Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast

Turning Amazon Pages Into Conversion Engines With A+ Content

• Penny C. Sansevieri and Amy Cornell Author Marketing Experts • Season 6 • Episode 3

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Want a simple, concrete way to sell more books on Amazon? We’re taking you inside A+ Content—the image modules beneath your description—and showing how smart visuals, tight copy, and brand consistency can raise conversions, reduce returns, and make your page feel like a pro built it. 

Together we map the shopper’s journey down the page: how the cover earns the scroll, how A+ tiles anchor expectations, and how crisp visuals plus one-line hooks close the gap between browsing and buying. We share real numbers from Amazon (yes, A+ content can help you sell more books!). You’ll learn the most common mistakes, the right way to quote reviews, and why fewer, stronger modules beat filling every slot.

We also cover the nuts and bolts of access—KDP’s Marketing tab for indie authors, and how to coordinate with your publisher if they control the page. For series authors, we explain how to showcase world-building and covers without turning your tiles into a tech spec sheet. 

Finally, we tackle a listener question: should you use an author photo or a brand logo on your Amazon Author Page? We weigh trust signals, genre expectations, and when a logo makes sense for pen names or corporate-facing nonfiction.

If you’re ready to turn your Amazon detail page into a conversion engine, this walkthrough gives you the blueprint. Subscribe, share with an author friend, and leave a quick review telling us the one A+ change you’ll make this week.

And here is the article on the KDP changes we mentioned at the start of the call: https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/717526/Amazons-2026-eBook-Download-Update-A-Reader-First-Change-that-Publishers-Should-Understand.htm

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SPEAKER_01:

Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sansavery and Amy Cornell. And I we are we're really excited. We're back for week three. And I want to kick off the show first off by thanking you all so much for your responses. Um we actually are getting some really great questions through our text to chat with uh Amy and Penny. And we're gonna answer one of those at the end of the show. But I just want to remind you to text the word podcast to 888-402-8940 and send us your show idea. We've gotten some show ideas too that we've we're Amy and I are gonna brainstorm. Send us your questions, um, show feedback, all the things we love that. And speaking of show feedback, we are still doing, and this is gonna be in the show notes, we are still doing listener feedback for 2026. So we want, we love your responses, by the way. We've gotten a whole bunch of responses from people. We build these shows around you all. So, what do you want to see more of? What do you want to see less of? What's the ideal show length? We're getting a lot of people who really like the 30-minute shows. Not so many that like up the up to an hour. So we apologize when we get super chatty, which we do, obviously, from time to time. Absolutely. But so, Amy, I know we're talking today, we're talking today specifically about A plus content, and we're gonna dive headlong into that in just a second. But I wanted to start off with I mentioned this to you in text, and I remember you said, I don't understand how that's a thing. Like we because every time Amazon, and and you know, this is actually true. Every time Amazon does something, you and I are always kind of like, I don't understand how that's a thing. Like, right, you know, so in December, and it's interesting kind of when Amazon launched this, like they launched it in December when everybody was kind of distracted, and you know what I mean? And we didn't really get a lot of new data until the first part of this year. So starting on January, I think it's January 20th, um, every yeah, so um they're changing their DRM stuff, basically. Okay. So when you upload your book to Kindle and you check, you know, the DRM, a lot of us think that that really protects our book. And uh essentially, I mean, if anybody, you know, wants to pirate your book, they can pirate it. And anybody who has been pirated can tell you that that's true. What Amazon is now doing is they are very they are starting to give readers the opt the opportunity, this, and this is where I lost Amy in the texturing, to actually download the file, the book file, to their Kindle, to their to their computer, to read offline, to read it on their phone, to whatever. And the reason that Amazon's doing this is because readers have really have spoken up. And anytime Amazon does anything, it's all very customer/slash reader focused. Um, I just wrote an article for we don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole on this, but I just wrote an article on this for IBPA, um, which we will link in the show notes. And it it it's an interesting take. It's a lot, it's a lot less like everybody like, oh my god, like I had a client write me the day that this announcement came out. It's just like, oh my gosh, Amazon is, you know, ruining all the things. And I think that's everybody's sort of first inclination whenever Amazon changes something. It's like, oh my gosh, Amazon's making my life harder. This really doesn't have like if you want your DRM settings, if you don't want people to download your book, fine, you can still do that. But the option to allow downloads, and and in the IBPA article I write about why you might want to actually do that and why, you know, where it fits and where it's a good idea. So you definitely want to explore that. Like I said, we'll put that in the show notes. But it was one of those things, Amy, where like you and I were chatting and you were just like, I don't even know how that's possible. Right?

