Ah, the Mysteries of Amazon
I’ve just published a book on Amazon. What a fascinating (if not confusing) ride! One little sidetrack to share with you:
When you publish a book on Amazon you get to choose 2 categories to include it in from a list. Only that list is like less than half of the actual categories. Tough. You get ONLY the short list.
So I read in several of the numerous “How-to Negotiate with Amazon” marketing-guru explanations that after you pick two, after it is published, you ask Amazon to add more, this time picking from the actual categories you know ARE available. And they can allow up to 7 or 10 (depending on who gets your request). Or only 3. Again depending on who answers (if they read the same rule book? If they are in a good mood? Who knows?).
Confident I knew the ropes, I picked 2 general categories where my book fits perfectly, biding my time to ask for more. Lo and behold, 3 were listed–great! (Amazon chose one for me? Cool.) Then after a week, I wrote them and asked to ADD (not replace) 4 more. These also mostly fit the book, but are less populated, giving me a better chance to rise to the top (I hoped).
It was approved … but they used only 3 of the new ones and REPLACED all the original ones! Which is bad … and good. Sort of.
○ The bad news is the new ones don’t include the categories where my book fits the MOST.
○ The good news is I apparently reached #1 status in one of the new ones, like instantly.
○ The MORE bad news, is my Internet went down the afternoon that the approval went through, so by the time I got online again I’d “slipped” to #2 in that category. Meaning unable to capture a screen shot of that #1 status.
○ The more GOOD news, is that Amazon’s algorithms added “#1 New Release” to my listing because of that new (minor) category I used.
CONCLUSION: You write. You publish. You plan. Then you shake your head and wonder … oh, and then you write some more. Because sticking with the Big Picture, means getting several books out and published. As well as slip-sliding around through the amazing algorithms/rules/wonders of the publishing world!
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Sandra Haven, Editor
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