Amazon Author Central: Follow-link growth and Book Recommendations (the follower-email trigger)
Researched 31 Oct 2026. Builds on amazon-kdp-2026-price-band-select-vs-direct.md, which already covers setting up the Author Page and adding a Follow ask to back matter. New here: the direct Follow link, the Book Recommendations feature (0 hits in the index for "book recommendations" before this run), how to count followers, and what practitioners report about the emails.
The rules (KDP help G200644310, read 31 Oct 2026)
- The Follow button is on the Author Page and each book's detail page. Followers are notified of a release or pre-order only if the book is eligible, the follower allows Amazon marketing emails, and they have not already ordered it.
- Amazon "will also consider sending notifications via email when you submit at least three new book recommendations" for your own books or other authors' books. "Consider": not a promise.
- Editorial Reviews and BookScan in Author Central are US-only features. The follower count is visible in Author Central.
What practitioners report
- Reedsy (blog): Amazon re-designed Author Pages in December 2022, putting books first and adding book recommendations; the full bio moved to its own tab.
- KDP's own Facebook post: "Book Recommendations lets you connect with Amazon customers and your followers by sharing books you love — from your own catalog or from other…" (snippet).
- r/selfpublish (thread 1n4upoy, snippet only; Reddit blocked a full read): "Amazon does NOT send an email consistently to an author's followers every time they have a new release. It depends how big of an author you are." Other authors report getting the email (Facebook posts, snippets). Read it as: the email sometimes comes; small authors cannot count on it.
- Kindlepreneur ("How to Increase Amazon Followers", read): direct Follow link = `amazon.com (the author ASIN is the 10-character code in the Author Page URL). Promote it in this order: email list (footer of every email, one dedicated ask, every launch), one social channel, author website, book promotions. It recommends the free Chrome extension WriterWatch to see the follower count (we would not install it; Author Central shows the count).
- No figures were found linking follower counts to sales. The value is a free Amazon-run "new book" email when it fires.
How to do it (once the e-books are on Amazon)
- Claim the Author Page in Author Central (author.amazon.com); link every edition.
- Find the author ASIN; build the Follow link for .com and swap the domain for .co.uk (UK form not checked: open it once and confirm it lands on the Follow button).
- Book Recommendations: add 3 or more real, honest picks in one go: our own volume plus 2 published books on Welsh or Glamorgan history that readers of ours would value. Never recommend a title only to game the email; picks must be books we would stand behind.
- Repeat 3 when each new volume goes live (new picks each time), since the email trigger counts new recommendations.
- Put the Follow link in the back matter "one next step" only if the shop is not the next step (see ebook-back-matter-one-next-step.md: one ask per book).
- Record the follower count monthly in the project workspace
How we apply it to Cedwyn
- Status: PROPOSAL, blocked upstream. The e-books are sold from cedwyn.bucklerfamily.estate/ebooks/ (Stripe and Gumroad). A KDP listing needs the owner's tax interview, bank and identity (see the KDP decision file). Nothing here can start before that.
- When it does: claim the page the same day; first recommendation batch = our volume + 2 Welsh local-history books; Follow link in the newsletter footer of the launch issue only (the shop link stays primary).
- Rules: the Author Page bio is public text: it never names the owner, uses no banned words, no insignia, nothing about family holdings or addresses. Prices as listed; no "was" assertions.
- Measure: follower count monthly; whether Amazon's "new release" email was reported by any follower; Amazon sales by month in KDP reports. Kill rule: none needed (zero upkeep after setup); stop the recommendation batches if followers stay under 10 after two volumes.
- Zero spend; nothing installed.
Sources
- kdp.amazon.com (read 31 Oct 2026: Follow, notification conditions, three recommendations, US-only features)
- kindlepreneur.com (read: Follow link formula, promotion order, WriterWatch)
- reedsy.com (read: December 2022 re-design; recommendations from snippet)
- facebook.com (snippet: Book Recommendations)
- reddit.com (snippet: emails not consistent)
Raw Markdown: amazon-author-central-follow-link-book-recommendations.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json