Support for Indie Authors discussion
Marketing Tactics
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Unlocking Secret Amazon Categories!
cheers Annie, but how do you get to know a KDP rep?
Lee, I'm a little about puzzled what this has to do with the topic, which is about categories ...
On top of the keywords, I just started looking through the actual categories and it looks like Amazon has done a little rearranging (either that or I'm completely dense). It looks like there are new categories, some I haven't seen before. Might want to try new combos. I am.
Melanie wrote: "Lee, I'm a little about puzzled what this has to do with the topic, which is about categories ..."Oops - new here. I think I was thinking of ways to take advantage of key words to promote your campaign. I guess I hadn't thought of saying "#1 on Amazon" before and when I did, those words brought attention. I thought we were also talking about ways to take advantage of the right verbiage for attention and promotion.
I took it to another level. Sorry.
Anyone religiously change the categories their books are in?
Justin wrote: "Anyone religiously change the categories their books are in?"Not religiously, but if I notice a new category that my book fits into, I'll investigate making a change. Not long ago I discovered a sci-fi mystery category under YA and put one of my books there. It worked out pretty well, getting a few more eyes than previously.
Hmm interesting..I'll admit I never thought to change them but this thread and these comments got me wondering now lol.
Jack wrote: "cheers Annie, but how do you get to know a KDP rep?"Oops. Sorry I missed this!
Hmm. Every time I needed something done, I'd submit a general request to KDP. When I found someone with a great personality, I kinda chatted him up a bit and "kept" him hahaha!!
The reps don't hold any actual "power" because they're just the middlemen. But they can sure put in a good word for ya ^_~
Hope that helps some!
Hugs,
Ann
P.S. - I change my categories once in a while too, just to see what I can get into *shrugs*
I think I finally get how this works. You type in the keyword in your keyword for your book and your book will show up in the category that it falls under. Yes I know I'm slow in figuring that one out lol.Unfortunately I'm bumming because I have 2 books of poetry and an Asian Crime Thriller and I don't see anything close to a keyword in relation to them. I know I could probably find something if I tried but I feel as though it'd be forced. I'll keep my eyes peeled though.
Lee wrote: "I have 3 humorous memoir books available. The first was a TEASER book with just 10 stories from both the next two paid books. Available on Kindle only. And FREE. When it first hit the market - 2 we..."Lee, congratulations on a #1 spot! That is a wonderful accomplishment, the best I got was to 734 and I was more than thrilled.
Mary wrote: "Lee wrote: "I have 3 humorous memoir books available. The first was a TEASER book with just 10 stories from both the next two paid books. Available on Kindle only. And FREE. When it first hit the m..."Mary - I hope you noticed the word FREE along with #1. 734 is a very good number in reality. FREE is not reality.
I visit authors like myself on Amazon and see what categories their books are in. I am about to try stand up comedy at my local Alamo stand up comedy night just so I can add the word comedienne in my description. I am a member of the story tellers in my hometown and have shared funny stories (without script - my book) to them. Would you consider that as a stand up comedy? Or do I have to stand on stage in front of a bunch of possible hecklers?
I'm putting my first book on Kindle and came to the categories section. I had chosen 2 detailed categories from other similar books but I can't find the spot on the dashboard where I can do anything but check a general category, with no subcategories. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.
Joy wrote: "I'm putting my first book on Kindle and came to the categories section. I had chosen 2 detailed categories from other similar books but I can't find the spot on the dashboard where I can do anythin..."The link in the very first post will give you this information.
Thank you all very much. This is my first day as a member of SIA and you've given me valuable info.I have heard that it's a good idea to pick a small category to improve the chances of getting to the top. Dou you agree?
Okay so you can tell I'm getting into this with my constant posts here lol. I have a few questions...Has anyone who writes horror figured out what categories to use? Horror is not listed.
Can you use keywords that aren't listed and if you do where will it put your book under?
I managed to use a few keywords for Opium Warfare using "conspiracy" and "murder". I'd like to use Asian, Chinese or Opium but I don't know if you can use keywords that aren't listed.
