Support for Indie Authors discussion

Anyone on here tried the new A+ content from Amazon on your book's page? If you have, did you find a software to help you create the images? No links in the answers please, just name them and we all can Google it :)

I haven't heard of that, Eldon. What is the A+ content?

Gail wrote: "I haven't heard of that, Eldon. What is the A+ content?"

It's a new marketing tool they have provided where you can now upload creative graphics to your book page. Some of them are pretty cool looking too!!

Oh, wow, thanks, Eldon.

I used Photoshop and Canva. I think it can be done with canva alone.

Shannon wrote: "I used Photoshop and Canva. I think it can be done with canva alone."

Hi Shannon! I considered Canva but wasn't sure what size to use.

Gail wrote: "Oh, wow, thanks, Eldon."

No problem!!

Eldon wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I used Photoshop and Canva. I think it can be done with canva alone."

Hi Shannon! I considered Canva but wasn't sure what size to use."
I did 3 of the module for standard image with light text overlay and got the canvas measurement from there. And then divided the pic I wanted into 3 equal parts by creating a canvas image of the 1/3 size. I did this on photoshop, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on canva. The modules have suggested canvas sizes. I spent a whole day messing around with it, got frustrated and came back the next day with a clear head and worked it out.

Shannon wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I used Photoshop and Canva. I think it can be done with canva alone."

Hi Shannon! I considered Canva but wasn't sure what size to use."
I did 3 of the module for stan..."

Awesome Shannon!! Thanks :)

Thanks for this, Eldon.

I haven't noticed anything about A+ marketing tool - is it just in the US and Canada?

Where could I go looking for it?

Anna wrote: "Thanks for this, Eldon.

I haven't noticed anything about A+ marketing tool - is it just in the US and Canada?

Where could I go looking for it?"

Hi Anna! Just log into your KDP dashboard and click on the marketing tab. It should be partway down there :)

Got it, thank you, Eldon! It's in my diary to take a good look.

Anna wrote: "Got it, thank you, Eldon! It's in my diary to take a good look."

Have fun!!

I had a go at using this and uploaded some banner images that I'd made in Book Brush. If you have a free account with them you can make several images for free.

Anna, when I tried to 'add ASINs' using my UK Amazon book page, I couldn't find the ASIN for my book so couldn't get any further but when I did it for the .com page, it was OK so maybe things aren't active for Amazon UK yet - or maybe I just hit a glitch!

I already had a selection of teaser memes which I'd made for promotional purposes using Photoshop. I've been posting these on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts at intervals. I chose three at random and uploaded them into an A+ module. I got the approval tonight. At the moment, it's only in the US marketplace. I haven't worked out how to duplicate it for the UK and Canadian marketplaces.

As to how useful it will be, time will tell. I figured it was worth a try.

Xanxa wrote: "I already had a selection of teaser memes which I'd made for promotional purposes using Photoshop. I've been posting these on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts at intervals. I chose three..."

No cost to it, so may as well try it :)

Catherine wrote: "I had a go at using this and uploaded some banner images that I'd made in Book Brush. If you have a free account with them you can make several images for free.

Anna, when I tried to 'add ASINs' u..."

Good to know you can make these images in Book Brush. Thanks Catherine!

Is this feature something that can be found on my author page? Is it free? Are there instructions on how to access it?

Catherine wrote: "I had a go at using this and uploaded some banner images that I'd made in Book Brush. If you have a free account with them you can make several images for free.

Anna, when I tried to 'add ASINs' u..."

The content which got approved was in the US marketplace. There's a drop-down selector for choosing which marketplace you want. Today (by way of experiment) I submitted three more modules of A+ content for the UK marketplace. I've got to wait and see if it gets approved.

The other issue I was wondering about is how to have your content showing in multiple marketplaces. My ASINs are the same in US, UK and Canada. I've got a feeling that I'll have to add the content separately for each marketplace, which seems like a lot of work. If I find out otherwise, I'll post on here and let people know.

Gail wrote: "Is this feature something that can be found on my author page? Is it free? Are there instructions on how to access it?"

