Image by venana via Flickr

There are several things to get excited about with the new release for Amazon Author Central. The good stuff boils down to:

• You can opt to have your profile automatically show your most recent Twitter status
• You can add book extras with Shelfari that will also show in the Kindle (I’ve actually never used this service, I’ll have to do a test/review in the future.)
• You can share your own personal notes on your books (Love this idea! What a great way to connect with your readers!)
• The Author Central pages have expanded into even more countries

If you’re an author with books on Amazon, you’re silly not to set up your Author Central page as its a great free resource that takes only minutes to set up. You can see mine here: Hillary DePiano’s Page at Amazon’s Author Central

Here’s the official announcement from Amazon in full:

We’re writing to tell you about some new author-focused features!

Twitter

You’ve always been able to add blog feeds in Author Central, and now you can add a Twitter account too. Once you add your account, we’ll display your most recent Tweet on the Author Page. Check out the Donna J. Shepherd Author Page to see what it looks like, and then add your own in Author Central.

Book Extras from Shelfari

Shelfari’s book-loving community edits details called Book Extras. For each book you can add a list of characters, quotes, locations, and more.

Now you can see your book’s Book Extras in your Author Central account. Visit the “Books” tab, click on your book, and view the Book Extras tab. You can then add or edit Book Extras by visiting Shelfari through a link that allows us to identify you as an author and give you a special Author badge in Shelfari.

Book Extras are available to readers on the Kindle and Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch, so get your extras out there.

Public Notes

Kindle users can now make their book notes and highlights available for others to see. As an author, you can connect with readers in a new way as you annotate your own books and the books that influence you.

Seth Godin and Karen McQuestion are among the authors who have added Public Notes to their own books. To review and turn on Public Notes in your books, track your reading activities, and see Popular Highlights and your annotations, go to https://kindle.amazon.com.

Author Central for Amazon.fr

Are any of your books available on Amazon.fr? If so, Author Central is now available at https://authorcentral.amazon.fr.

Text on Author Central for Amazon.fr is in French, but the support team will be glad to assist you in English. Author Central is also available for The United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.