Justin wrote: "Okay so you can tell I'm getting into this with my constant posts here lol. I have a few questions...Has anyone who writes horror figured out what categories to use? Horror is not listed.
Can yo..."
Horror is listed under literary fiction>genre fiction>horror. I really don't know why it isn't its own genre, but there you go.
As for other keywords, yes, you may use anything that you think will draw readers to your book, but only the keywords that Amazon suggests will get you into a niche genre. Personally, I would use as many of these as is applicable because I don't really know who is using keywords to search books. I think a lot of folks just browse by genre, price, etc, and only use the search when looking for something specific.
I'm wondering how much romance you have to have in a Sci-Fi thriller to use the "romance" keyword. At least one plot thread of the book I'm working on will expand on the romance that had developed in the first book. In fact, there were two romances in the first book that I might expand on. Nothing explicit. But the main theme of the book will be interstellar war.
@Mr Ken: You CAN use whatever keywords you want. I mean, I could list as a horror or thriller (totally not haha) and Amazon wouldn't care. The problem is readers would feel misled, eh?
If romance is a legit (a.k.a. significant) underlying theme (?) in your books, I don't see why not...
Am I crazy, guys?
Hugs,
Ann
It not Casablanca or Gone With the Wind, but the romance is part of several threads driving to a certain plot conclusion. It's not Star Wars, either, but the part that romance plays is probably as significant.
Christina wrote: "Justin wrote: "Okay so you can tell I'm getting into this with my constant posts here lol. I have a few questions...Has anyone who writes horror figured out what categories to use? Horror is not ..."
I don't see horror listed under Categories with keyword requirements or under literary fiction...do I type it in somewhere or is is located somewhere else?
Annie wrote: "Am I crazy, guys?"Um, yeah! ;P ;P ;P
But there's actually a romantic qualifier for sci-fi and fantasy that would be appropriate to use. By the same token, there is a nonromantic qualifier that a book is defaulted into if romance is not a keyword, so in this instance, yes, use it, but maybe hold off on the romance subgenre of sci-fi.
Justin wrote: "I don't see horror listed under Categories with keyword requirements or under literary fiction...do I type it in somewhere or is is located somewhere else? "
Horror is a first tier category under fiction, so you would need to select it as one of your main categories. It will appear under literary fiction.
Justin wrote: "I think I finally get how this works. You type in the keyword in your keyword for your book and your book will show up in the category that it falls under. Yes I know I'm slow in figuring that one ..."Justin, your book of poetry appears in quite a few categories. I was curious myself, as I have a book of poetry available for pre-order at the moment (and quite a few of them are Halloween-themed).
Melanie wrote: "Justin wrote: "I think I finally get how this works. You type in the keyword in your keyword for your book and your book will show up in the category that it falls under. Yes I know I'm slow in fig..."Do they? I didn't really notice. I just see the generic horror, literary fiction and two hours or more time categories which I didn't even know were a thing lol.
Christina wrote: "Justin wrote: "I don't see horror listed under Categories with keyword requirements or under literary fiction...do I type it in somewhere or is is located somewhere else? "
Horror is a first tier..."
I still can't find it. I don't see anything horror related under literary fiction.
Justin wrote: "Christina wrote: "Justin wrote: "I don't see horror listed under Categories with keyword requirements or under literary fiction...do I type it in somewhere or is is located somewhere else? "
I think Christina was referring to the actual category that displays on Amazon, not the 'Categories with keyword requirements' that are listed on https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41
I guess it just means that there are no specific keyword requirements for horror.
Melanie wrote: "Justin wrote: "Christina wrote: "Justin wrote: "I don't see horror listed under Categories with keyword requirements or under literary fiction...do I type it in somewhere or is is located somewhere..."Yep, Melanie's got it. As far as I know, there are no subgenres under horror. You select it as one of your two main categories and it will appear as a literary genre on Amazon.
