Authors, if your books are selling on Amazon.com, one thing you should do is to create an amazon author page. You don't have to be an Indie Author using the Kindle Publishing features of Amazon, you just need to be an author. This page allows you to have all of your books (even if it's just one) in one place for the buyer.
Creating an Author Page (This information is for Amazon US site only. I'll have a separate post for International sites)
If you have an amazon.com account (for buying or selling), and you use the same credentials to create your amazon author account. If you don't have an amazon.com account, you must create one of those first, and then can come back and create the author page.
On the home page of Author Central, create an account by clicking on the "Join Now" button. Follow the instructions of creating your account. (If you are an author with more than one penname, you'll need separate accounts for each penname). I have three, so I have three different author central accounts.
"Welcome to Author Central"
Once you get to the author central page, take the time and read all the information. It also provides links to other features that Amazon offers, and this can be especially helpful for those who use (or want to use) Kindle Publishing or ACX (Audio publishing).
Author Page:
The "Author Page" tab is where an author enters their information. The biography area lets the author tell the world (or buyers) about themselves. I personally write it in third person, but it's up to anyone on what they want to share and how they want to share it.
The URL for your author page has a default setting, but it can be changed to fit an appropriate URL, but this can only be changed once.
Blog: If you have an blog that is related to your writing, you can share it here, but only if you have an RSS feed available from your blog provider. You can add several blogs. I currently linked this blog (my author blog) and Amy's Bookshelf Review Blog.
Photos: The photo is what you want people to see when they visit your amazon central page. You upload it from your computer.
Events allows authors to share information about different events.
The video section allows authors to upload videos from their computer, and the videos should be appropriate, and related to your books or writing. It has to be uploaded, not embedded from video websites.
The "Books" Tab
It's obvious what is added here, the books. The purpose of the page is to add books and link them to the author. If this is a first time creation, the book titles can be added here. The book first MUST BE PUBLISHED or available for PREORDER.
Click on "Add More Books" and then search for the book. The easiest way is by ISBN, since authors or titles may be similar. Once the book is found, click on "This is my book" underneath the title. Kindle Books and Paperback books are listed separately. Once a book is published, if you have separate editions that are not automatically linked together, then you need to contact Amazon via the help features of Amazon for them to combine the editions.
Once the books are listed, the author can see if or how many reviews the title has, update information, such as adding "reviews" or additional information about the book, such as excerpts or other information that is appropriate for the title of each section. If there isn't anything in the section, it does not appear on the book page.
Ranks The sales info tab gives details about sales and rankings, and Customer reviews allows the author to see all reviews for all titles.
Author Page:
There are many author pages on Amazon for those to get an idea of how to put together an amazon page. Here is the link to mine (https://www.amazon.com/Amy-Shannon/e/B00EFZD5NU) use it as a sample page.
International Author Central sites information will be provided in a separate post with details on how to create those sites.