SPEAKER_03:

That's the thing. How one, I want to know how people figured this out. Yeah, I do too. Because I certainly didn't get a message saying, like, check out this great new feature. You know what I mean? So it's like, what?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you might on your Kindle, because I listened. I mean, I do read on my um, I read on a Kindle app. I don't really read on a Kindle device, but you may get a notification on your Kindle that says, Hey, guess what, Amy? You can now download, you know, do you want to download it?

SPEAKER_03:

No, and like everything else, I probably if I did get it, I probably swiped it away. Because I'm like, no, I barely get time to read as it is. Don't bother me.

SPEAKER_01:

So, okay, so for some people like Amy, who's very busy, uh, she's not gonna pay attention to your notification. But anyway, we will link the article in the show notes. Here's the thing that y'all need to know it's much, it's much less caustic of a thing than you probably initially thought. Because a lot of authors lost their minds on Reddit. Like I did to write this article for IBPA, I did a deep dive into the Kindle boards and on Reddit, and people were just like, oh my God, this is awful. And it's really not that big of a change. I mean, honestly, it's really, it's not like Amazon saying, Oh, all your books are gonna be free or downloadable. Like you know, as an author slash publisher, you you know, you still have that choice. So anyway, link in the show notes. Let's but Amazon A plus Content is a really I know we've done a couple of shows on this. Um I I really love talking about A plus content in that a lot of times authors really forget the importance of not just grabbing back more real estate on your Amazon retail page. Because the A plus content, and by the way, if you if you're listening to this, you're just like, Penny, I don't even know what A plus content is. If you've ever seen a retail page, whether it's book or otherwise, it that has imagery on it, that is Amazon's A plus content. And Amazon rolled out A plus content originally with um products, just not non-book items on Amazon. That's how they originally notice it. And we're gonna talk a little bit about the conversion lift uh about A plus content and and why Amazon moved it over to books. But what we're really talking about, I mean, other than yes, taking back space on your Amazon retail page, is uh how your brain reacts to your retail page in the first few seconds, right? So visuals anchor expectations, they build trust, all of the things, which is why a lot of times on this podcast, Amy and I preach the importance of a good book cover, because that is the first visual that the that the reader sees when they land on your retail page, right? If you if you can get them to scroll down um through your book description and see the A plus content, that's a that's a win because A plus content can hook and convert readers. And we'll talk a little the conversion numbers, by the way, when we get to that, are really kind of astounding. I did a little bit of a deep dive on this the other day as we were preparing for this podcast, and it's pretty amazing how much of a sales lift that you can get from well-placed A plus content. Um, Amy, I want to ask you where I know that you work on a lot of A plus content for our authors. And also, just as a side note, we talk a lot about how you can access A plus content, how you can upload it. So we want to make sure and address that in this because we've done a number of shows on how problematic it is when authors cannot access these modules. And I think that this show will really drive home, you know, the importance of it. But where do you see that authors make the biggest mistakes in A plus content? Just, I mean, just across the board.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh the top things that come to mind in terms of what I see most often, if well, one, a lot of authors don't use it at all. Right. Which is a huge, because it's interesting when you're you're on a book page that doesn't have A plus content. I'm sure you've experienced this, Penny, and I'm sure a lot of people listening have as well. When you're when you're a shopper, you know what I mean? Yeah. How you get past the book description and maybe you're looking for reviews. And it's weird how when sometimes you scroll scroll through a bunch of nonsense, especially if an author doesn't have like a great bio. It's crazy how much like wasteland there can be on your retail page if you're not utilizing all of these free features. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does make sense. It definitely makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a bunch of like nonsense and technical stuff and Amazon trying to sell you random stuff that you're not interested in and trying to distract you. Anyway, that's another like that's an aside, but another really like important reason for why you want to take advantage of all these free features that Amazon offers you because it just makes your retail page seem so much more complete. You know, so a lot of times what I see is blurry content. Oh yes, you know what I mean? So that's a number, that's one that I see a lot, is where it may have looked great on whatever program they were using, but then once they uploaded it, it didn't convert well. And that happens a lot of times with fonts. Like some fonts may look great on your design program, but then they don't look great on Amazon's platform. And honestly, you're playing in Amazon's sandbox at that point. So you, you know, we wouldn't get into all of the things, but that is a big one. You definitely want to look at your preview. And if it's not amazing, don't do it. You know what I mean? I think Penny, this is one of those areas where good enough is more likely to actually hurt you than it will help you. You know what I mean? Sure. Yes. Yeah. So I would say blurry content. I would say content that also I see this a lot as well, where it's not really obvious why it's there. So maybe it makes sense to the author because they're more familiar with their book, they're more familiar with their subject matter, something like that. But as somebody who has no familiarity with the author of the book or the subject matter, you kind of get a little lost because it tells your brain, like it stops you from that natural flow of scrolling through the retail page and what you're expecting to see. So I would say off the top of my head, those are the biggest ones. So blurry imagery, imagery that doesn't look super crisp, like it didn't convert well when uploaded. And then content on the page that is out of context for just an everyday shopper. You know, you kind of almost have to be an insider to know to make sense of why it's there and what the value is.