George Angus, Tumblemoose Writer

Check it out! My E-book on Amazon!

I’m going to assume that most of the folks in the Tumblemoose clan have an Amazon.com Affiliate account set up.  First, if you don’t have one you need to go do it.  It’s free, it’s easy and it is one of the best ways for you to make a little extra money.

Most of us use our account to provide links when we mention a specific book or product in a post.  For Mr. Problogger, this is all that’s needed, I’m sure.  For the rest of us, we need to put a little mustard on the thing.

Here are some things that can help your Amazon.com account soar:

• Set up a complete and helpful profile.  Include your best picture and put some thought into your description, likes and whatnot.
• Review as many things as possible.  You don’t need to have purchased them at Amazon.  The idea is to provide as many thoughtful and helpful reviews as possible because you want to boost your ranking as a reviewer.  Whilst the formula is not as closely guarded as Google’s it’s still a bit of a mystery.  Advice:  Don’t plaster Amazon with a ton of worthless “great book” reviews.  This will only count against you as people will not find these reviews helpful.  The more folks that check the “found this review helpful” box, the higher your ranking in the reviewer system.  Review, review, review.
• I just found a way to “blog” on Amazon.com.  It is through the publishing of guides in the “So You Want To…” section of your profile.  This is a great way to gain exposure and bring folks to your blog (see next bullet point) or to any books that you may have published.  I published 9 of them over the last few days.  I perused the archive on my blog, and if something seemed like it would be a useful guide, I did a cut and paste job, added a product link or two and published the guide.  My titles include “Write a Novel”, “Be a Gentleman”, “Write a Query Letter” and such.  You can write a guide for nearly any subject.  5000 word limit and at least one product link must be included.
• Did you know you can make your blog available as a Kindle subscription?  Every time you post, it is auto-delivered straight to your subscriber’s Kindle.  How cool is that?  I’ve found it useful to use the link within the guides.  I subscribe to my own blog just to see the format and even in the Kindle, the blog shows up just great.  Images are crisp and I’ve not seen a formatting issue yet.
• Finally, make updating your Amazon account and reviews an integral part of your daily ritual.  The more consistent the updates, the better off you account will be.

I hope folks take the advice here and work their Amazon.com accounts.  There’s virtually nothing to lose and a lot to gain.