another two. Sites that as an author we must to deal with, but when you run into problems or questions, forget trying to find someone to help you.

Barbara, that's interesting. I have to admit I've never ventured over to GoodReads. The first time I heard of it was in relation to a bad review someone had given me on it, so that may be the source of my avoidance!

Virginia said...

Love your books Susan. Can't wait for the one you're working on now!

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan,
Just want to say I love your books! I wasn't that interested in historical fiction, but this series got my feet wet. Can't wait until your next book comes out!
~A Writer wannabe

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post., which came up on Google search. I have five books with a publisher and one self published on KDP and have an author page on amazon for them under my pen name Elen Hawke. I was tearing my hair out trying to see how to create another author page under my real name Flick Merauld for a book I've just published today. As it's still in review and hasn't gone live I haven't been able to verify creating another author page, but thanks to you i now know what to do. Plus will now check out your books.
Flick.

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