Tips for Self Promotion, Sales, and Advertising discussion
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How to hit #1 on Amazon...
Mod
"I would ..."
Secret Agendas is a case in point. But, isn't it the author's responsibility to include the tags he or she wants in the first place?
Mod
First off, thank you so much Todd, for all your hard work over this past year of tagging.
Not sure if anyone noticed, but 94 new books were posted in July 2009..."
Fascinating statistics, Dee. Thank you for posting them.
Thank you to all the newer taggers who take the trouble to go all the way back to the beginning (just as some of us early members still return to tag more recent entries)
I just checked, and Forced Mate has 98 tags. When I joined Todd's group, I already had 40 tags.
My second book Insufficient Mating Material has an average of 72 tags. My third Knight's Fork has 100.
If anyone has checked all my tags, they might extrapolate from the eclectic collection that I've tagged hundreds of books for this group... but it looks as if only forty or so from this group have reciprocated.
As you say, Dee, one accepts... But newcomers should realize that it cuts both ways.
The one tag I really care about for my books is
"futuristic romance" by the way.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
Hi all!I need some added tags on my books (particularly the Kindle edition) --
tags: ya issues, young adult
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-Blog-N...
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-A-Blog...
I'm off to tag more books listed here now :)
I tagged your book ^^My links are:
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-Blog-N...
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-A-Blog...
Rowena wrote: "I would ..."Secret Agendas is a case in point. But, isn't it the author's responsibility to include the tags he or she wants in the first place?"
Rowena,
I've already explained here on GoodReads as well as Todd's site why what you suggest doesn't always work. Every Amazon customer is allowed to add a maximum of 32 tags per book. However, only 11 tags show up inside to the tag window. If an author takes the lazy person's way of tagging the book's on Todd's site, the possibility exists that the requested tags will not have a high enough tag score to ever show up on the tag list.
In my case, even though my requested tag has been tagged 13 times, it does not register on the tag chart because the tag with the lowest score on my tag chart has been tagged 25 times. Worse, every time someone tags my book without ever checking to see if the requested tag is present on my tag list it only exasperates the situation.
It would seem that many of the authors who are participating on Todd's site do not understand how the system works. I have tried to my best to enlighten as many authors as I can about this problem. But it seems that I am flogging a dead horse.
Mod
I tagged two Eyelash books last night from Todd's updated list.... my mistake. They are Eyeleash!!!!
What does that mean? Now I am really intrigued.
Is someone led around by the eyeball?
Jess wrote: "I tagged your book ^^
My links are:
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-Blog-Nove...
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-A-Blog-No...
"
It took me a few moments to get how it works -- I think the whole concept is rather "excitable", so a certain kind of impetuosity might get in the way of "how the (requested) tags" should ideally work.Perhaps one way to get the most desired requested tag to be highest on the list, is to get rid of some of the remaining tags (what I do initially, when I'm figuring out the tags for my book/s)!
Jess wrote: "Perhaps one way to get the most desired requested tag to be highest on the list, is to get rid of some of the remaining tags (what I do initially, when I'm figuring out the tags for my book/s)!"So how do you go about removing a tag that has been clicked 25 times?
Oh? I don't know about the updated list; I must be looking at another page. My Kindle one still has very few tags (they're showing just 1 tag each on the product page, at present).Well, the concept is somewhat like what you say. It's about external looks/being hooked to a person's good looks, so much so that it overshadows their real self inside ;)
Man, that debut book of mine was tough. I intend to market the Kindle edition more aggressively later -- which is why I'm trying to get more tags on that one in the meantime!
Oh right, I forgot about that. All this is very new to me -- I have spent a lot more time on the writing/editing side, over the marketing side (but it's been fun so far).I'd just go with "whatever I can get" initially. I'd rather be highly visible in my 2nd or 3rd desired tag category (or even 4th or 5th), than remain in complete obscurity.
Kevis wrote: "Jess wrote: "Perhaps one way to get the most desired requested tag to be highest on the list, is to get rid of some of the remaining tags (what I do initially, when I'm figuring out the tags for my..."
Mod
Was Secret Agendas yours, Kevis? If so, I did type in the requested tag that was not on display.
