Run the launch-week availability audit
Verify author-profile associations
In publication week, confirm that every format of the new book is linked to your claimed author profiles on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, and elsewhere, and that no stray books have attached themselves.
Why it matters
A reader who finds your author page and doesn't see the new book concludes it doesn't exist. A duplicate author page splits your reviews, your followers, and your search results in two. Both are cheap to fix in the first week and tedious to fix a year later, when the wrong page has accumulated its own history.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author. Only the author can check and fix claimed profiles
- When
- Publication week, and again when each new format goes live (Run the launch-week availability audit: publication day and the first week)
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Claiming an author profile is one step; keeping the right books attached to it is a separate, recurring one. When a new book or a new format goes live, the retailer's system decides which author page it belongs to, usually by matching the name string. It gets this right most of the time. When it gets it wrong, the new hardcover sits on an unclaimed duplicate author page, or a namesake's book appears on yours.
In publication week, open each claimed profile and check that every live format of the new book appears there. On Amazon, use Author Central to add any missing edition. On Goodreads, check that the editions are combined under one work and that the work is on your profile; anything else goes to the Goodreads librarians. On BookBub, check the book list in the Partners dashboard. Do the same for any other platform where you hold a profile.
The process is the same on every publishing path. Traditionally published authors may find the publisher's feed created the association cleanly; self-published authors sometimes find the ebook and the paperback landed on two different author pages because the name was entered slightly differently.
Also search your name on each platform and look for a second author page with your books on it. If one exists, it needs to be merged, and each platform has its own route for that.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the association happens automatically because the last book's did.
- Checking the ebook and not the audiobook.
- Finding a duplicate author page and ignoring it because it has no reviews yet.
- Fixing the profile on Amazon and forgetting the other marketplaces.
Identifiers for Verify author-profile associations
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All author identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Author Central The free Amazon page where you claim your author name, attach every edition of your books, and write your biography. | Unclaimed, the author page a reader sees is whatever Amazon assembled, and any edition listed under a different spelling of your name sits apart from the rest of your work. Only you can fix that: a publisher cannot claim your author page for you, and the platform account a self-publisher publishes through is a separate login, so the job is identical on all three routes. Amazon's help says author pages are not removed once created, so use exactly the name that appears on your books rather than creating a second page you would rather not have. You're done when one author page carries the right name and every edition and format is attached to it. | Add your Amazon author page link | |
| Goodreads Author Program The free way to claim the Goodreads profile that is created automatically once a book under your name enters its database. | The profile exists whether or not you claim it, so leaving it alone means the picture, biography, and book list readers see are whatever the database assembled, and a book by a different writer with your name can end up attached to you. Reader reviews and ratings sit outside your control by design, and claiming the profile does not change that. All three routes do the same thing here; what differs is how the book record arrives in the first place, normally through the publisher's data for a traditionally published book, and through your platform or a volunteer Goodreads Librarian for a self-published one. You're done when the profile is claimed and every edition is grouped under the right work and author. | Add your Goodreads author page link | |
| BookBub Author Profile A free BookBub profile that lists your books and alerts your followers when you publish a new one. | Claiming it gives you a follower list that receives automatic new-release notices, and it lets you correct the book titles, covers, descriptions, and retailer links readers see; left unclaimed, none of that is yours to fix. It is worth doing for any author whose books are sold as ebooks, and it does less for a print-only, academic, or picture book. It applies the same way on all three routes, whether a publisher or you released the book, and it is separate from any decision about paying for a Featured Deal or advertising, which claiming a profile does not enter you for. You're done when the profile is claimed, the photo and bio are current, and every book and retailer link is right. | Add your BookBub profile link |
What done looks like
- Every live format of the new book visible on each claimed author profile within publication week.
- Missing editions added through Author Central or the platform's equivalent.
- Goodreads editions combined and the work attached to your profile, with librarian help where needed.
- A search of your name on each platform showing one author page, not two.
- The check repeated whenever a new format or edition goes live.
Evidence. Done means someone says the work happened. Verified means you checked the confirmation, link, or public record yourself.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified