Using Amazon Search to hit #1!

[Gina]

I tagged my Utamaro book before the holidays, and it doesn't seem to show up in the searches for the terms that were apparently approved.

[Carole]

All my suggestions have been accepted bar one: here they are 'awaiting addition to search' whatever that might mean, on The Wonderul Demise of Benjamin Arnold Guppy. But, I haven't seen my suggestions come up on anyone else's page. On my page, I also have Glenn's suggestion. Ah well, carry on waiting!

Carole

[Gina]

All of my suggestions are now 'reviewed - awaiting addition to search.' I submitted some for my own books a while after the original ones for the team, and they've all been reviewed at the same time, so it seems like they get around to batches of them all at once.

[Dee]

Hey Gina,

I am still waiting for them to approve my review of you book. This seems rather odd, as every other review I have ever posted went up the second that I hit the publish button.

If the review is not posted by this weekend, I will contact Amazon to see if I can goose it along.

I just checked my Tagged-suggestions and they all also read:
(reviewed - awaiting addition to search)

Whatever that mean :(

[Gina]

Dee, I had a review that didn't show up for a while. I posted a little one for Wall-e and one for a Hokusai book, one after the other. The Wall-e one appeared instantly, the Hokusai one took two or three days. I tried resubmitting the review, to see if it hadn't gone through properly, and got the message that I'd already posted a review when I tried to submit it... so I knew it was at least waiting in the system. I can't figure Amazon out. Maybe the process is a bit like random police checks... some sail through, but every tenth driver gets pulled over for a breath test?

[Dee]

I shall keep that in mind the next time I submit a review...

*Makes note to self, be sure no wine is consumed when submitting reviews to Amazon.com*

I just feel bad for poor old Mr. Grumpy-pants. It deserves several pages of 5 star reviews :)

Loved the story!

[Gina]

Dee, you're too kind... I'm obviously paying you too much ;o)

Most of my searches have lost the 'reviewed - awaiting addition to search' label. Three of the searches I submitted for my own book still have it; the other for the same book has already entered the search engine apparently. All search terms for the books in the group have entered the search engine :o)

[Gina]

I just ran a test... I put 'Yoshiwara' into the search box, and my Utamaro book came back in position no.72

How does the search whotsit decide which order to bring results back in? It doesn't seem to be based on availability.

[Dee]

All my tag-suggestions have been approved...However, I did not receive any emails from Amazon.com.

Gina's review is still not posted :(

[Gina]

Dee wrote: "Gina's review is still not posted :("

Amazon doesn't love me anymore :-(

[Todd Fonseca]

Dee,
Seems like the times my reviews take longer are when I use a term in a review that might be a flag from Amazon. For example, I'm thinking that when I reviewed Vespa and used the word "nazi" that tripped it up. When reviewing Turning Idolater and used the word "pornography" it also took longer.
T

[Dee]

I used murderer or murder in Gina's review...but, I used that in Carole's review as well. Too strange.

[Todd Fonseca]

Hey all - here's the latest on our little search experiment. I used Dee's book to check out a few things. If I type "Arthurian legends" into Amazon, I don't see Dee's book anywhere on the first four pages of books (I stopped there).

But here's something interesting: if I click on any of the books that come up in the search (for example the first book on the list is: "The Oxford guide to Arthurian literature" and then scroll down that book's page on Amazon, there is a section titled:

Looking for "arthurian legends" Products?

There, the first books listed is Dee's (7 customers tagged it this way).

In fact the same thing happens for everyone of the books on that list. Dee's book comes up first in this section on their page.

I've written to Amazon about how they determine the place a books comes up in the general search. When I hear back I'll update everyone.

In the meantime, it doesn't look like this is a complete bust because of what shows up on the bottom of each of these book's amazon pages when using this search term.

So, time for some feedback, do you think the effort of adding these search terms is worth it if what comes out of it is having your book show up first in the section I described (I hope that made sense)? Let me know, I'll post more detailed info on the blog and let you know via the newsletter. If folks think it is valuable, we can add to the "tagging blog" and move past beta test. But I wanted to get feedback first.

Thanks (sorry for the long post!).

T

[Glenn]

All my amazon 'search suggestions' were approved a couple of days ago.
glenn g. thater
author of harbinger of doom
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1438...

[Margay]

I think it's worth it. I'm one of those people who is curious about what other books people who buy book X would also buy. So for me, that would not be a wasted effort. And to have your book linked with a more popular one certainly wouldn't hurt. I think that might actually boost recognition, if not sales.
Margay

[Dee]

I think it was well worth the time. Trying to figure out how Amazon.com works will be one of the mysteries of the world. Good luck cracking that code :]

But, then...you are the master of solving mysteries ;]

Thanks so much for using Sons of Avalon Merlin's Prophecy as your search example. Hey, if I can come up on the top of any list, that is outstanding!

Thanks again for all the time that you spend promoting out books...now get off Goodreads and finish your next novel :]

[Gina]

Todd, I think it's well worth the effort. Every bit helps, and my Grumpy Old Man book comes up in searches now, which is great :o)

[Gina]

Dee wrote: "Trying to figure out how Amazon.com works will be one of the mysteries of the world."

Won't it just! Which is more likely... we figure out how Amazon works, or I go up in the next space shuttle? I'm thinking it's time I got some flight training in ;o)

[Rowena]

Todd,

All authors with the time and enthusiasm for Amazon should take advantage of every honorable and helpful tool that Amazon offers, and suggesting searches by genre and topic seems thoroughly appropriate.

I think your tagging of a limited choice of keywords is helpful to readers and authors alike, is quick and easy to do, and therefore reciprocal compliance is likely to be a lot better than more intricate methods.

I have some reservations about suggesting searches tied to other authors' books (unless the other authors being linked-to approve of the link), because it surely must work both ways, and it is possible that readers might be annoyed if they took the suggestion only to find that the books had very little in common. I'm not sure whether you were asking for opinions on that, though.

All the best,
Rowena Cherry
Rowena Cherry

[Gina]

Dee!

Does a little dance (not unlike the rodeo one, but this time holding a tea towel)...

Your Amazon review for Grumpy Old Guppy-pants has appeared!

It must have become lodged in the cogs.

[Dee]

Yeah Gina,

I was excited to see the review finally up as well. What a wonderful book, it deserved to have a ton of reviews posted :)

I am very excited about the Amazon suggestions Team. SOA went from "not being able to find at all" to now being 26 on the Arthurian Legends search.

That is a huge thing!

Thanks Todd, and thanks to everyone on the Search Team :)