Are you an author? Add yourself to our KB AUTHORS PAGE!

[KBoards Admin]

Are the pen names just for data purposes or will they be showing up anywhere? I'm really anal about keeping my editing name (which is also my real name) and my author name separate (at least for right now). I don't mind some knowing both but I wouldn't want to make this public. 

You can leave the pen names blank if you wish. The only reason to have them is that, when a reader clicks on them, it launches an Amazon search results page for books by those pen names.

[KBoards.com]

[KBoards Admin]

Uh, I tried it. But why is my pic so BIG!

And what are supporting links?

Uh oh! I'll fix that pic size in the morning.

The links are just to make it easier to tell your sales story - ie if you've already posted about it in these forums, just use the link rather than rewriting it.

[KBoards Admin]

Another two thoughts: Could the landing page for the link under our names be our author pages on Amazon? With our bios and all? Maybe ask for that link in the form? The landing pages are now search pages on Amazon with other books thrown in there too. Also (am I being too picky and demanding??? ;D)... I really like that the form asked the starting date. That will also give more context.

Edited to clarify. *off to get more coffee*

I could add the Amazon author page as a field in the Setup form. Was trying to err on the side of simplicity, but your suggestion is a good one.

Also, will add the starting date into the author page in the morning. I should have caught that when I did the earlier update - thanks!!

[Shayne Parkinson]

Thanks for this, Harvey!

One more little thing: apostrophes entered in the "Notes" are being discarded.

[KBoards Admin]

Update: added the 'starting from' date information into the Authors page.
Update: forced a consistent resizing of avatar images.

[Not Here]

You can leave the pen names blank if you wish. The only reason to have them is that, when a reader clicks on them, it launches an Amazon search results page for books by those pen names.

Thanks and it's nice that I can add it later when I'm out of the transition phase.

[KBoards Admin]

Thanks for this, Harvey!

One more little thing: apostrophes entered in the "Notes" are being discarded.

Thanks! Fixed! I always struggle with PHP and quote marks.

[KBoards Admin]

Thanks for adding your sales info! A few more additions and I can verify that the 'paging' works properly:

https://kboards.com/authors

[the quiet one]

Love this idea! Thanks for putting it together, Harvey. I've added my info.

[KBoards Admin]

Thanks! Looks good!

[Andrew Ashling]

Thanks, Harvey. Going to try it out now.

[KBoards Admin]

I updated the Setup page to make it clear which fields are required vs optional.

[Monique]

I don't see any rules about freebies or indie only or ebook only, etc. What were the final decisions on all of that and shouldn't that info be available to both submitter and list-viewer?

[JFHilborne]

What a great idea. I added my info and only included sales from this year, when my publishing rights reverted back to me.

[Error404]

I noticed that when I put my two pen names in the appropriate boxes and click the link to the Amazon pages, it will only search for the last name in the boxes (I switched them around to prove that it was, indeed, doing this).

[KBoards Admin]

I don't see any rules about freebies or indie only or ebook only, etc. What were the final decisions on all of that and shouldn't that info be available to both submitter and list-viewer?

Thanks, Monique. On the Setup page, we indicate that the sales figures should include paid e-books only. We don't differentiate between indie vs small-pub vs big-pub... although most of our registered members are indie and small-pub.

You are right though that this information should be on the displayed Authors table. I'll add that now. 
Select the sales milestone you've achieved. This threshold is for the lifetime total for all paid e-books, sold through Amazon, BN.com, Apple, or any e-book outlet.

[KBoards Admin]

I noticed that when I put my two pen names in the appropriate boxes and click the link to the Amazon pages, it will only search for the last name in the boxes (I switched them around to prove that it was, indeed, doing this).

I'm having trouble reproducing that... when I click on your name, it takes me to this search results page:
http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&tag=kbpst-20&field-keywords=MacWillard||Heidi%20Willard||Mac%20Flynn|

Which is searching for any of the three names listed. Are you seeing something different?

[Carol (was Dara)]

A couple little quirks that caused me to keep getting an error message:

*The form doesn't like slashes. I had to change my 03/18/2011 to 03182011 before it could update.
* It doesn't like commas either. Had to change 25,000 to 25000.

I figured out the problems and had no trouble once I'd corrected them. Just mentioning these in case anyone else gets confused too.

[KBoards Admin]

Thanks, Dara - I'll see if I can make that a little friendlier.

[Shalini Boland]

This is great, Harvey. It's so interesting to read everyone's stats!

[Error404]

I'm having trouble reproducing that... when I click on your name, it takes me to this search results page:
http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&tag=kbpst-20&field-keywords=MacWillard||Heidi%20Willard||Mac%20Flynn|

Which is searching for any of the three names listed. Are you seeing something different?

The names may be in the Amazon search bar, but none of my YA came up in those results.  However, if I switch the orders of the names in the boxes, then the Willard YA show up but not the Flynn adult.

[Marti talbott]

Well, I tried but it wouldn't go through. It says the approximate number has to be bigger, but...it is bigger. I'll try again later. 

[KBoards Admin]

Well, I tried but it wouldn't go through. It says the approximate number has to be bigger, but...it is bigger. I'll try again later. 

Let me know what the two numbers are (sales milestone and est. sales) and I can check to see if there's a bug in the handling of that!

[jenminkman]

Thanks for this, Harvey! I just filled in my details and I am curious to see more sales data for fellow KB-ers!

[Marti talbott]

Let me know what the two numbers are (sales milestone and est. sales) and I can check to see if there's a bug in the handling of that!

I got it. I was trying to put a comma in the "approximate number of sales" field.

[KBoards.com]