[stylist] Amazon book description question

[Applebutter Hill]

Ann,
For Create Space, you not only are allowed to write the description and bio,
you have to do it. I don't remember anymore what the restrictions are. They
encourage you to set up an author page on Author Central, which is also an
Amazon company. You can go to the site and read up on what is required, and
you can start an account ahead of time, so you can get familiar with it
before you're trying to meet a deadline.

I do remember that Smashwords wanted two book descriptions -- one 400
characters long and the other 4,000, because the sites they place your book
on are so different. They're talking about a character count including
spaces, BTW.

As far as reviews go, there are two kinds (book reviews done by newspapers
etc.  and customer reviews. You have some control over the  former, but not
the  latter. You can't stop a journalist from publishing something, but you
don't have to include it on your author's page. The whole point of the
Amazon customer review system is to get customer feedback out there for
other potential customers. Personally, I think you should welcome bad
reviews -- as long as that's not all you get. I've been reading up on
marketing strategies, and one thing that I learned is that the average
Amazon customer is more put off by a product that has all 5s than they are
of a product for which someone wrote a bad review. Think about it; all 5s
sounds like you had all of your relatives review it. It's not trustworthy or
honest. No book is going to appeal to every reader. I wish I could get more
reviews, even bad ones.

I can't help thinking about a review I got on the reader social network
GoodReads. I had done a give-away, and one of the people who won a print
copy wrote a review. She only gave it a 3. She went on to say that she was
absolutely rivited by the book and couldn't put it down. She praised my
writing style and said she'd generally give a book that well written a 5 or
at least a 4, but she had some objections to it. She didn't like the ending
and thought that my making the heroine and her best friend refugees wasn't
necessary. There's a character named  Rutherford, who is my husband's
favorite; well, she didn't get him or the humor of it at all. She felt that
my use of fantasy took away from the bullying issues and that the bullying
took away from the fantasy. She said she'd probably read it again.

I was tickled pink by this. Someone read my book and took the time to think
and write about it. I wish I could get it placed on Amazon.

Oh, and you asked about uploading other photos to Create Space besides the
cover. There was a place to upload an author photo. Again, I don't remember
the size limitations. The Author Central site lets you upload a bunch of
photos, and by the way, the Kindle and Amazon pages direct people to the
Author Central page. I do remember that Smashwords has a file upload limit
of 2 mb. I remember it, because I had a change to my book cover and wanted
to replace it. Smashwords is the only site I have not been able to do it.
The file is 2.59 mb, and I can't figure out how to reduce the file size a
little bit. I can make it a couple hundred kb but I can't find a way to get
it just under 2mb and not change the proportions. Amazon is going for
quality, and they recently increased their minimum file size requirements. I
don't think they even have a maximum.
HTH,
Donna
.  Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ann Bliss
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 1:26 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: [stylist] Amazon book description question

    Donna and others,
     I am assuming that when you upload  a book to Create Space or
Smashwords or Amazon directly, you, the author, can write the description
copy as well as the info about the author?  Does Create Space offer you the
possability of creating an author page or do you do that afterwards?  If
someone writes a poor review of your work, is there any way to get it
retracted or is it thee forever? How do you upload other immages to Amazon
other than the cover?
Ann


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