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, exactly. And here's the really weird thing. Uh aside from the sales numbers, which like I said, I've alluded to now a whole bunch of times and we'll talk about in a second. But she's really keeping us on the edge of our seats with that, isn't she? I know, sorry. I know. I'm just dangling those sales numbers. I know, I love it. But here's the thing is really well done A plus content. Yes, it should match, like Amy said, you know, no blurry images, it should match her cover category, all those other things. But it it does reassure the buyer, right? So, but to you know that okay, this is what I want to read, et cetera, et cetera. Um but it also lowers the amount of returns that you get for your book because they thought it was something else, but it's really not. And the A plus content can do a lot to sort of further unpack the topic, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Right, or kill your read-throughs.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, exactly, exactly. And and you know, I mean, the A plus content, and I know you know Amy talked about this, but you have to. I mean, I'm a huge fan of putting verbiage on A plus content, but I'm not a fan of throwing a bunch of words on there just to add words. Like I would rather have something that was so visually appealing because the brain actually processes uh images far faster than it does text. So I think there's a there's a statistic, excuse me, I'm apparently having a hard time talking in the new year, but um that said that the brain processes images around 60,000 times faster than verbiage, which we still want you to have a book description. Like if you're listening, they're just like, well, why just I don't leave the book description blank because you can't do that. But prioritizing imagery, you know, doing a balanced combination of imagery and verbiage, I think, is really the way to go, as opposed to having just I because I've seen A plus content where somebody just crammed a whole bunch of text on there.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. They want to include like the entire review from Midwest book reviews in like a tiny square. It's like that's not where that goes.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, exactly. But I mean, you know, you you bring up a great point. So, you know, reviews, and I know Amy, we can talk about the ins and outs of putting reviews on A Plus content because Amazon gets a little weird about that too. But putting, you know, awards and reviews and things that you had on there, you don't necessarily have to include, as Amy said, the entire you can just pick one line from the review and put the the actual whole review like somewhere else on your page. Um because the skimming is something that we do on um, we skim before we read, right? And we do this not just on Amazon, we do this everywhere, which is why like when you when we talk when we talked about websites and having lots of skimmable text, and the same thing is true in Amazon, right? Having your book description not be just one clump of text, right? Um making it something that is um that is more skimmable, that the that the mind can more easily process. Because it's all really about converting people. Like, yes, you want to entice people with your A plus content, you want to dazzle them, but you want to sell a book at the end of the day. Otherwise, why are we even bothering with all of these, you know, little things that these hoops that Amazon makes you jump through to get to this A plus content? Speaking of which, Amy, talk a little bit about. So if an author's listening to this and they're like, oh, I really want to do this, how do we access A plus content? Um, if an author has a publisher, can you talk about that just quickly? Because I think it's worth mentioning here.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, if you have a publisher and they uploaded your book for you through their account, you're going to have to give that to your publisher.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. So what you're saying is that they would design the A plus content and then give it to the publisher to upload it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And we do that a lot, honestly. We do that for a lot of clients because, you know, we talk about this a lot. Publishers, they're there to produce books. Uh, I think a lot of people have very high expectations of what publishers are supposed to do, which has kind of led them down to like offering this and offering that, doesn't mean that's what they specialize in or want to be doing. You know what I mean? So while they have access to A plus content, it makes complete sense that that is not a huge focus of theirs. You know what I mean? They are not, they are not there to help you with your brand long term. They're there to help you produce a book, you know. So if you used a publisher or publishing service, check with them first. You know, just get the green light that, you know, before you spend a bunch of time designing things, get the green light from somebody saying, yes, we will upload that for you if you provide it, and then you're good to go. And if you've self-published and you have access to your book through Amazon, then it's quite literally through your KDP account under the marketing tab. And I will say, of all the things that we do on the back end of Amazon sometimes, the A plus content is actually pretty intuitive in terms of the platform walking you through the steps of how to upload, how to attach it to your book, how to submit it for approval, things like that.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, and you can go to other because on the back end of Amazon, and it's way too in the weeds to get into on this podcast, but on the back end of Amazon, it gives you on in KDP, what Amy just mentioned, it gives you uh a whole bunch of different options for quote unquote modules as Amazon refers to them. But you can literally just go start to dig through other retail pages and book pages, and you'll see pretty much what's you know what's available because there are a whole bunch of different options to, you know, to choose from. Question, I know, and I know this wasn't in the show notes, but I'm just really curious. A lot of authors do um they do like they use their A plus content to showcase their entire library of books. Like for an author who, let's say, has six or seven books in a series or whatever. Do you what do you think of that use of A plus content?

