One of the worst kept secrets in the indie publishing world is that you can list your book for more amazon categories than two. When you publish a book on KDP, Amazon allows you to list two categories, and the categories offered are broad. If you are looking to rank high under more niche categories, then you must take these steps to add Amazon categories for your book.
In addition to providing a really useful keyword mining tool, The Kindlepreneur has a very simple Youtube video for adding more Amazon categories. Simply log in to your author central account and follow the steps. The best part is that you can enter your phone number and Amazon will contact you. Just make sure you have your additional categories noted to speed the process along.
So what additional Amazon categories should you list? One way to research other categories is to search for books like yours and see where they are listed. However, your book could have a very specific categorization. Definitely find that niche category because it means your work could rank higher or even earn a “best seller” tag.
I listed Naughty Week under the very general “Children’s Christmas Books” category. But because the story is about two brothers, I contacted Amazon and had them add categories like “Children’s Sibling Books,” which I was able to rank higher for because of lower competition.
The same keyword tool that the Kindlepreneur offers also comes with an Amazon categories research tool, which I’ve found incredibly helpful. I was able to identify new categories and see how many books needed to be sold per day to rank #1.
I contacted Amazon and added about five Amazon categories. It takes a little bit of time—anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to appear. Right now I’ve seen one of the additional categories show up on my Kindle book page, but not the paperback or hardcover. If I don’t see the changes after a few days, I may need to contact them again and confirm that the categories were added.
After I added those categories, I started working on building my email list. This will give me the next big bump in sales I think. I started by adding friends and family—anyone I think would be okay with me sending them an email. There won’t be anyone on there that I don’t know directly or am not related to.
I am checking my Amazon book ads numbers a minimum of three times per day. Impressions, clicks, the ACOS score. It’s pointless to check it that often. Maybe seeing the numbers go up activates those chemicals in my brain. I’m planning to head down to Newport Beach for the night. It’ll force me out of the compulsive habit of checking the numbers. And it’ll take my mind off of things.
I’ve also gotten into The Phantom Tollbooth. What a delightful story!
“I never knew words could be so confusing,” Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog’s ear.”
“Only when you use a lot to say a little,” answered Tock.
Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he’d heard all day.
—From The Phantom Tollbooth
I love this exchange. It reminds me of the thing that Mark Twain said when he wrote a long letter to a colleague… “Sorry about the long letter. I didn’t have time to write a shorter one.” Or something along those lines. I agree. It’s harder to write shorter.
I was feeling really good yesterday. Now I’m feeling low again. Whatever chemicals were activated in my brain, they have subsided now. It also has to do with family, or constantly being reminded of the family I once had. Every other day, between the time I pick up the girls from the bus stop and the time that I drop them off, I am reminded of the family that I had and the life that I had. I get frustrated, but the frustration is actually with not having control over anything. Loss and rejection. How do I cope with that? It’s been almost two years since all of this began. It’s been almost two years with this tightness in my chest.
I listened to music on the way to and on the way home from my appointment in Long Beach. I didn’t listen to a podcast or a Youtube video or an audiobook. Country music, on my Pandora station. Go Country 105.1 was playing too many commercials. For the most part, I’ve been listening to publishing podcasts since August.
Am I all caught up? Is there anything more to learn? It seems like everything I’ve listened to about AMS ads is now at the point where it’s becoming repetitive. Now I’m simply mining for new bits of indie publishing gold like how to add Amazon categories. It seems like there’s not much more to learn, but as soon as I start thinking that, then I discover something else.