Yes, it's free. You'll find it on your KDP account under the "Marketing" tab. You'll have to scroll down the page to see the section for adding A+ content. You'll need the ASIN of the book you're adding content for. There are a variety of designs (called modules) to choose from depending on how you want to display your content. So far I've used the three in a row format but I'm going to try one of the others for my next attempt.

Xanxa wrote: "Catherine wrote: "I had a go at using this and uploaded some banner images that I'd made in Book Brush. If you have a free account with them you can make several images for free.

Anna, when I trie..."

Not positive, but pretty sure each marketplace has to have the content added separately :(

Eldon wrote: "Not positive, but pretty sure each marketplace has to have the content added separately :("

I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion. I could have sworn I read somewhere about duplicating A+ content over multiple marketplaces though. I shall wait until my content gets approved, then go through the related help topics and/or FAQs.

I'm now able to upload to Amazon UK as well.

I found an article on Kindlepreneur.com that refers to the issue of copying content to other regions' Amazon sites, and it says, "Amazon will copy your approved A+ content and have it available in all the marketplaces that use the same language."

So far, only one of my .com entries has been approved and it hasn't transferred to other English-speaking marketplaces.

Has anybody managed to add A+ content to their Author profile, i.e. through Amazon Author Central?

Eldon wrote: "Anyone on here tried the new A+ content from Amazon on your book's page? If you have, did you find a software to help you create the images? No links in the answers please, just name them and we al..."

I haven't used A+ yet, but BookBrush has a very easy program to create images with or without text. All the standard sizes for common ads are available at the click of a button. You can make covers there as well.

It took about 1/3 the time I spent fooling with Canva & I like the results better. There's a limited free version you can use to test it before you buy. Cost of the second level is comparable to Canva Pro.

Catherine wrote: "I'm now able to upload to Amazon UK as well.

I found an article on Kindlepreneur.com that refers to the issue of copying content to other regions' Amazon sites, and it says, "Amazon will copy your..."

Thanks for that information, Catherine. I guess we're all trying to find our way around this new feature.

Update on my submissions - one of my UK submissions was approved and the other two were rejected because the text in my memes was apparently too small. I'll try again at some point with different memes.

Gifford wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Anyone on here tried the new A+ content from Amazon on your book's page? If you have, did you find a software to help you create the images? No links in the answers please, just name ..."

Yes, Book Brush is good. It's worth getting a free account first, not only to check it out but because they then send you offers on the paid packages.

I just submitted A+ content yesterday, targeting the .COM US store. I, too, was under the impression that there is a way to simply propagate it to the other stores with the same language, which I'll look to do assuming approval happens.

For the most part, I found the A+ content creation and submission steps to be straightforward if a bit basic and rudimentary. I certainly wouldn't expect Amazon to let everyone freewheel whatever they like, hence the need to be restrictive and controlling all in the name of ensuring a proper "customer experience." We'll see how they choose to evolve this capability and the associated tool set. There was definitely room for improvements IMHO.

Thanks for the update. Are you sure Amazon will not charge you?

I'm pretty sure it's free, Moronke.

I looked on KindleBoards and found this advice on how to duplicate approved content to other regions:

'Enter the market place you want it in. Click on "show auto-created content". That should bring up your approved ad from other countries. Then select it, edit as needed, and publish again. Be aware that different countries have different criteria for the content. I've had to slightly alter some of my submissions based on the country involved to get it approved.'

I've tried this with one book and it seems to work. Once you've pulled up the approved content, I think you have to click on 'Edit' even if you don't actually need to change it, in order to progress and publish it in the new country.

Catherine wrote: "I'm pretty sure it's free, Moronke.

I looked on KindleBoards and found this advice on how to duplicate approved content to other regions:

'Enter the market place you want it in. Click on "show au..."

Thanks. I'll give it a try. Earlier today (hours before you posted this) I painstakingly duplicated my US content for my UK marketplace and vice-versa. I did wonder what the "auto-created content" meant. I'll try it out for the Canadian marketplace.

Moronke wrote: "Thanks for the update. Are you sure Amazon will not charge you?"

