Short answer. Set up Amazon Author Central first: it is free, you start it from the Marketing page in KDP, and it puts your books and bio on one Amazon page. Amazon's help lists no mailing list form, and Amazon sets the layout. An author website is the page you control. With a series or a list, you want both.
Key points
- Amazon Author Central is free: the sign-up step reads "Join for free."
- You can add your books, a biography in different languages, and editorial reviews (US only).
- You start from the Marketing page in KDP, then claim a book you wrote by ISBN, ASIN or author name.
- In some marketplaces the Author Page is copied from the US one and cannot be edited.
- An author website is where your mailing list form lives.
What is Amazon Author Central?
Amazon Author Central is Amazon's free tool for creating your Author Page, the page on Amazon that lists your books with your bio. Amazon's help page says it lets you "create your Author Page" and share information about yourself and your books. You join for free and claim the page through a book you have written.
How do you set up Amazon Author Central?
Through your KDP account, in six steps. This is the route Amazon's KDP help gives, as we read it on 13 October 2026:
- In KDP, go to the Marketing page.
- In the Author Central section, choose the Amazon store where you want your Author Page.
- Click "Manage author page." Amazon sends you to Author Central.
- Click "Join for free" and sign up with your KDP account details.
- Search for one book you wrote by ISBN, ASIN or author name.
- Click the book, then "Yes, join as" with your author name.
Then add your biography and any of your books that are missing. To set up a page in .co.uk, .de, .fr, .co.jp or .com.br as well, pick that store in step 2 and go through the steps again. The other six stores copy the US page; the store section below has the list.
What can you add in Amazon Author Central?
Amazon's KDP help lists three things: "Add your books to your Author Page", "Add your biography in different languages", and "Add Editorial Reviews for your books (US feature only)". The rest of the list is for checking things, such as your Best Sellers Rank, customer reviews and BookScan sales (US only). It does not mention a sign-up form or your own links layout. The images and comparison tables under "From the Publisher" on a book's page are a different feature, A+ Content, covered in our post on Amazon A+ Content for books.
Does Author Central work in every Amazon store?
Not in the same way. Amazon lists full Author Central for Amazon.com, .co.uk, .de, .fr, .co.jp and .com.br. For .in, .it, .es, .com.au, .ca and .com.mx it creates Author Pages only if you have books in those stores, and that information "is collected from the US marketplace and cannot currently be edited."
So a reader in Canada sees what you set up on Amazon.com, and you cannot change it for that store.
What can an author website do that Author Central cannot?
Collect emails. Your Author Page follows Amazon's layout, and the help page lists nothing for a sign-up form. A website can put a mailing list form under every book, link to every store you sell in, and give one title its own page for a launch or an ad.
The mailing list is the channel to readers that no store owns. That is the main reason to have a site.
Do you need both?
If you have one book and no list, Author Central alone is fine to start. Once you have a series, a mailing list, or books in stores beyond Amazon, add a website. They do different jobs: Author Central helps a reader already on Amazon, and your site gives everyone else one place to land. Our post on which author website pages you need covers what the site should hold.
Where we come in: we build your site in WordPress in your own account, with your books, bio and sign-up form, and link it to your Author Page. Tell us about your books and we reply with a page plan and the price.
Should your website link to your Author Page?
Yes, and your Author Page bio can mention your site by name. Readers who want Amazon reviews go one way, readers who want your list go the other. For what a site costs to build and run, see our posts on what an author website costs and on an author website on WordPress over three years.
What else do authors ask about Amazon Author Central?
Yes. Amazon's sign-up step reads "Join for free."
You claim it by searching for a book you wrote by ISBN, ASIN or name, so the book needs to be on Amazon.
Yes, on Amazon.com. Amazon lists it as a US-only feature.
No. Amazon says those pages take their information from the US store and cannot currently be edited.
No. A site is your choice, for the reader list and the links you control.
What should you do next?
Go through the six steps above today and add your bio. Then decide if you need a sign-up form. If you do, start on our author website page or read our post on one-page vs five-page author websites.
