WHAT TO EXPECT (AND DO) NEXT TIME YOU PICK YOUR AMAZON BOOK CATEGORIES

If you’re like me, you would do a thorough research, pick the best ten performing categories for your book (or eBook), pick two from the KDP dashboard and email customer support with the other eight. But this is gone! Amazon changed things, again!

Currently, authors can only select three categories from the KDP dashboard. It seems, easier, right? It actually is. However, according to Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur, things are actually more complicated than they seem.

In a recent video dedicated to this topic, the self-publishing expert revealed some of the things you need to pay attention to.

The Changes…

The first thing is, duplicates. Some categories may read slightly different, but they are, in fact the same. You may be excited about listing your article in three or two different categories, but in reality your book will only show in one. Imagine the impact it can have (not good at all) on your bestseller status! Allegedly 54% Amazon book categories are duplicates.

Second, there is a significant number of ghost categories in the Book and Kindles stores meaning that when you list your book in the category, your potential readers won’t event see it. You will waste one of your only three now opportunities for being discovered as an author.

Third, Amazon has the upper hand and will do what it thinks it’s best to improve the customer’s experience. What does this mean for you? The algorithm can end up putting your book in more categories than you selected or… in entirely different categories from those you so cautiously handpicked. To ensure your book appears in the categories you want, make sure you chose keywords that match that category.

Next Steps

Keeping all this in mind, the rest of the process stays the same.

Choose appropriate categories that are relevant to your book and that you can leverage to achieve bestseller status.

Invest time and energy or get professional help for selecting the right keywords.

Monitor your sales and track the performance of your metadata.

Tweak, if necessary, then repeat the previous step until you figure out the winning combination.