How to Set Up Amazon Author Central: Your Amazon Author Page Step by Step (UK and US)

Your Amazon Author Page is the one page on Amazon that is about you rather than a single book. It's where readers land when they click your name, and it's where the Follow button lives, so it quietly works for every book you publish after this one. Setting it up is free and takes an afternoon. Here's how to do it on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, step by step, with every step checked against Amazon's own help pages on 26 October 2026.

Key takeaways#

• Amazon Author Central is free, and one sign-in now manages your Author Page across Amazon's stores, the UK included. You don't need a separate UK account.
• Your book has to be live on Amazon before you can claim it. You start from the KDP Marketing page or go straight to Author Central.
• Add every format of every book, a bio of under 1,000 characters and a square photo of at least 300 x 300 pixels.
• Series pages are set up in KDP, not in Author Central.
• A few extras, including editorial reviews and BookScan sales data, are still US-only, so check your Amazon.co.uk page separately.

What is Amazon Author Central?#

Amazon Author Central is Amazon's free tool for authors. It lets you claim your Author Page and control what readers see there: your books, your biography and your photo. Amazon says the profile you build there is used on Amazon, on Audible and in Kindle books.

Inside Author Central you can also check your books' Best Sellers Rank, read customer reviews and see how many people follow you. When readers follow you, Amazon can tell them about your new releases and pre-orders. That only happens if the book is eligible and the reader allows marketing emails from Amazon.

One point trips people up. Author Central isn't part of KDP. An Author Page doesn't come with your KDP account, so you have to register for it separately. The good news is that you use the same login.

UK or US: has Author Central really merged?#

Yes. For years, guides told UK authors to set up one account at author.amazon.co.uk and another at authorcentral.amazon.com. That's out of date. Amazon's updated Author Central asks you to sign in once, and it lets you write your bio in several languages from the same place.

Amazon lists six marketplaces with full Author Central support: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.com.br. Author Pages also appear on Amazon.in, .it, .es, .com.au, .ca and .com.mx if your books are sold there. On those six stores, though, the page is built from your US information, and Amazon says it can't currently be edited. So even if you only care about UK readers, set up your US page properly too, because readers in Canada and Australia will see it.

Before you start#

Have these ready and the whole job runs smoothly:

• A book that's live on Amazon. You claim your page by finding one of your own books, so it has to be published first. If you're still at the publishing stage, our guide to self-publishing a book in the UK walks through it.
• Your KDP login. Author Central uses the same Amazon account.
• Your author name exactly as it appears on your books. Amazon says Author Pages, series pages and format linking all rely on a consistent author name.
• A short bio, written and proofread in a plain text editor first. Amazon warns that text pasted from rich editors such as Word can cause formatting problems.
• A square photo, at least 300 x 300 pixels, in JPEG, PNG or GIF.

How to set up Amazon Author Central, step by step#

1. Open Author Central from KDP

Sign in to KDP and go to the Marketing page. In the Author Central section, pick the marketplace from the drop-down (Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com) and click Manage author page. You can also go straight to author.amazon.co.uk or author.amazon.com. Both lead to the same Author Central.

2. Join for free

Click Join for free and sign in with your KDP account details. It costs nothing.

3. Claim your first book

Search for one book you've written by ISBN, ASIN or author name. Click it, then click Yes, join as "your author name". That single book is enough to create your account. You'll add the rest in a minute.

If your book came out through a publisher or a publishing service, Amazon may email the publisher to confirm you are who you say you are. Your account then shows as pending. Amazon says publisher replies vary and can take up to 7 days. Amazon also says it only verifies and enrols authors, so an agent or publisher can't join on your behalf.

4. Add every book and every format

Go to your Bookshelf and click Add a book. Search by title, ISBN or your name, then click Add this book. Do this for your ebook, paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions, so each one shows on your page. If you find a book that's listed under a misspelling of your name, or your books are split across two Author Pages, Author Central points you to Amazon's contact form to fix or merge them.

Writing under a pen name? Amazon treats a pen name as a separate author profile under the same account, so each name gets its own Author Page.

5. Write your bio

Under Profile, find Your biographies and click to add one. Choose the language and paste in your text. Amazon recommends keeping each bio under 1,000 characters and says updates can take one to two days to appear. You can add the same bio in other languages for readers abroad, which is worth doing if you sell in Germany or France.

Write it for a reader deciding whether to trust you with their evening. Who are you, what do you write, and why you? Keep it about you and your books rather than a sales pitch. Amazon won't save a bio that breaks its Author Bio Guidelines, so read them before you paste.

6. Add your author photo

In the same Profile area, upload your photo. Amazon accepts JPEG, PNG or GIF, at least 300 pixels wide and high, and recommends a square image. You can drag and zoom to frame it before saving. Use a clear, well-lit photo of your face. A blurry holiday snap does your book no favours.

7. Set up your series page in KDP

Series aren't managed in Author Central. They live in your KDP Bookshelf. Either click + Create new title or series and choose Create series page, or click the "…" button next to a book and choose Add to series. Decide whether the series is ordered (books should be read in sequence) or unordered (same world or characters, any order). Link your ebook and print formats on the Bookshelf first, because a linked format joins the series automatically.

Amazon says the series page appears within 72 hours once the series has live titles.

8. Check your page on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Open your Author Page on both stores as a reader would. Check the photo, the bio and that every edition is there. Some extras are still Amazon.com only: editorial reviews, BookScan sales data, Author Rank, blog feeds and a custom Author Page URL. For those, Author Central sends you to its classic Amazon.com site.

Make the most of your Author Page#

A finished Author Page helps a reader decide to try you. The book page then has to close the sale.

Start with your book description. It's the first thing a reader reads after the cover, and it needs to work as hard as your bio. Our free Amazon Book Description Generator gives you a first draft in British English that you can then shape in your own voice.

If you want the book page to do more, A+ Content adds images and comparison modules below the description, so readers see your series, characters or key ideas without leaving the page.

Author Central now also links to Amazon Ads. If you start ads from there, Amazon syncs your claimed pen names and titles into your ads account. If you're weighing up Kindle Unlimited at the same time, our post on whether KDP Select is worth it sets out the trade-off.

And if your bio needs a home inside the book as well, an About the Author page usually sits in the back matter. Our guide to the front matter of a book explains what goes where.