MKTG #11 – AMAZON A+ CONTENT

/ Jan Sikes

Hello, SE’ers! HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Courtesy Canva
Image created in Canva

It’s Jan here with you again. Just when I thought I was ready to move on from Amazon marketing, someone brought Amazon A+ Content to my attention and I knew I had to include it here.

What is Amazon A+ Content?

It is a great tool you can use to enhance the description of your books by including images and text on your book’s detail page.

Here is what your Amazon A+ Content can include:

  • Custom paragraph headers and images
  • Unique image and text layouts
  • Image and text cards
  • Links to other books in a series
  • Awards and Accolades

Adding A+ content can help result in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, and increased sales when used effectively.

So, how do you do it?

First of all, you can only add Amazon A+ Content to books you have indie published. If you are with a traditional publisher, you can request that they add this content, but you cannot do it yourself.

Go into your Amazon KDP account.

Click on the Marketing tab at the top of the page.

If you’ll notice, Amazon A+ Content is a little more than halfway down the page on the left.

Jan’s Screenshot 2-8-22

Once you click on A+ Content, you will be guided through setting it up.

There is concise step-by-step help available through Amazon, even examples you can look at, and you should explore all of it before you begin. It is important to read the guidelines because there are some pretty specific rules.

I also think it’s a great idea to look at the examples page. That way you get a clear picture of what is accepted. Please note your A+ Content is subject to approval from Amazon before it appears on your book’s page. You must have all the rights to images and text.

Once you are ready to begin and you click on “Create A+ Content” you are going to see step-by-step instructions. None of this is hard, but I will tell you, it took me a good bit of time to set up A+ Content for Mountain Laurel Christmas. I’m not going to go through the creation process because it is so clearly laid out on the KDP A+ Content pages. My goal here today is just to make you aware of it.

It shows up on the book page under FROM THE PUBLISHER. Here’s a screenshot of what I did for Mountain Laurel Christmas.

Screenshot 2-8-22

After I got everything approved and loaded onto the page (and by the way, you don’t do that part, Amazon does), I had a publisher friend take a look at what I’d done and she suggested that next time, I use only a few words or phrases and not complete paragraphs. Her argument is that people won’t read all the words and I do agree. Vivid images and short powerful text is a great combination.

So, as with everything I try, I learn. I am going to create Amazon A+ Content for some of my other self-pubbed books and experiment with different templates. I’m interested in trying out what they call a carousel template.

Take a look at this example of A+ Content for The Sinner by Emma Scott. I love this!

Jan’s Screenshot

It grabs your attention, doesn’t it?

The bottom line.

Amazon A+ Content is a great way to add extras about your books that might draw in a new reader. While setting it up is not difficult, it is time-consuming, so make sure you’ve set aside a couple of hours to work on it before you start.

And it’s free!

I think every self-pubbed author needs to utilize this extra tool Amazon provides.

It would be a great place to utilize any special graphics related to your book content. Should you decide to try it, let us know so we can go take a look once you have it uploaded!

Your thoughts on Amazon A+ Content. Have you ever tried it?

And in case you missed some posts from this series, you can always go back and take a look!

#MKTG Part 1 – OVERVIEW – BOOK MARKETING OPTIONS

#MKTG Part 2 – FACEBOOK ADS AND PASSION PAGES

#MKTG Part 3 – FACEBOOK ADS DETAILS

#MKTG Part 4 – TWITTER ADS

#MKTG Part 5 – INSTAGRAM

#MKTG Part 6 – PINTEREST

#MKTG Part 7 – IN-PERSON EVENTS

#MKTG Part 8 – GOODREADS

#MKTG Part 9 – AMAZON

#MKTG Part 10 – More AMAZON ADS

75 thoughts on “MKTG #11 – AMAZON A+ CONTENT”

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  16. I knew nothing about this! Thanks for this clear approach – I’ve bookmarked it and have been to Amazon.com to see the results. It doesn’t show up on the UK site but I now know what’s going on. Impressive stuff. Thanks, Jan.

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  22. When Amazon introduced this, I did what I usually do, Jan. I opened it, felt immediately overwhelmed, and closed it. Lol. Yeesh. You always give me the courage to try something again. I’m going to set aside some time and start by setting it up for one book. Thanks for the overview here and the courage!

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  23. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Perfect timing for me with this one, Jan! I’ve made up my mind to do some serious marketing in the next few months, and Amazon A+ Content was something I was wondering about. (Hadn’t yet taken a look, being a bit intimidated by it all). You’ve broken it down beautifully, and I’m going to use this post as reference when I’m ready to start. AND to reassure myself that I can, indeed, do this!

    So happy to have read this on a morning when I was sitting here trying to figure out where to even get started on some new marketing. It’s a SIGN, I tell ya! And did I say thank you? Well, you can add one more! 😂

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  28. I NEED MORE TIME!

    This was very informative. I’ve seen this content but haven’t played with it myself. Because most of my titles are with publishers, I’d have to request access. Hopefully it’s not a book-by-book basis and they’d give me a blanket approval. But I know better. It’ll be book by book and take forever, which is why I’ve been procrastinating. Sigh.

    Thanks for sharing this, Jan.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Well, I most certainly agree with your first sentence, Staci! I too am always short on time. I am not sure how this would work with your publisher, but I would guess it would be book by book. And I don’t blame you for procrastinating. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to send the publisher an email and inquire. Thanks for stopping by!

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  29. So I went to Amazon.ca because that is where I buy most of my stuff. I thought it might interest you to know that we Canadians don’t see any of that so if you are listed in both .ca and .com or any other .something, you would have to repeat the process, I imagine. I did go through Amazon.com just to be able to see it, of course.

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  30. Wow, this is amazing, Jan. A first for me. Though I’ve noticed some of the details you’ve mentioned, I didn’t know how the images were added. I’ve got so much to learn. Thank you!

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  34. Jan, I”d heard of Amazon’s A+ content, but never took the time to investigate. Thanks for investigating and sharing. This is an awesome post with awesome ideas. I’ve been seeing a lot of A+ content without realizing what it was. I’m torn on the idea, because honestly, I just scroll through it when I see it, but I do think we should do everything we can to grab a reader’s attention, especially if it’s free. Sounds like I will be setting aside a few hours at some point to work on my indie titles. Fantastic share!

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Exactly, Mae. I too scroll through the A+ content, but if it catches my eye, I take a closer look at the book. And yes, we need to do everything we can to give our books a chance at discovery. Thank you for stopping by and can’t wait to see what content you come up with!

      Liked by 2 people

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