Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Making The Most of Amazon eBook Categories

When I published The Pet Washer ebook on Amazon back in November, I was asked to choose categories. Once again, I thought I knew what I was doing and I didn't.

I chose general categories believing I was casting a wider net. Really, I was sealing my fate to remain unnoticed. In a large general category like childrens ebooks (of which there are 64,000), I have to sell a lot of copies to make the top 100. Even when I select childrens ebooks/animals, there are 7,900 ebooks. However, if I select childrens ebooks/animals/pets, there are only 344 ebooks. I can compete with that number!

I changed my categories and by narrowing them, I have broadened my range and increased my chances of being found by customers. I am still under childrens ebooks, still under animals, but now I am also under pets. I owe this realization to Ken Foley, author of Adventures in Kindergarten! I am fortunate to have authors who help me like I try to help you. We can and should work together.

Amazon rankings change hourly. Yesterday, The Pet Washer made the top ten list under pets. That ranking did not show on my page, but it showed when I performed a search. Today I have dropped. This isn't a perfect system, but it's best to choose the right categories to maximize your exposure.

To Do: Explore the categories on Amazon to the minutia. Make sure you are searching ebooks at the kindle store and not books. What I am writing about today only applies to ebooks published through KDP. Figure out which sub-categories at the kindle store bring up books most similar to yours. Then go to your bookshelf and edit your book details. Find the corresponding categories and select them. There are more categories to choose from than meets the eye. For instance, pets doesn't come up until I click on animals first. Take time to explore every potential category and sub-category.Good luck and  may the odds be ever in your favor!

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