Amazon Author Central is Amazon’s free tool for authors to build and manage an Author Page: your photo, biography, list of books and a Follow button that lets readers hear about your new releases. You join with your KDP login, claim your books by ISBN, ASIN or author name, and your page then shows on Amazon’s stores. Full editing is available on the US, UK, German, French, Japanese and Brazilian stores; several other stores, including Australia, display the US version.

This guide includes a few product links near the end. As an Amazon Associate, Freyja Publishing earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

This guide walks through setting up an Amazon author page step by step, how each marketplace behaves, how to handle pen names, what belongs in Author Central versus A+ Content, and the small mistakes that leave an author page looking unfinished.

At a glance

• Author Central is free and is reached from the Marketing page in your KDP account.
• You can edit your page directly on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.com.br.
• Stores such as Amazon.com.au, Amazon.ca, Amazon.in, Amazon.it, Amazon.es and Amazon.com.mx show your US page information, which cannot currently be edited there.
• Editorial reviews are added through Author Central (US only); A+ Content is a separate KDP tool that adds images and text to a book’s detail page.
• Each pen name gets its own Author Page, and adding a pen name to your account does not publicly link it to your other names.

What Amazon Author Central actually does

Amazon’s KDP help pages describe Author Central as the place to create an Author Page with up-to-date information about you and your books. In practice it does three jobs: it gives readers a page that gathers all your books in one place, it lets readers follow you, and it gives you a small dashboard of information about how your books are doing.

According to KDP’s help page on Author Central, the features include:

• adding your books to your Author Page
• adding your biography, including in different languages
• checking your books’ Amazon Best Sellers Rank
• checking customer reviews
• adding editorial reviews for your books (US only)
• checking BookScan print sales information (US only)
• seeing how many Amazon followers you have

The Follow feature matters more than many authors realise. When a reader clicks Follow on your Author Page or on one of your book pages, Amazon may notify them of new releases and eligible pre-orders, as long as they accept marketing emails from Amazon and have not already bought the book. Amazon may also email followers when you submit at least three new book recommendations. You do not control those emails and you cannot see who your followers are, so treat Follow as a useful extra rather than a replacement for your own reader list. The guide to building an author email list covers the part you do own.

How to create an Amazon author page, step by step

You need at least one book live or on pre-order before you can finish setting up. Amazon’s KDP help lays out the route, and this is the same order in a printable list:

1. Sign in to KDP and open the Marketing page.
2. In the Author Central section, choose a marketplace from the drop-down menu (start with Amazon.com, as several other stores copy it).
3. Click Manage author page.
4. On Author Central, click Join for free and sign up using your KDP account.
5. Search for one of your books by ISBN, ASIN or author name.
6. Select the book and confirm that you want to join as that author.
7. Add your author photo and biography on the profile area of the page.
8. Claim any remaining books, including paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions if they have not grouped automatically.
9. Set a custom Author Page URL if one is offered, so you have a short link to share.
10. Repeat the marketplace step for Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.com.br if you sell there.

If a book does not appear when you search, or a claim is not approved, Author Central has a contact option for author support. Allow time for changes to show on the live store; edits are not always instant.

Every marketplace is not the same

This is the part that catches out many authors outside the United States. Your Author Page is not one global page. Amazon treats the stores in two groups, and knowing which group a store sits in tells you where to make your edits.