SPEAKER_03:

I think it can be, I think if you're using a lot of the more visual elements, it can be a great way to remind shoppers on your individual retail page that you have a series. Um, I mean, but I am a big fan of Amazon's dedicated series pages too. That's something else, I mean, that's an entirely different topic, but I love when authors take advantage of that because I think it makes it very simple for the shopper to actually shop and buy books and order and things like that. I thought that was a brilliant when they added that. That was one thing that, you know, kudos to Amazon for getting right for sure. Um, I think when you get super technical, it gets a little people don't want to see that. That's not what they're there for, you know. Because I mean, some of the modules get very technical. And honestly, I think that's because they essentially took what they gave regular retail products and were just like, yeah, we'll just plop this into the book section now and be it, we're good to go.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So I think, you know, everybody has access to the same kind of modules. And I know in the examples, they'll show series ones. We've done it a few times, but we focus specifically on using, you know, if you're going to highlight a series, we focus on highlighting what, you know, kind of that next level world-building elements of the series. And again, if you use visual more visual modules versus the really technical ones, then again, I think it's a great way to do another another just kind of subtle reminder that this book is a part of a series. You get to show people what those other covers look like. You know what I mean? There's some there's some really smart ways to do it. But I would say, uh, you know, to your point, don't necessarily go with the really obvious module that says, like, here's your series breakdown module. Like, you know, look at some examples and see how other authors have handled it, because there are some more creative ways to do it that that hold truer to the more visual elements versus breaking down a lot of technical specs like page numbers and things like that, which is that's not the kind of fun shopping, you know, people are there for.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, right, right, exactly. And I know in next week's show we're going to be talking about author brand, but the the A plus content, if used correctly, can help to strengthen your author brand just in terms of you know consistency across series, reinforcing your expertise. Um if used correctly. But as you pointed out, Amy, I mean, if if you're trying to cram too much into your A plus content, like I want to tell people about all the things that's To maybe thoughtfully spreading it out across a series, or you know what I mean, or maybe drop putting that entire Midwest book review in cramp great plus content. You know, right.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly. But I will say that I mean, I you know, I love that we're talking about the brand part of it because you know, again, we're playing an Amazon sandbox most of the time, and they've got some pretty strict rules. But A content is a great way to incorporate your brand on your retail page. It's really hard to do in other ways because Amazon doesn't let you include a link to your website. You got to get tricky with that. You know what I mean? There's so many ways that Amazon prevents you from trying to send people off the page that and they will kick back things, they won't let you include certain stuff, they won't let you reference your website. There's all these things that you can't do. But with A content, you can visually represent your brand. You can use the same a very similar or the same banner you use on your website. You can add your logo. There's so many things that you can do on a visual level that Amazon does allow. Yeah. That you can't do in written form. You know what I mean? So that's another place. Like this is where you actually turn your Amazon retail page and bring in elements of your brand so it really you turn it into your own.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, right, exactly. Um, okay, so before and I'm gonna have you kick off the the A plus content audit. I want you to to lead off with that. But I want to talk a little bit about what what I have been alluding to since we started the show, which is Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know this either. Like the list for everybody listening, it's like I didn't see these notes either. So I've been on the edge of my seat just as you have then.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh, that's so funny. All right, so Amazon reports, and I am just reading this just from some of the some of the articles that I've that I pulled together. Amazon reports that A plus content can improve a product's conversion rate by three to ten percent on average. Crazy. Right? Basic A plus content alone. So even if you don't get like if you feel like I'm not talented enough to get something really crazy, but I'm gonna keep it low, it's gonna be lovely, it's gonna be on brand, it's gonna feel like the book, etc. Has known to show a sales increase of up to 8%. That's amazing, right? Premium A plus content. Now, I think the premium A plus content really refers to a lot of their non-book retail pages because they're like some of that premium content, like their videos and things like that, they can drive sales up to 20% higher.

