Book Profiles (and how to get on our new KB Books page!)

[Valmore Daniels]

I'm not sure how far you want to go with this.

I don't have the technical know-how, but I've envisioned a kind of KB Catalogue of Independent Authors (maybe that's too grand of concept) sorted by genre. Perhaps this could be accomplished in conjunction with Jeff's amazing list of authors by genre (which I know a lot of people, myself included, use to find new books).  

There would be a master list with a thumbnail, title, author, and short description (similar to the list on the KB Book of the Day list http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,38435.0.html).  

On this master list, there would be a link to the book's Bazaar page and/or to the profile page.  On your profile page, you could include a hotlink to the most common ebook retailers. I know Smashwords offers an affiliate program. Not sure about the others.

Again, I have no conception of the amount of programming needed to accomplish such a thing, but if this master list were searchable and/or sortable ... maybe using filters such as price, release date, genre, length (short vs. novella vs. novel) etc. Not only would such a wild concept be beneficial to writers, but readers interested in indie books might find this an invaluable resource for choosing their next purchase.

Just a thought ...

[sibelhodge]

Henry, you're a star! 

[Harvey]

I'm not sure how far you want to go with this.

I don't have the technical know-how, but I've envisioned a kind of KB Catalogue of Independent Authors (maybe that's too grand of concept) sorted by genre. Perhaps this could be accomplished in conjunction with Jeff's amazing list of authors by genre (which I know a lot of people, myself included, use to find new books). 

There would be a master list with a thumbnail, title, author, and short description (similar to the list on the KB Book of the Day list http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,38435.0.html). 

On this master list, there would be a link to the book's Bazaar page and/or to the profile page.  On your profile page, you could include a hotlink to the most common ebook retailers. I know Smashwords offers an affiliate program. Not sure about the others.

Again, I have no conception of the amount of programming needed to accomplish such a thing, but if this master list were searchable and/or sortable ... maybe using filters such as price, release date, genre, length (short vs. novella vs. novel) etc. Not only would such a wild concept be beneficial to writers, but readers interested in indie books might find this an invaluable resource for choosing their next purchase.

Just a thought ...

Thank you. Great ideas and you've give me some good notions to think about...

[Harvey]

Henry, you're a star! 

Thank you! (I go by Harvey, though.)

[Beth O]

Harvey, you rock!

[intinst]

Harvey, you just keep coming up with great new additions to KB, thank you, thank  you, thank you!

[JCPhelps]

Really nice Harvey!

If you did an online catalog like Valmore suggested and some kind of "control panel" as you suggested, the author could be responsible for updating their info such as links that point to their book or themselves, making the catalog idea a little more manageable.  Something I think would be a neat addition with or without a catalog is to somehow link to other books the author may have written because there are several of us who have written more than one book.  Maybe a spot for the author to place a short comment or announcement might be a nice addition too.

I'm like Valmore and don't have the technical know-how either, so I don't even know if this is possible.  But, you did ask for suggestions.   

For those of you wondering how to use this neat little addition... if we were allowed a control panel of some sort where you could link to everything you might want people to know, this would be a great place to send potential readers.  All of your information in one place along with a nice big picture of your book and online sample.  (My sample didn't work for Color Me Grey but it worked for Shades and Reflections.  I'll have to try to figure out why.)

[terryr]

Harvey is going to ask all of us to submit a few hair follicles for his upcoming transplant.  Either that, or he is just continuing his outstanding service to the users of KB.  Thanks, Harvey, whichever one motivated you.

Gordon Ryan

Harvey, you can have ALL my hair, roots, seeds, follicles, and all.

[MrPLD]

Nicely done Harvey, quite impressed at how good it looks.

[Philip Chen]

Harvey,

Thank you! The page looks great.  Kindle Boards is easily the destination of choice for anyone interested in eBooks.

Does the page automatically update as the Amazon page does?  I uploaded a new description that DTP-US hasn't put on the product page as yet, although DTP-UK has.  Go figure.

Phil

[& gone]

That is awesome! Thank you, Harvey.

[John Hamilton]

Ooooh!  Kewl on toast!  Thank you, Harvey, this looks great.  I inserted it right into my signature.  I still can't get the sample chapters to load, but the front matter is so attractive I'm leaving the profile up.  Thanks for doing this!

[Harvey]

Harvey,

Thank you! The page looks great.  Kindle Boards is easily the destination of choice for anyone interested in eBooks.

