C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

Author India Drummond noticed that Amazon has new categories, subcategories, theme categories and character categories. Learn at the link to The Writer’s Guide to E-publishing. They’re pretty detailed, cool and interesting (though they’ve got elves, dragons and pirates, but no zombies, darnnit!)

Um, hello, Amazon? I’ve got a bunch of books on your site. I’m grateful to India for pointing this out, of course, but shouldn’t Amazon go out of their way to let us know about something like this? Did I miss a meeting or a memo? Lots of things happen on Amazon and sometimes it seems like they rely on osmosis to announce changes. (Like one day you wake up and the tags are gone.)

It’s a good idea to revisit your book’s categories from time to time. If your work isn’t moving in Mystery, you might have more luck in Action/Adventure (assuming your book could reasonably fit both categories.)

You’re allowed two categories on Amazon, so explore your options so readers can find you. The more specific your list, the greater your chances of book buyers discovering you’re awesome (assuming you’re awesome.) You could be ranked 1,786,023 in sci-fi, but you could potentially be huge  in a subcategory, like First Contact, Galactic Empire or Cyberpunk.

It’s an exciting marketing opportunity if we work it right.

~ Chazz