SPEAKER_03:

And I think we've all that's amazing because but I think we've all experienced that, right, Penny? Have you been you've been shopping on Amazon where a brand takes a moment to actually put a bunch of additional information about the product A plus content, about their company and how it was founded, how it's run, all those kind of things. And all of a sudden you're like, now I take this product and this company so much more seriously. Yeah, exactly. They've given you all this additional information. And to your point about how it doesn't have to be fancy, the difference in just adding a very clear branded logo that matches your website elevates you above hundreds of thousands of other books and authors that are on Amazon right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. And even a mid-range, so they estimate that even a mid-range increase, 5% up to 10%, can really I mean it can change your life if you're sitting here and you're thinking I'm not selling books. I read this book over the holiday break. I love reading, I as Amy knows, like I just devour like business books and good to great and all those other things. But anyway, I read this book over the holiday break and it talked about how incrementally getting 1% better, right? So getting 1% better. So if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, this just sounds like a lot of work, a 1% better sales lift on your retail page can be it doesn't sound like a lot, maybe, but over time it can really change your life, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Absolutely, absolutely. And if you're thinking, if you can even pull off 1% for each, you know, mini project that you commit to doing improvements, you know what I mean? So like your A plus content can be a 1%, but we're gonna do other shows that can account for another one, you know what I mean? So those 1% can add up, even if one effort only gives you an extra 1%. There's other work you can still do that's typically very simple. It just often gets overlooked. And then you're adding up those 1%, and all of a sudden, like you said, Penny, you're actually you're in a whole other league.

SPEAKER_01:

You're in a whole other league. Yeah. And it really talked about it, gave a whole bunch of examples about how companies, companies that have implemented the 1% rule and how it changes in in ways where you just think, oh, you know, 1%, it's not really gonna matter. It absolutely does matter. So if you ever, you know, not just this show, but any show that we do, if you ever listen to these shows, you're just like, oh, I'm just so overwhelmed, just make an effort to just, you know, make get make a 1%, just be 1% better than you were yesterday or last week or last month or last year or whatever. And and keep, you know, chipping away at it. Because Mark, and this is, you know, I'm in the middle of writing five, rewriting, I should say, five-minute book marketing for authors. And this is really where I think I've I've I authors have struggled with marketing because it feels like this massive, it's this big thing, right? It's this big elephant in the room, so to speak, right? Right. And one of the reasons why I think the five-minute book marketing for authors is important and why I wanted to redo it is because you have to, if you keep chipping away at all these things, eventually you're gonna look, you're gonna look back and you're just thinking, oh my gosh, I accomplished so much. So if your only takeaway from this is gotta have A plus content, gotta be 1% better, you're I I consider that a win. Absolutely. Um, Amy, talk a little. So why don't you walk us through doing the content audit? Yes. So what's the the first thing? So if somebody has A plus content and they're like, oh, I don't really like I'm not really seeing it. Sales lift, like I'm not really seeing any benefits from it. Talk us through what that what what they might be doing wrong.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. Okay, so step one, and we say this for a lot of different, you know, things that we talk about, but you want to look at it like a reader, like a shopper. You know, we say it all the time. It's very easy to get too close to your own work. Everything makes sense to you, right? Because you're the author. Yeah. So you really have to be smart about being objective. All right. So, and Penny, you mentioned this earlier. Does your A plus content does it match the book cover? You know, does this look like the same product? Or do you have a book cover that, you know, goes in one way, but then your A plus content uses entirely different colors, uses entirely different fonts? Believe it or not, the brain recognizes that. Somebody may not be sitting there and going, oh, that's this font. That's okay, that's very technical. But believe it or not, everything is much more seamless for the brain when fonts work together and complement each other versus jumping around. And they also set a tone. So would and then we talked about this too. Would a stranger understand what makes the book different? You got to remember a lot of times, this is the first time somebody is interacting with your brand or your book. Okay. So you don't want to put anything in your A plus content that would be confusing or that needs a lot of context because that doesn't make sense. You know, and they're already going to feel like, okay, well, at that point, they've already missed the boat. They were late to the party. I'm just going to move on to something else, right? And then skim, like Penny said, skim. Spend like five seconds. Don't overanalyze it. You know, really challenge yourself to spend five seconds looking at your A plus content. And is it emotional? Is it informative? Is it doing what it needs to do in order to get somebody to go, I want to buy this book? And if it doesn't, then that's a problem, you know?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's very simple. But your A plus content has to make sense for the book, for your cover, for your description, the whole tone. But it also you have to remember it has a purpose. It's there to convert, it's there to help you make that sale. You know, so is it doing that, or did you just throw stuff up there to, you know, to say you did A plus content to check it off your list because you knew that was the right thing to do? I get it. That happens a lot, not shaming you, but really, this is the time to really evaluate and go, okay, is that really working for me, or is it just there?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Right, exactly. And I also think that, you know, that to our next point about evaluating the messaging, that what you pointed out happens a lot, right? So authors get overwhelmed and they want to check it off their list and they think, oh my gosh, I've got to get this, you know, I've got to get this uh uploaded on Amazon and get it done. And then they, you know, they go back and they do this eval and they realize, well, the messaging doesn't really match the book or there's too much verbiage on it. Like we said, that Midwest book review that's jammed into this little box and you can't really write.

