Many Shapes & Sizes I hate blurbs.
I’m willing to bet you hate blurbs.
I’m not going to waste your time talking about blurbs today, however, but about how you can organize your blurbs better, access your books’ information faster, and have fewer eBook marketing headaches.
Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff, and some pretty big promises. But I think after you read this post and look at these pictures you’ll be nodding.
My Amazon blurbs document is now nearly as large as one of my shortest non-fiction books, Write Now!, which is only 14,682 words and 54 pages. My blurbs document is 14,350 words and 80 pages.
So what use could I possibly have for such a monster document? Well, I have so many uses for this thing that it’s just silly, and here are most:
All in all I have a lot of information about all of my eBooks in one Word document. Now, why not a spreadsheet?
I don’t like the way links copy and paste from spreadsheets so I just don’t use that for this. Plus, I have tons of text for my blurbs, so a spreadsheet would become cumbersome.
Let’s take a look at my Amazon blurbs document so you can figure out if this’ll work for you.
I’m willing to bet you hate blurbs.
I’m not going to waste your time talking about blurbs today, however, but about how you can organize your blurbs better, access your books’ information faster, and have fewer eBook marketing headaches.
Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff, and some pretty big promises. But I think after you read this post and look at these pictures you’ll be nodding.
My Amazon blurbs document is now nearly as large as one of my shortest non-fiction books, Write Now!, which is only 14,682 words and 54 pages. My blurbs document is 14,350 words and 80 pages.
So what use could I possibly have for such a monster document? Well, I have so many uses for this thing that it’s just silly, and here are most:
- Amazon Book Links
- Smashwords Book Links
- Barnes & Noble Book Links
- Apple iTunes Book Linkes
- Sony Book Links
- Kobo Book Links
- Bitly Book Links
- Amazon Author Page
- Smashwords Author Page
- Amazon Blurbs
- Smashwords Blurbs
- Amazon ASIN Numbers
- Smashwords ISBN Numbers
- Author Profiles/Bios
- Author Also Bys
All in all I have a lot of information about all of my eBooks in one Word document. Now, why not a spreadsheet?
I don’t like the way links copy and paste from spreadsheets so I just don’t use that for this. Plus, I have tons of text for my blurbs, so a spreadsheet would become cumbersome.
Let’s take a look at my Amazon blurbs document so you can figure out if this’ll work for you.
Your Blurb Document’s TOC
Here’s what the first two pages of the document looks like. I have to have a Table of Contents (TOC), mainly because I have so many books, 26 of them listed there now.
You’ll notice above that list of books is a smaller list. There I have quick links to the things I need the most, like Amazon ASIN numbers and my About the Author pages.
The second page there has Bitly links, which I find to be a fast and easy way to use links and get a bit of info on who’s looking at them.
Lately, however, I haven’t been using them. See, when I see a Bitly link I often don’t click on it. I like my links to tell me a little about where I’m going, and aside from the “amzn,” they tell me nothing.
The second page there has Bitly links, which I find to be a fast and easy way to use links and get a bit of info on who’s looking at them.
Lately, however, I haven’t been using them. See, when I see a Bitly link I often don’t click on it. I like my links to tell me a little about where I’m going, and aside from the “amzn,” they tell me nothing.
Your Amazon About the Author Page
These next four pages are my Amazon About the Author page.
What this consists of is a short bio about me, a picture, a link to my mailing list, a desperate plea for reviews and where readers can leave them, as well as a super-short (40 words) blurb about each of my other books, divided into both fiction and non-fiction categories.
I have the same for Smashwords, as I need to different versions for all of those links. I try to stay on top of this part of my Amazon blurbs document by updating it each time I put out a new book.
I have the same for Smashwords, as I need to different versions for all of those links. I try to stay on top of this part of my Amazon blurbs document by updating it each time I put out a new book.
Different eBook Retailer Links
These next five pages show all the different retailer links I have. You can see links for Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, as well as some author profile links.
These are pretty out of date as I found I just don’t use them that much. Mainly I started to put all of one books’ links just with that book, or simply began using the Bitly links shown above.
Your Amazon ASIN and Smashwords ISBN Manager
These next two pages (well, three actually) show my different ISBN and ASIN numbers.
I use this quite often as most sites’ forms will require a book’s ASIN when you want to promote it. It’s really useful as well when you want to update your author signature on Kboards.
Individual Books in Your Amazon Blurb Document
Alright, let’s get into the books now.
This picture shows the three pages I have for my perma-free book, The Jongurian Mission. You can see the title in bold, which is where I put the bookmark for the TOC, as well as all the links under it.
This picture shows the three pages I have for my perma-free book, The Jongurian Mission. You can see the title in bold, which is where I put the bookmark for the TOC, as well as all the links under it.
Typically I put two links for each book – Amazon and Smashwords. I have links for most every retailer here because I often promote this book and it’s just more convenient to have them all in one place.
Under that you can see I have my Amazon blurb. When I first started this document about a year ago I had different blurbs for Amazon and Smashwords, mainly because of the length restrictions on that shorter Smashwords blurb.
Since then I just put in my long blurb into Smashwords and narrow down what it gives me.
This particular book has three pages, which is rare; most of my books have a page or a page and a half. I have more here because I change this blurb around a bit and often add up to 4,000 words to grab more reader keywords from search as well as to give some back story of my world.
Under that you can see I have my Amazon blurb. When I first started this document about a year ago I had different blurbs for Amazon and Smashwords, mainly because of the length restrictions on that shorter Smashwords blurb.
Since then I just put in my long blurb into Smashwords and narrow down what it gives me.
This particular book has three pages, which is rare; most of my books have a page or a page and a half. I have more here because I change this blurb around a bit and often add up to 4,000 words to grab more reader keywords from search as well as to give some back story of my world.
Writing Great Amazon Blurbs
I’m no great blurb wizard, but lately I’ve been making many of my blurbs shorter.
Here are three books, each only taking but up one page. They’re pretty simple, and whenever I need to access anything about that book it’s there in one place.
Your Also By the Author’s
The very last few pages of my Amazon blurbs document have a mish-mash of old blurbs as well as some old reviews and such. Sometimes I eve include those stars in my blurbs when I put them online using Amazon Author Central.
The last page also has something that can be handy – a list of “Also by’s.” You want your readers to know what else you write, and this list is what I put at the beginning of my books on the Title Page.
I don’t keep it updated that well, but if I were to put a list of all my books on my Title Page it would be too long. Well, I guess I could really lower the font…no, it just wouldn’t work.
I don’t keep it updated that well, but if I were to put a list of all my books on my Title Page it would be too long. Well, I guess I could really lower the font…no, it just wouldn’t work.
Your Amazon Blurbs Document
Well, the name of this article was ‘Your Amazon Blurbs Document,’ but the truth is it’s all about mine.
See, I don’t think you have an Amazon blurbs document. Hey, I could be wrong, and maybe you have a spreadsheet or a simple Word document.
But you’ve just seen what a real Amazon blurbs document looks like, and I hope you can use my template to make something similar yourself.
Happy blurbing!
See, I don’t think you have an Amazon blurbs document. Hey, I could be wrong, and maybe you have a spreadsheet or a simple Word document.
But you’ve just seen what a real Amazon blurbs document looks like, and I hope you can use my template to make something similar yourself.
Happy blurbing!
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