Don't you have 12 more friends who have bought books on Amazon, Kevis? Maybe instead of flogging dead horses here, and insulting colleagues who do come back to tag, and who actually support your arguments, you should do a little private and personable campaigning in addition.
Other strategies you might find helpful would be to take your top three tags and write those little essays to help the search engines for each of them.
Or, you could ask us to uncheck some of the tags that are preventing your third favorite tag from hitting the list.
Kevis wrote: "Rowena wrote: "I would ..."
Secret Agendas is a case in point. But, isn't it the author's responsibility to include the tags he or she wants in the first place?"
Rowena,
I've already explained h..."
Jess wrote: "Maybe instead of flogging dead horses here, and insulting colleagues who do come back to tag, and who actually support your arguments, you should do a little private and personable campaigning in addition."Rowena,
Can you please let me know what I said that indicated that I was insulting my colleagues? If it appeared that I was, that wasn't my intent and I apologize. I'm simply stating the fact that not everyone is playing by the same rules. I still think that I am flogging a dead horse, which is why I'm not going to bother harping on this issue anymore. I just wanted to respond to your post since it made it appear as though I did not understand the concept of tagging.
I have done everything in my power to increase the tag score of my requested tags. But truth is, if it was easy for me to get people to tag my books, I probably wouldn't need Todd's site.
Let me be clear, I am thankful to everyone who has tagged my books. In fact, I take great pride in making sure to tag everyone else's books too. But it is possible that I am worrying too much about something that is currently out of my control. Again, this is why I won't worry about it anymore.
I appreciate you taking the time to make some helpful suggestions. I'll look into seeing what I can do to implement them.
All caught up on tagging. If you are on Todd's list, you've been tagged. If you haven't already, I'd appreciate if you tag my novels.Kathy
hi kathy, just tagged all of yours ;)if you had the time to spare...i would greatly appreciate it if you could help me tag the following three on my kindle edition:
ya issues, young adult, coming of age
http://www.amazon.com/EyeLeash-A-Blog...
the print copy is on Todd's list -- i want a few more tags on the kindle one though, heh!
You got it Jess. Thank you very much for tagging my novels!
Mod
1. You could get your friends to tag it a second time. That would remove the original tag.
2. You and your friends could go to the community (most tags link to a "community") and click that this book is not appropriate for the community. You can do the same on the discussion wall.
I never untag people. But, it can be done. The Amazon Romance discussion group once decided that they were bored of always seeing Twilight in the sidebar, so they started a determined untagging campaign to bump it. I don't think they succeeded!
LOL
Rowena wrote: "To get rid of tags with 25 votes: I'm not sure I want to tell all the world this...1. You could get your friends to tag it a second time. That would remove the original tag.
2. You and your frie..."
I agree that your suggestion would certainly be a way to get my requested tag back in play. But taking that approach would only make my problem worse. It's sort of like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Anyway I'm pretty much over the situation now. I'm ecstatic that other authors have taken the time to tag my books. That's what really counts in the end. But thanks for the kind advice. :)
I just tagged your book, The Wind Whispers War. I'd appreciate your returning the favor for Becoming Alice, A Memoir.The best of luck to you.
Smiles Alice, it was tagged by me on the 13th! Wishing you much success! kgc
My latest novel Stragglers of the Spew is out. Please tag Stragglers of the Spew for me at http://bit.ly/L1Qf5
New books on the TMBOA site - come join the tagging fun for August!http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...
Okay, I've tagged everybody for August. I noticed that the further down the list someone was, the fewer tags they seemed to have. Did folks just get tired? :P
Anyway, I went back and did a lot of them from July too. It'll take me some time before I get through all the books on the site, but I'll check back!
Anyway, I went back and did a lot of them from July too. It'll take me some time before I get through all the books on the site, but I'll check back!
Todd, what a beautiful idea. I just noticed that tags are indeed very useful, and was looking for something like this...so thank you! Just submitted our book & tags following your link.