SPEAKER_03:

Nobody's gonna try to read that.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's gonna hurt their eyes. Right, exactly. But a lot of times what happens when authors just kind of rush to to put the A plus content is that um, yes, the text can be definitely too long, but a lot of times it's too vague or too generic. Right. Right. So that's the other thing, though, too, is that you really have to make sure. So we talk about, we did actually last year we did a whole show about elevator pitches. So if you didn't listen to that show, if you're a new listener, first off, welcome. We love new listeners, but go back and listen to that show because that will help you a lot with this messaging, right? You don't want to be too generic. For example, this book is about love and loss, as opposed to a slow burn, grief to love romance, perfect for fans of Emily Henry, right? For nonfiction, learn practical steps to improve your life. I read a lot of nonfiction. I would never pick up a book that said learn practical steps to improve your life. Like what part of my life? Like my family's life, like my you know what I mean? Like my dog's life, like I you like I would never a 30-day system to break mental spirals and rebuild momentum. Boom. Right. Right. Again, go back to that elevator pitch show. We covered a lot of this stuff, but the messaging is really, really important. Don't hesitate to burn down your A plus content if you didn't hit either of these two marks and rebuild it, because it's definitely going to be worth your while. Um, Amy, talk a little bit about talk about the design, because the design, I you do the you do the design for our A plus content authors. Um it's a process, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And a lot of it, believe it or not, I mean, is trial and error. And I don't mean to say that like this is going to take you hours and hours and days and days. It's not like that, but it is important. Like we said, if it's not done properly, it's going to hurt you more than it's going to help you. Yeah. So you don't want to throw it together, cross your fingers and hope it's okay. They have there is a preview option so you can actually see what it's going to look like. 100% do that. I can't tell you how many times once I've previewed something, I've thought, you know what, that spacing could be better. Or there could be, you know what I mean? Or maybe that color is a little too bright once you look at the preview. So really use that preview to assess. You know, are the fonts clean and readable? Does the module feel uncluttered? You know, we keep using the cramming the entire book review into one little square, but that's very much a real thing. Nobody's going to try to read that. Does it all look cohesive? You know, I would say do what feels natural and what you're confident in. You can always build on it. You can use up to five modules. Don't feel like you have to do all five, you know, maybe start with two because and we'll get to this later. But as you get accolades, you may not have accolades right now. And that might be a module you'll want to be sure to add later once your book starts gaining momentum. You know what I mean? So don't force it. Just do what do what makes sense and do what works for you and that what what focuses on closing the sale. You know, more isn't always better. Sometimes it's just more, right? For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Because again, similar to a book cover, I'm gonna say it and I, you know, sorry if this is hard to hear, but if something is poorly designed, you lower the trust in the shopper and they are not going to buy because it's not going to look professional and it's gonna look like something that somebody cobbled together on their own that doesn't know what they're doing. And I realize that sounds very harsh, but the reality is people have a lot of options on Amazon. You know what I mean? They don't have to buy a subpar product. So you really want to focus on doing things correctly, and you absolutely can. This is not flashy, this is not complex, but it is about paying attention to the details and holding yourself accountable to having, you know, again, clear, readable fonts, making sure that it works, you know, that it looks okay, that it matches your cover, all the things we've been talking about. They're very simple, but just, you know, again, hold yourself accountable to checking all those important things off the list.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. And then I think that um here's something that a lot of authors forget. Yeah. Is to look at your A plus content on mobile. Because it can really look crammed when you open up the mobile app, which a lot of, I mean, I don't know about you, Amy, but when was the last time? I can't think of the last time that I actually shopped on the Amazon desktop.