Hey Moronke! The A+ content is free to use.

Catherine wrote: "I think you have to click on 'Edit' even if you don't actually need to change it..."

Exactly as Catherine described. You must click on Edit to be able to access the button that submits it for approval. Do this for each of the Amazon stores (UK, CA, etc.) that you'd like to propagate the live A+ content to.

I can report that CA approval happened within 24 hours in my case. Pleasantly surprised to see.

I tried Catherine's suggestion earlier today, for the Canadian and Australian marketplaces, duplicating the content I'd made for the US and UK marketplaces. It worked exactly as she said. Now I'm waiting for approval. Since it was approved for the UK and US, I'm confident that it will be fine for the other marketplaces too.

Can somebody list a book or two that has A+ content included? I'd like to see what they added. If possible. It can be any book.

Thanks!

J.N. wrote: "Can somebody list a book or two that has A+ content included? I'd like to see what they added. If possible. It can be any book.

Thanks!"

We're not allowed to post links here, so I can only give you the titles. Search for "Probyt's Progress" and "The Donovan Destiny" by Xanxa Symanah. As I explained in my earlier post, I've repurposed my Instagram teaser memes and used them as my A+ content. I've done this with other books too. Click through and you'll see which ones.

@J.N. Maelstrom Rising is the title of my book, which has A+ content posted in the US, UK, and Canada Amazon stores that you can look over. In my case I adapted my full cover art image to use for the content base. This is for a work of fiction.

I'm noticing an increase in A+ content for trad published books, or at least it seems to me as I browse for comps these days. No surprise there if true.

Just an FYI for everyone, Book Brush now provides templates to help with A+ Content. Outstanding!!

Hi, just saying thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. Collectively you have saved me a lot of time and worry. Everything here helped a lot and the A+ content for my latest book is now up and running in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. I don't know if this helps anyone, but my UK content was approved in just over 24 hours (UK is my home market) but for USA, Canada and Australia it took well over a week to get approved and I was beginning to get worried. So, if you are experiencing a similar issue, don't worry, it's probably fine.☺

Well I'm glad I happened upon this thread! Just did a few countries and will wait. Weird though that they are taking a long time with one of my books to approve whereas as the other two were approved quickly. Anyone seen this?

Any success in foreign language sites? I've succeeded on .com .co.uk, .de, .in. .ca and .au.

Pretty good, still no substantial uptick in sales but it's good that we did this! Together!

I am seeking recommendations for a safe and legitimate website to download graphics from, to use for a+ content...any suggestions? Thanks

The best way would be to have a friend who likes to draw... and would draw for you.

Tomas wrote: "The best way would be to have a friend who likes to draw... and would draw for you."

Say, that would be cool!! I'm available for stick figure commissions lol

Jeb wrote: "I am seeking recommendations ... to download graphics from, to use for a+ content...any suggestions? Thanks"

Jeb, I've used material from pixabay for covers. It seems to be safe and legit and free, though I still credit the website and the artist in the front matter.

William wrote: "Jeb wrote: "I am seeking recommendations ... to download graphics from, to use for a+ content...any suggestions? Thanks"

Thanks, William, I appreciate it.

Pixabay is the best I've found for great free photos, but there are other sources like Pexels, Unsplash, Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress, Foggy Forest, etc. Depending on what you're looking for, there are also loads of free sites specializing in vector graphics & clip art. Crediting back, as William said, is recommended. I also tip the artist if I'm using the picture in an ad.

I feel it incumbent upon me here to interject a word of caution, as many members are commenting on using images that are not owned by them. Crediting the image owner will not absolve you of any legal wrongdoing. This is why licensing agreements exist.

If you use an image you don't own the rights to on your book cover, them you are potentially profiting from an asset you don't own. The rightful owner is well within their legal rights to seek restitution for profits not shared with them through the use of their work.

Before you use any image you find on the internet, be sure to attain the legal right to do so.

Eldon, you're absolutely right. I always download the license & web address for the pictures I'm using, just in case the artist later decides to delist the picture or post it somewhere else for a fee.