I have had an incredibly frustrating time with tags. My book "The Trouble WIth Lions: A Glasgow Vet in Africa" is, as the title might suggest, about wildlife, Africa, conservation, veterinary medicine. Amazon have it tagged under Travel, Europe, Great Britain, Scotland, Glasgow. Need I comment further? (note, Glasgow gets a mention in the book because that is where I graduated)I have written emails to Amazon 2 or 3 times, but all I get is the run-around. As non-fiction and "reality" are popular right now, and this book has lions, elephants, rhinos & so on, and has stories about Kenya, Uganda, The Serengeti, Ngorongoro, The Okavango Delta and Kruger National parks I am at a loss.
Any suggestions?
Hi Jerry,I went to your amazon site. Looks like this isn't a tagging problem but a "category" problem. (Tags are added by readers, categories are created by Amazon).
Categories are difficult to change with Amazon - I've had some appear and them go away and then change. Continue to send emails to Amazon. The Amazon email address I had for category changes doesn't work anymore (got it from the book "POD People"). If I come across something I'll post it here.
Todd
Thanks Todd,I am also not getting replies from them any more. Maddening.
Plan to add my book to Amazon Connect as soon as my cover art is completed. Thanks for this great tip!Kaylin McFarren
FLAHERTY'S CROSSING
Champagne Books, February 2010
I know, I sometimes don't get any replies whatsoever too. I think it'd be best to explore all sorts of promotional methods possible -- the product stuff *is* important on Amazon, but there's other things one could do for one's book ;)...though it's very time-consuming. Initially, at least.Dr. wrote: "Thanks Todd,
I am also not getting replies from them any more. Maddening."
Kaylin wrote: "Plan to add my book to Amazon Connect as soon as my cover art is completed. Thanks for this great tip!Kaylin McFarren
FLAHERTY'S CROSSING
Champagne Books, February 2010"
Yeah, Amazon Connect doesn't exist anymore. They changed it to Amazon Author Central with an Author Page that does absolutely nothing compared to the old "Connect" program. Still, I suppose it is better than nothing. :o)
Oh...appreciate the correction. Will make a note of this right away. Kaylin
Kevis wrote: "Dee wrote: "Hey Kevis,You are too funny :]
Actually, if I were you, I would just accept that some authors just don't tag while others do...and thank the authors who "are" playing by the rules.
..."
playing by the rules? I am new - and do not know the rules. is there a rule sheet?
Is there anyone out there still debating whether or not to buy crime/thriller FERRYMAN? If so, take a look at this. Go to www.allanmayer.com and look for 'Published Author Interviews' -- click 'page two', and you'll find Ferryman at number 12 with Allan Mayer interviewing me.
At the bottom of the interview page is a link to Book Depository where you can buy Ferryman with NO ChARGE for postage anywhere in the world! Com'on you Aussies, for you that means the books are half price. It must mean substantial reduction for most of the globe too. I don't know how long it will go on for -- but now's your chance. :>)
Hi Everyone! Well it's been a while but the TagMyBookonAmazon site has been updated again with a number of new books - if you are still tagging, come by and help out some new authors!http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...
Thanks for the continued support everyone - the site has reached its one year anniversary!
Hi everyone! The advice, is good for sure...but, I found that after I uploaded my links to Amazon on the site, I only received about 16 clicks on my tags. Most were from friends.My book, is A Child's Wound, (Thriller) it hits Chapters/Indigo at the end of September, and is currently In Stock on Amazon.com...
http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Wound-Dw...
I have PR person that's working on a few projects for the launch, which I'm looking forward to.
I have done some local PR; Talk Radio and Local Newspaper. The results have not been stellar, so I'm wondering what marketing vehicle works best...any thoughts?
www.dwaynekavanagh.com Talk Radio clip
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gro... News Article
Dwayne,Thanks for supporting the site. It usually takes a few weeks after posting on the site to get a number of tags.
C'mon everyone - let's help Dwayne out! Start tagging away!
T
Thank you Todd. Your dedication is admirable! All tagged, and hope some of the new folks tag me too! Thanks again for all you do. Kathy
ARE WE PLAYING BY THE SAME RULES? OR IS BOOK TAGGING A ONE PLAYER GAME?I know some people would rather I not bring this up. But over the past few months, I have noticed a disturbing trend. People have been signing up for Tag My Book on Amazon and not tagging other authors books. I know Todd has his hands full trying to keep up with the deluge of books that are submitted to his site. But I am frustrated about the lack of sincerity of many of the authors who have joined Todd's site.