Speaking of the Fiction & Literature heading on Amazon...There are several subcategories that appear to be redundant under the heading of fiction and literature, including action & adventure, romance, fantasy, sci-fi,etc... What does not appear is how one might get their books into these categories seeing as they don't really appear anywhere. Customer support was stumped by this question and basically just told me to give them the path I wanted and they would add it, however, I really want to know how this works. So... Anyone who has their book listed under literature & fiction with a genre specific subcategory: how did you do that?
So for example if I put "gore", and "creepy" as keywords would I get a subgenre horror listed? Or would it just go based off the two I selected and not even consider my keywords?
If you look at the listing here on Amazon, you'll see that there are a handful of horror subcategories, but if you notice, none of them have a keyword requirement. https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-K...
I do know that occult & supernatural is its own main category on the set up page, so you would have to select that. Dark fantasy appears as a subgenre of fantasy, so it is very likely that in these instances, you would select the category separately and use horror as your keyword.
I know, it is frustrating and I don't quite understand why horror isn't its own category. My suggestion would be to browse the bestseller categories, find the paths you want, and email support asking them to add them, and keep your keywords free to reflect your stories.
Okay I think this addresses and answers my questions, thanks Christina!
I have a book about an animal, dog, and can't find any categories. Would it be general? fiction? I have key words selected hoping that will help but I need a general category. Maybe Family?
Joy wrote: "I have a book about an animal, dog, and can't find any categories. Would it be general? fiction? I have key words selected hoping that will help but I need a general category. Maybe Family?"https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...
If you look on the left side you'll see the categories listed for "dog books", some may apply to what your book is about some may not but it's worth a look.
Okay so after I figured out how to look for categories for horror I added some keywords to my first two books. I typed in horror and other genres and keywords to see what it listed on the left hand side. I surprisingly got some good genres to go in so I typed in the keywords in my books info and now I have some new quality tags that will hopefully help my books.
Thank you Justin. Several of them are perfect. Does Amazon put Kindle ebooks, in your categories automatically? It's not a listing but I notice the books all have that as the first item in their categories.
You select two categories under Amazon KDP and then you can select up to seven keywords.
Thanks. I've done that and I'm close to publishing. Thanks so much for your answers. Once I see what happens I'll have much more confidence in the whole process.
I find this all super confusing but I wish Goodreads had Like buttons under all your posts because I would click for all of you. :-)I'm going to try adding a keyword I didn't think of before for my first novella and see if that changes any of my categories at all. Thanks to all for the new information!
I still find the keywords confusing but Justin was very helpful.
Joy wrote: "I have a book about an animal, dog, and can't find any categories. Would it be general? fiction? I have key words selected hoping that will help but I need a general category. Maybe Family?"Besides looking yourself, you can call for help and speak to a LIVE person.
Thanks, Lee. Is that through Author Central?
K.B. wrote: "I have been reading this in stages so apologies if someone already mentioned this and I missed it. I don't wish to confuse things further, but if you want to increase visibility across amazon store..."So if you live in the U.S is there a way you can go into Amazon.UK and change the categories of your books?
So, something interesting/random...Amazon put my books into a new subcategory that improves my rank. This happened within the last week. Before, it was lumping the books into all formats ("Books"), but now it has given me an ebook only ("Kindle Store") sub-category. This is great for me because my main competition was the paperbacks. I don't know the rhyme or reason of why Amazon would suddenly change it, but it's interesting. It also changed the bottom category from books to Kindle only.#2 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Historical Fiction > United States > 20th Century
#3 in Books > Teens > Historical Fiction > United States > 20th Century
#250 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction
I played around with a few different keywords a few months ago, but it did not change my categories.
Maybe it takes a while or until you get a sale to change the category.
That's interesting. I contacted them and got one small change but that was before I had any sales. I have some now so I'm interested in seeing if they change it.Congrats, Marie, on your ranking!
I know this sounds terrible but you kinda have to get to know a KDP rep. If you can form a relationship, they actually get stuff done pretty darn fast. Just my free cents haha!
Best of luck!
Hugs,
Ann