Norberto L. Mercado's Blog: October 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Amazon's Author Rank Tool

If you have an Amazon Author Central account, then you will notice that a new tab has been introduced recently - the Rank tab (as seen in the image below).

This is the new tool on Author Central called Author Rank. To quote Amazon, "Author Rank is based on the sales of all of your books on Amazon.com and is updated hourly."

So how does this tool work?

Well, it automatically lists all the categories of the books you've published on Amazon in the left side bar. (These categories were the ones you set when you first published your book.) I've classified some of my books as Fiction, others as Romance, and still others fall under Historical. So my left side bar looks something like the image below.

If you are an author who writes about a lot of different topics, I would imagine your list to be longer. And note that you have to indicate the books you authored under the Books tab. Otherwise, the sales data about that book won't be factored in your author ranking.

You can then use these categories as filters and sub-filters to generate a graph that looks like the one below.

The graph indicates your current ranking out of a total number of authors. Are there really 500,000 listed authors on Amazon? I don't know. And right now, I'm ranked between 100,000 and 200,000. I must admit, I haven't reached the status of John Grisham or J R R Tolkien yet. But one can always aspire.

Is the tool useful? I guess, from a motivational perspective, it is important to try to at least get into the top 100 list - for further exposure perhaps. I always read from the comments of other authors on Amazon that it is important to stay in the Top 100 list of Authors since some readers will base their purchasing decision on books from the authors in the top of the list. This is pretty difficult goal if your level of book sales have not yet reached the level of sales of those authors already on the list.

Still, thank you to all who have purchased or downloaded copies of Cambodia's Children of Sorrow, The Last Romanov, and Windflowers. I hope you all enjoyed reading these books. Try my other books too.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Apple's Book Widget Builder

Below are a couple of sample book widgets built using Apple's Widget builder. You can access it through this link http://widgets.itunes.apple.com/builder. It is very easy to use. Just search for the book you want to create a widget for, and then copy the code below HTML-Encoded Output:

You can then easily paste the code on your blog and if your readers click on the View button, they will be redirected to Apple's iTunes webpage where the reader can purchase the book via Apple.

This widget also gives ebook authors an advantage in that whenever they decide to change the book cover or book description or blurb, or even the book's price, the widget code no longer needs to be edited. So this widget could exist on multiple sites or blogs, but editing is done from a single source, (Apple of Smashwords), and all the sites can be updated.

The widget also increases credibility and authenticity. The user is given an assurance that the link she is about to click on will lead her to Apple's iTunes site and not some other site. Granted, the look and feel of Apple's widget can be duplicated, but if Apple is wise, it would constantly update this widget to improve its authenticity.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Friends I Gained In Hong Kong From 1992 - 1993 Ce - Cu

Friends I Gained In Hong Kong From 1992 - 1993 Ca

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Amazon's Author Rank Tool

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Apple's Book Widget Builder

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