Amazon store	Can you edit the Author Page there?	What readers see
Amazon.com (US)	Yes	Your US page, including editorial reviews and BookScan data for you
Amazon.co.uk (UK)	Yes	The page you set up in the UK store
Amazon.de (Germany)	Yes	The page you set up in the German store; a German-language bio helps
Amazon.fr (France)	Yes	The page you set up in the French store
Amazon.co.jp (Japan)	Yes	The page you set up in the Japanese store
Amazon.com.br (Brazil)	Yes	The page you set up in the Brazilian store
Amazon.com.au, .ca, .in, .it, .es, .com.mx	No, not currently	Information copied from your US page, if your books are sold there

Two practical points follow from this. First, Australian, Canadian, Indian, Italian, Spanish and Mexican readers see your US biography and photo, so write the US bio for a worldwide audience: avoid phrases such as “here in the States” and avoid prices or dates that will go stale. Second, the UK, German, French, Japanese and Brazilian pages do not fill themselves in. An author who only sets up the US page can look absent on Amazon.co.uk, which is often a significant store for authors in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

Pen names and co-authors

If you write under more than one name, each name needs its own Author Page, because Amazon groups books by the exact author name on the book. A romance pen name and a non-fiction pen name are two separate pages, each with its own bio, photo and followers. That separation is usually what you want: readers of one genre are not shown books from another.

From inside Author Central you can add books published under a pen name, and doing so does not publicly connect that pen name to your other names. Amazon limits how many author profiles one account can manage, so if you run several pen names, check the current limit in Author Central’s own help before you plan your set-up. Our guide to using pen names strategically covers the wider decision of when a separate name helps and when it splits your audience for no gain.

Three habits keep pen-name pages tidy:

• Spell the name identically on every edition, including middle initials and punctuation, so editions group under one page.
• Give each pen name a photo or brand image that suits its genre, and only use a real photo if you are comfortable with that.
• Keep the bio in that name’s voice. A romance bio and a self-help bio are written for very different readers.

Co-authored books appear on each contributor’s page once each author has claimed the book in their own Author Central account.

Author Central vs A+ Content vs your book description

Authors often mix up the three places where they can add words to Amazon. Each one has a different job and a different home.

Feature	Where you manage it	Where it appears	Best used for
Author Page (bio, photo, book list)	Author Central	Your Author Page, plus the author section on book pages	Who you are and everything you have written
Editorial reviews	Author Central (US only)	The book’s detail page	Short review quotes from publications and named reviewers
A+ Content	KDP Marketing page, A+ Content Manager	The “From the Publisher” section, lower on the book’s detail page	Images, banners, comparison tables, series order
Book description	KDP title set-up	Near the top of the book’s detail page	Selling this one book

A few rules from KDP’s A+ Content help are worth knowing before you design anything. A+ Content is available for published KDP books and for pre-orders. It has to be created and published in each marketplace where you want it shown. Compliant content should appear within eight business days, though it can take longer in busy periods. Quotes and endorsements from private individuals or customers are not allowed; up to four quotes are allowed from well-known publications or public figures, each with its source. KDP’s help also says that editorial reviews belong in Author Central rather than in A+ Content.

Your book description does the heavy lifting on the product page because it sits near the top. If you have limited time, polish the description and your keywords and categories first, then the Author Page, then A+ Content.

How to write an author bio that works on Amazon

The bio is the one part of your Author Page that every visitor reads. Readers arrive wanting to know whether you write the kind of book they enjoy, so lead with that rather than your life story.

1. Open with what you write. One sentence on genre and the experience your books give: “writes slow-burn small-town romance with a guaranteed happy ending” tells a reader more than “has loved books since childhood”.
2. Add one or two credibility points. Series names, relevant professional background for non-fiction, or awards you can name truthfully.
3. Add a human detail. Where you live in broad terms, a pet, a hobby that connects to your books. Keep personal information to what you are happy to have public.
4. Point to what’s next. Mention the series to start with, or that readers can follow you for new releases.
5. Write in third person unless your genre’s readers expect a chattier first-person tone; check the bios of successful authors in your category.
6. Keep it short. Readers skim on phones, so a few short paragraphs usually beat a long block of text.

If you sell in Germany, France, Japan or Brazil, a bio in that store’s language is worth the cost of a careful translation, because Author Central supports biographies in different languages.