SPEAKER_03:

No, if I'm on an Amazon on the desktop, I'm working. It's not it's not for pleasure. I'm doing, you know what I mean? I'm working for on client stuff and I have a very different focus.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So make sure that you are checking the mobile, yeah, because you you could end up it can only it could really look bad on mobile.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and not only this is worth mentioning, not only can it look more crammed, and you have to remember something that looks like it's too small, the font on your desktop is definitely going to be too small on a mobile on a mobile. But in addition to that, A plus content shows up differently on mobile. So you're not gonna get that that long stretched out version. You're gonna get everything stacked on top of each other. So again, it doesn't mean you have to rework everything, but at the same time, this is one of those things, hold yourself accountable, be willing to make some tweaks to see what looks best, because it may look great on the desktop version, which is good. You want that too. But then if it looks crazy on the mobile, maybe it's worth reconsidering, like, okay, maybe I don't, you know, to my point previously, you don't need to fill in all five modules just because you can, right? So maybe one of those just doesn't work on mobile and across the board, it's better to leave it out, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So um let's power through um the most common mistakes. I love I want to take the first one because I love the Amy out of this one. Treating A plus content like a mood board. I laughed out loud at the show notes when we were when when I was going through these when we were in the green room. I just thought that was just so funny. And it's really interesting because a lot of times I also love the term vision board. Like authors, like sometimes I will look at A plus content and I'm just like, wow. You are having a day. So remember that. And we say this about everything which you do with your book. This is this is not about you, this is about your reader, right? Okay, next one.

SPEAKER_03:

Overwriting. I mean, again, we've talked about this a lot. Yeah, yeah. A plus content, not the place for paragraphs, short type messaging. We've talked about this a lot too. Skimmable is key. You know, this is definitely it needs to be more visual than it needs to be right that, you know, you don't want them to sit there and have to like, okay, what is that? You know what I mean? So if you're gonna use text, which is great when it's well time placed, but if you can't fit in what you have to say with a text that is large enough for people to read, then you're saying too much.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, exactly. Uh, ignoring genre cues. So my recommendation to you is go through other similar books and take a look at how they are approaching their A plus content and what they're doing with their visuals, right? So that's that's that's a big one. But I think that's we and we've talked about this, we don't have to go into that um too much. But man, you gotta match your genre for sure. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, genre, colors, it's amazing the difference. Uh-huh. Yeah, no clear hook. You know, A plus content should reinforce the book's unique selling point or the reader experience. You know, selling points, obviously, if you're writing nonfiction for sure, but the reader experience, the world experience, you know what I mean? This is the place to, again, remind them that this is exactly what they're looking for. You know, again, this is where you close the deal, right? Right. Right. Big visual elements. Because if they've gotten this far, they've read the description or at least they've skimmed it. They apparently think your cover is good enough, right? Cheers, kudos, that's a big deal. Then they get to the A plus content. And this is really, you know, this is before they get to the reviews, but this is really where you're gonna have that tipping point of professionalism and reinforcing that this is something worth spending their money and time on, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. And I think the final one is missing the social proof. So if you have awards, you know, credentials, trust, you know, um readers' trust reviews, so reviews, things like that. Um definitely you want to build, I mean, you want to build that into your book description, obviously, too. But definitely it's worth incorporating that into your A plus content. Amazon does have some guidelines about around that, around, you know, the approval of reviews and things like that. So you just definitely want to look into that. But um, it's absolutely worth it. I mean, look, A plus content isn't just nice to have, it is it is a measurable way to elevate your book sales and and the numbers, like I said, that I called out are pretty staggering. Um, so go back and and and if you haven't done A plus content, definitely get started with it. Start by digging through Amazon and see what some other authors, similar authors have done. Let it inspire your choices. If you have a publisher, I would be teeing up an email right now. Yep. Because you know, an A plus content doesn't have to be flashy, it just needs to be effective. And hopefully we have shared some ideas and some ways that this that that it it can um that you can create some effective A plus content for your for your retail page. All right. I want to I want to answer that question quickly. Um the one that we got. So we're not gonna mention this person's name, but the question what because we didn't really get the permission, but just know going forward, we won't mention your name unless you specifically say, Hey, you can say my name on air. Hi, ladies. I love listening and re-listening to your podcast. Thank you. Re-listening, that's amazing. As I progress on my author journey, one question about the author pick on Amazon page does it always need to be a picture or does a branded logo across platforms work to she says asking for a friend. That's I love that, asking for a friend. I love that. That's really cute. Thank you so much for your question. We we love this. Um, I've seen it both ways. I've seen both the Amazon picture and I love that she asked this because I think more people have kind of struggled with it. Like if you have a logo for your brand. Like kudos to you, because a lot of authors don't. Right. But do you have a preference, Amy?

