Oops, I just got caught. Amazon finally noticed that my profile signature there included a live link to my website, so I had to change the signature. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should! Amazon provides an excellent way to drive people to your book via book reviews you post there. You do read, don't you? Since I have a memoir of WWII Japan (Cherry Blossoms in Twilight), I review other memoirs, especially multicultural ones, especially those not on the bestseller lists, and post them on Amazon. You have to create an Amazon profile first to do this. You may already have a profile set up, but if you don't, when you go on the Amazon site scroll way down to the bottom to the "Your Participation" section and click on "Your Profile." There you can login (or create a login) and edit your profile.

On your profile, use your full real name to have credibility and findability. You can add your web or blogsite url as well as list your interests and that you are the author of (xyz) book. You can also indicate a "signature" which attaches itself to your name whenever you write a review. My old signature was my website url, however, Amazon doesn't like live links to take people outside of Amazon. So now my signature is "author of Cherry Blossoms in Twilight." Whenever I want to add a review, I find the book on Amazon, scroll down a little to where I can choose "Create Your Own Review" and type in a review. After saved, the review will show up attributed to Linda Austin "author of Cherry Blossoms in Twilight." People can then search for that book! And, if you review other books in your genre, you've gotten an "in" with people interested in that genre. Voila! There are other ways to drive people to your book via Amazon, such as tagging, creating lists and guides, but that's another blogpost.