Yesterday it was brought to my attention that there is an author (one of several) who has been constantly submitting the books of other authors to TMBOA. Technically, I don't have a problem tagging these books. But isn't it unfair that we are taking precious time out of our lives, especially when we could be writing, to tag the books of authors who are not participants in Todd's site? For a long time I had been wondering why there is such a large difference between the number of tags I have received and the ones I have given. Now I know why.
Just for the record, I posted a message on Todd's site upon learning that a particular author was submitting other authors' books to TMBOA nearly every other day. Worse, after having checked the author's profile, I learned that he hasn't tagged anyone's books. Here's my message:
"Are we allowed to submit other people's books? I am curious why Jim's question about Walter's books went unanswered. I hate to be a spoilsport, but it certainly looks like Walter is not tagging anyone's book, but every other day he keeps submitting a different author's book to this site.
I am happy to tag everyone's books. But it has been over a month and no one has tagged my books.
In all, I have tagged nearly 600 books since joining this site. But I only have a maximum tag score of 71. Where are the other 530 tags? If we were all playing by the same rules I should have nearly as many tags as I have given. This is a very lopsided disparty between tags given and tags received. What is going on?
I am very upset about this situation. Authors are getting a free ride and are not playing fair. If Walter is not tagging books, his books should not appear on this site. I certainly don't think he should be submitting other people's books to this site either.
We have more than enough books to keep up busy tagging here without one author constantly submitting other author's books. This disgusts me even more because the authors of the books he submits aren't tagging our books. I really don't like what is going on. :("
TMBOA authors - please note a policy change to books submissions on the site.Thanks for your continued support.
http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...
Your count is better than mine. One wekend I tagged fifty books and got two tags in return. 
In a nutshell, what do you mean by tagging a book?
Hi Colleen!Simply put, tags are just words used to describe a book - horror, comedy, fiction, etc. On Amazon, there is a section on each book's page to add "tags" or words describing the book.
If more than one person uses the same "tag", say "comedy" then the "comedy" tag count goes from 1 to 2.
This is important because each tag has an associated amazon customer community - there is a "comedy" customer community. The books having the highest tag count for comedy get listed first on the "comedy" page on amazon.
Therefore, if someone is searching for a comedy book on amazon, the book with the greatest number of tags is shown first giving it more of an opportunity to be purchased.
For more details on this, you can read my blog post on this topic:
http://tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.co...
Hi Todd, thanks so much! I will read the blog:) Enjoy your Friday!
I hope this helps. My goodreads friend pointed me to booktour.com and from there is a link to create your authors page at amazon. I just listed on booktour.com today, http://booktour.com/author/24866, and created an author's page with Amazon and it was fairly simple.Elise
Hey Todd,First off, thanks so much for all your hard work. I joined your "Tag Team" when it was just a small idea to help other authors. Wow, has it grown!
The time spent in updating your site has got to take a huge hunk of your writing time. This is a double-edged sword...as I love the Tag Team Site, but darn it all, I am looking forward to your next novel :]
Wishing you the very best and thanks for being so thoughtful and giving so much of your time to promote your fellow authors.
Huge Hugs,
Dee Marie
PS: I have been offline most of the summer due to being tossed into Construction Hell (we took the roof off of our Hobbit house and built a new story on top of it. We have gone from Hobbits to living as Tree Elves).
It will take me a wee bit of time to play Tag catch-up, but I will be sure to get caught up with tagging over the next week.
Mod
Like Kevis, I've tagged way more books than I've received tags for.
The problem with one person submitting multiple books by multiple authors is that he (or she) only has one Amazon account, so even if he/she scrupulously tags each of us, we get one tag from him/her.
He/she and his/her friends get however many from us.
Thank you to everyone who is tagging my books
Forced Mate Insufficient Mating Material Knight's Fork
"futuristic romance"
Forced Mate futuristic romance
Insufficient Mating Material futuristic romance
Knight's Fork futuristic romance
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There is a way to check tags. When I have time it is something I do and then contact/remove authors who aren't participating. Unfortunately, this has turned into a big task (as you can im..."
Thank you so much for sharing the secret, Todd.