Amazon author page in every country: what to do for a new language
Amazon has a separate store in each country, and your Amazon author page is managed separately in each store. When your book comes out in a new language, it's worth going to the store of the country where its readers shop, checking that you have a page there, and writing a bio in their language. One more thing to know up front: Amazon doesn't link editions in different languages to the same product page, so your author page is the place where all your books show up together.
What is an Amazon author page
It's a page that shows your photo, a short bio and all your books, with a "Follow" button. You manage it through Author Central, a free Amazon service for authors.
According to Amazon's help page on Author Central, you can add books to the page, write a bio in different languages, and see how many people follow you. And followers get a notification when a new book comes out or when a preorder opens for one, as long as they've agreed to receive marketing messages from Amazon.
A different page in every country
This is where it gets interesting for a translated book. Amazon isn't one store. There's the American amazon.com, the German amazon.de, the French amazon.fr, and more. A reader in Germany buys from the German store and sees your German page.
According to the same help page, there are two kinds of stores:
| Store type | The stores | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Author Central supported | US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil | Manage the page, including a bio in the local language |
| Page created automatically | India, Italy, Spain, Australia, Canada, Mexico | The page shows the information from the US store, and you can't edit it at the moment |
What this means in practice: if you translated into German or French, you can write a bio in your readers' language. If you translated into Spanish or Italian, readers in the Spanish and Italian stores will see what you wrote on the US store. So your English bio matters for them too.
Why editions in different languages won't appear together
Amazon automatically links different formats of the same book: the ebook, the paperback and the hardcover. It does this when the details match, such as title, author and language.
But when it comes to languages, Amazon's help page is clear: editions in different languages can't be linked to the same product page. A French edition and an English edition of the same book will always get separate pages, and won't appear together in the list of formats.
That's why the author page matters more when you have several languages. It's the only place where a reader sees all your versions in one spot.
How to set it up, step by step
- Open an account. According to Amazon, you go into KDP (Amazon's self-publishing platform), open the marketing page, choose the store where you want to create a page, and click to manage your author page. From there you sign in with your existing account details.
- Find your first book. Search for it by title, author name or its identifying number, and confirm that you're the author.
- Add the translated editions. Every edition in another language is a separate book, so you need to make sure each one is attached to the page.
- Keep your name consistent. Amazon links books by matching details, including the author name. If your name is spelled differently in each language, things won't link up. We wrote about this in a pen name in another language.
- Write a bio in your readers' language in every store that allows it. Don't translate it word for word. Write it for a reader who doesn't know you, the way we described for the book description in the title and back-cover text get rewritten.
What to write in a bio for new readers
A reader in France doesn't know who you are. They don't know your publisher back home, the prize you won or the city you live in. So tell them what helps them decide: what you write about, why this book, and one human detail they'll remember.
And check the page after the book comes out. Go to that country's store, search for your name, and look at what the reader sees. More questions about publishing a translated book are collected in our frequently asked questions.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Amazon author page?
A page that shows your photo, a short bio and all your books, with a button that lets readers follow you. You manage it through a free Amazon service called Author Central.
In which Amazon stores can I manage the page?
According to Amazon's help pages, Author Central is supported on the Amazon stores in the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan and Brazil. In the stores in India, Italy, Spain, Australia, Canada and Mexico, a page is created automatically with the information from the US store, and you can't edit it at the moment.
Will the translated edition appear on the same product page as the original?
No. Amazon says explicitly that it can't link editions in different languages to the same product page. A French edition and an English edition will always get separate pages. What does get linked is formats in the same language, like the ebook and the print book.
Can I write a bio in my new readers' language?
Yes. According to Amazon, you can add a bio in different languages. In stores where Author Central is supported, such as Germany and France, it's worth writing a bio in the local language. In stores that show the information from the US store, the English bio is what readers will see.