The curious result of tagging your Kindle ebook on Amazon
This is a guest post by author Dave Cornford about an unexpected effect of tagging his Kindle ebook on Amazon.
Tagging your Kindle ebook on Amazon can have unexpected effects
I recently Googled my book's title along with my name – just to see how Google was "finding" me. I was curious to see if there was anything about the book on the web that I didn't know about. Or I was procrastinating on Chapter 15 of the novel . . .
Good news – the top search result was the Amazon page where you can buy my book! Second was a review of one of the stories in the book I knew about (a good review, so that's a relief) and then third was my blog. After that, various blog pages, then Facebook and LinkedIn pages. Last on the first page? My previous guest blog at Taleist about How to survey your readers.
Curiouser and curiouser
Curiosity got the better of me, and I kept paging through. On page 4 of the results, there was something strange. A "Foreclosure Guide" site. And then another. On each one, there was a sidebar with little picture of my cover, inviting me to buy.
It didn't take much to work out what was going on. These sites seem to have affiliate arrangements with Amazon, and while they are blogging about foreclosure issues in the US, they have a sidebar with links to books about foreclosure – how to avoid it, how to survive it, how to make money when it happens to someone else. Logical product placement with content readers to the site might be interested in.
My book, Cracks in the Ceiling, is a collection of short stories set in the wake of the global recession, and is tagged with "foreclosure" in Amazon.
Somehow, a person or an algorithm is picking up my book and feeding it to the sidebar of these sites. And there seem to be lots of them taking the same feed.
No complaints from me, but unfortunately I'm not seeing any evidence of this driving lots of sales at the moment.
How about you do the same search test, and let us know if your book is popping up any unexpected places?
[image error]Dave Cornford has long balanced a career as a senior marketing executive in the financial services sector with creative pursuits in writing, community theatre, film making and gastronomy.
He is currently writing full time, when not being distracted by his Facebook follies: What I Don't Want to See on a Sushi Roll, kitschitecture (when budget exceeds good taste in domestic architecture) and Nanna's Travel Tips.
He lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.
Dave Cornford is blogging at davecornford.com, and is on Facebook and Twitter.
2012 Taleist Self-Publishing Survey
Dave is also an experienced consumer researcher and together we're conducting the 2012 Taleist Self-Publishing Survey. Read more and sign-up to participate in the survey here.