Who should prioritise Author Central, and who can wait

Make it a launch-week job if: you have more than one book, you write in a series, you sell paperbacks in the US (BookScan data is US only), or you are building a recognisable pen name. Our book launch guide places it in the pre-launch checklist for this reason.

It can wait a week or two if: your first book has just gone live and you are still fixing the cover, description and categories. A thin Author Page is better than none, but a weak book page costs you more readers.

For the wider picture of where an Author Page fits alongside your website, newsletter and social profiles, see our guide to building an author platform. Your Amazon page is useful, but it is rented space; your author website is the one place you fully control.

Author Central set-up checklist

• Joined Author Central through the KDP Marketing page
• All books claimed, including every format and any co-authored titles
• Clear author photo or pen-name brand image uploaded
• Bio written for a worldwide audience, with genre in the first sentence
• Custom Author Page URL set, if available, and saved for your website and social profiles
• UK page set up if you sell paperbacks or ebooks in the UK
• German, French, Japanese and Brazilian pages set up where you have readers
• Editorial reviews added on the US store, using reviews you have permission to quote
• A+ Content created separately in each marketplace you care about
• Reminder set to refresh the bio and book list after each new release

Common mistakes

• Setting up the US page only. UK, German, French, Japanese and Brazilian readers then see a bare or missing page.
• Trying to edit the Australian page. Amazon.com.au currently shows US information, so your edits belong on the US page.
• Inconsistent author names. “J. Smith” on the ebook and “Jo Smith” on the paperback can create two separate author pages.
• Putting customer quotes into A+ Content. KDP’s guidelines do not allow quotes from private individuals or customers, and non-compliant content can be rejected.
• Adding editorial reviews you have no right to use. Only quote reviews from sources that published them and that you can name accurately. Our guide to getting book reviews the right way explains what Amazon allows.
• Writing a bio with dates that go stale. “My new book comes out next month” will still be there a year later unless you update it.
• Linking pen names you wanted kept separate. Think before you mention another pen name in a bio, because that bio is public.

Related guide: How to Write a Book Blurb That Sells Without Costly Mistakes.

Related guide: Author Bio: How to Write the Right One Without Mistakes.

Sources this guide draws on: Amazon KDP help pages on Author Central and on A+ Content, and the Amazon Author Central help centre.

Frequently asked questions

Is Amazon Author Central free?

Yes. Joining Author Central and creating an Author Page costs nothing. You sign up with your existing KDP account, and the only requirement is that you have at least one book on Amazon to claim.

How do I create an Amazon author page without a book?

You can’t complete the set-up without a book, because joining requires you to claim a title by ISBN, ASIN or author name. If your first book is on pre-order, you can usually claim it then. Many authors set up the page during pre-order so it is ready on launch day.

Why can’t I edit my author page on Amazon Australia?

Amazon’s KDP help says Author Pages on Amazon.com.au, and on the Canadian, Indian, Italian, Spanish and Mexican stores, display information from the US marketplace and cannot currently be edited there. Edit your US page and the change carries across.

Can I have separate author pages for different pen names?

Yes. Each author name on your books has its own Author Page, and you can add books under a pen name from within Author Central. Adding a pen name to your account does not publicly link it to your other names, though anything you write in a bio is public.

What is the difference between Author Central and A+ Content?

Author Central manages your Author Page, bio, photo, book list and US editorial reviews. A+ Content is a KDP tool for adding images, text and comparison tables to an individual book’s detail page, in the “From the Publisher” section, and it has to be published separately in each marketplace.

Does an Amazon author page increase sales?

No tool can promise sales. A complete Author Page makes it easier for a reader who liked one book to find the rest, and the Follow button gives Amazon a way to tell interested readers about new releases. It works best alongside a strong book page and your own mailing list.

Set aside an hour, claim every edition, write a bio that tells readers what you write, and fill in the marketplaces you actually sell in. Then put a reminder in your diary to refresh it with every new release, because an up-to-date Author Page quietly does its job for every book you publish after this one.