SPEAKER_03:

I think, you know, it's funny because this actually came up recently for a client who uses a pen name and he he just wants to stay in the zone. You know, it's not that you know, he's hiding out somewhere. Although that would be very cool. So if that's what's going on, I want to know that story too. But he asked the same thing. And we were discussing, you know, pros and cons. And we've done shows on AI created books and how those retail pages are usually kind of thrown together. And a lot of times there are visual cues when something was not actually made by a real author and does not represent a real author. So I, you know, my kind of thoughts on it, a logo, especially if, like, you know, this author said she's using it for her entire brand. So I assume she's using it on her website, maybe on social. You know what I mean? So it's out there. I fully support that. I think that's great. And I would say, especially if she is utilizing her entire, you know, author central page and really filling that out and has a great bio that sounds very personal and human and all those things. Then I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I do, and I would love, I can't wait to hear your take, Penny. I do get a little iffy when people start to use cartoon images. Yes. Or emojis and things like that, that to me, and maybe that makes me sound old, those to me are kind of red flags for not a real brand, not a real author. You know what I mean? So I would say lean into using all the details to reinforce that you are a real author and you're taking this seriously. And if you want to use a logo or another image that really makes sense for your brand, fine. But I don't know, the the the cartoony things and and then the pictures also of that include a bunch of background stuff. Like you just grabbed, like closed your eyes and pressed, you know, one of the photos on your phone when like it was photo roulette. Right. Right. It's like, who is that even a person in there?

SPEAKER_01:

You know? Well, and you know, I really feel so I think that you have to look at the personal connection that you want to create with the reader. So readers, you know, we talk we've talked about this a ton on the show. Goodreads did a study a number of years ago and found that the first thing that readers want to do when they get to the end of the book is to connect with the author, hopefully. Generally, if they've liked the book. Right. Right. If you've gotten to the end, they probably like the book. So I I think that whether or not you use a photo versus a logo really depends on your your your reader. I think I don't use so conceivably I could use the logo for my books, right? Because they're it's the company and the books are nonfiction, but I don't because I want to keep that personal connection to the reader. Right. But if you have a business topic, right, and you're just so you've done you have coaching for Fortune 500s or you whatever, um I think uh a logo would be totally fine. But I mean, don't you agree? I think this is such a great discussion. I'm so glad that we got that question. Yeah. I think that the picture, when it's well done, like you said, not a whole bunch of stuff in the background and people that you've cropped out, and you know what I mean? Like it looks like you were at Mardi Gras or something crazy. Like a third hand in there from somebody else that you right, right. Like we know that you really like that picture of you and your ex-boyfriend, but don't crop him out and have his hand still hanging over your arm.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. So, but but I think that the the you know, the the brand the logo works in some places, but I really think that that picture creates just a connection with the reader. I mean, am I reading too much into this?

SPEAKER_03:

No, I think that makes sense. And actually, as you said that, you know, I'm sitting here thinking, like, okay, and that's a very good point because as we talked about A content and the cover and all that need to make sense for your brand and your genre and what people are expecting. You know, I think we've both seen, and probably people listening have seen logos that really hit it home. So even a romance author can have a really great logo that clearly says that they're a romance author. You know what I mean? And it can still fit the expectation for the genre. But then you could have another one that is that doesn't lean as much into you know what's expected that you wouldn't necessarily know. You know, if you just saw it, you would have no idea what genre that author writes in. And to your point, that might, you know, that's when it starts to feel a little less personal and a little less on-brand, even if it is your logo. Like again, and we talked a lot in the show about context. You know, if it doesn't make sense without a lot of context, then it's might, it's probably there's a good chance it's not working for you. It might be working against you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. I so I think, so I, you know, I apologize. I realize it's not a one and done answer, but I think that it's a great question because I bet a lot of other authors have have been challenged with this. Um, but it's definitely worth, it's definitely worth more of a deep dive, you know, in terms of figuring out. So thank you so much for your question. We love your questions. Again, reader feedback, the survey is up on in the show notes. I'm gonna put the link to that IVPA article that I meant that I alluded to in the beginning of this show when we were talking about the changes to KDP. We'll link that in the show notes as well. And don't forget to text the word podcast to 888 402 8940. Thank you so much for tuning in. We will see you next week. Bye bye.

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Penny Sansevieri

Host
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Amy Cornell

Co-host