Does the page automatically update as the Amazon page does?  I uploaded a new description that DTP-US hasn't put on the product page as yet, although DTP-UK has.  Go figure.

Phil

Yes, it will instantly reflect current information from Amazon. Everytime you call the page up, it does a fresh query into Amazon's database.

[Harvey]

Really nice Harvey!

If you did an online catalog like Valmore suggested and some kind of "control panel" as you suggested, the author could be responsible for updating their info such as links that point to their book or themselves, making the catalog idea a little more manageable.  Something I think would be a neat addition with or without a catalog is to somehow link to other books the author may have written because there are several of us who have written more than one book.  Maybe a spot for the author to place a short comment or announcement might be a nice addition too.

I'm like Valmore and don't have the technical know-how either, so I don't even know if this is possible.  But, you did ask for suggestions.   

For those of you wondering how to use this neat little addition... if we were allowed a control panel of some sort where you could link to everything you might want people to know, this would be a great place to send potential readers.  All of your information in one place along with a nice big picture of your book and online sample.  (My sample didn't work for Color Me Grey but it worked for Shades and Reflections.  I'll have to try to figure out why.)

I think everything you've suggested is possible. Great idea on adding a list (or a set of smaller book covers) for the author's other works!

On your sample: there's nothing you can do for Color Me Grey except wait... Amazon has the online samples in beta right now and hasn't rolled it out to all books... yet.

[Harvey]

Ooooh!  Kewl on toast!  Thank you, Harvey, this looks great.  I inserted it right into my signature.  I still can't get the sample chapters to load, but the front matter is so attractive I'm leaving the profile up.  Thanks for doing this!

Your cover does look extraordinary on that book profile page!

If you want to temporarily turn off the sample, use this link: http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B003U4WB9G&sample=N

[MariaESchneider]

Methinks it is awesome!!!  Any page/mention is awesome, but you continue to go above and beyond in providing the extra treats!!! 

WOOHOO.  You are the best!!!

[John Hamilton]

Your cover does look extraordinary on that book profile page!
If you want to temporarily turn off the sample, use this link: http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B003U4WB9G&sample=N

Pure geeeenius!  Thanks, Harvey, much appreciated!

[Tip10]

I am a reader and not a writer but I must say Amazing, simply fricking amazing.

Harvey goes out and facilitates the very best and most outstanding reader environment known to man.

Oh, but wait, that's not good enough. 

So he invites in all of the wonderful indie authors because, after all, what are readers without authors and authors without readers?

Then he proceeds down the path to facilitate the very best and most outstanding indie author environment known to man.

And then he just quietly goes about making it all better and better!!!

Harvey, kind sir, a tip of the hat and a hearty THANK YOU  to you sir.  I cannot offer much more, wouldn't matter, there simply exist no accolades suitable to sing your praises.  You sir, are truly a work of art!

[Karen Wojcik Berner]

Thanks so much, Harvey. 

I second the notion of being able to link it to our signature, if that is possible, but I am technically challenged, so I do not know if that is feasible or not.

[LCEvans]

Awesome! Thanks, Harvey. I like the idea of linking to the signature. Is this possible?

[meromana]

Oh, man!  That looks sweet!

Unfortunately, it gobbles up some of the HTML codes coming in from the book description (see mine: http://www.kindleboards.com/book/?asin=B003VIWOLG), but it's probably coming in to you that way from AWS, so I don't know what could be done about that.  I probably shouldn't use that stuff in my descrip anyway.

Thanks for all that hard work, dude.  Maybe all that fresh air to the scalp keeps the brain cells in a highly productive state... 

--Maria

[Vianka Van Bokkem]

Thank you very much Harvey! It's awesome!




Vianka Van Bokkem 

[Linda Acaster]

Thanks very much, Harvey. It looks very professional.

I agree that the quirks need ironing out with the sample - if I looked at it as a prospective buyer, that's what I'd think I'd be getting - and I agree with others that links to Amazon UK and Smashwords, or wherever would be ideal too. Not that I want to knock your efforts, I'm very appreciative.

Linda

[David Greene]

Looks great!  Thank you.

All you need to do is add a function to divide the bestseller ranking by 2 (or maybe 3) before you display it! 

[Jnassise]

Harvey,

Is there any objection to embedding what you've done into the author's own site?

For instance, here's how one of my pages would look embedded into my official website.  (Not sure if this will work, as it takes a moment to load, but certainly something I'd consider doing if there wasn't an objection to doing so.)

http://josephnassise.com/1200