The Key in the Keyword - A Marketing Secret from L.L. Hunter
Marketing is one of the hardest parts about self publishing, of all publishing really.
In my experience, these days, big publishing house are doing less and less for authors in the terms of marketing. The authors are forced to do this themselves. (I feel you should anyway. Being 'visible' is important.) In this post i am going to tell you a little something i learned during the brief time I was with my agent. It wasn't all for nothing!
If you self publish using KDP, (Kindle Direct Publishing), D2D (Draft 2 Digital) or Smashwords, or want to in the future, i am going to give you a little tip that will hopefully give you good sales and visibility in the online stores.
See, there is this thing called a keyword.
What is a keyword you ask?
In terms of publishing, a keyword can be crucial and if you get it right, then it can be a VERY handy marketing tool.
You should:
* Choose categories you think your book fits under.
When a publishing site asks you to choose which categories to place your book under, they only give you only 2 options.
What if my book fits into more than 2?
Ah, now this is where the keywords come to use.
The key to making the most out of the categories, is to choose 1 BIG category such as Contemporary romance, or Science Fiction, and 1 SMALL one. For example; sports fiction. (There are more general categories you could use, such as just choosing fiction > romance, but it almost impossible to be found there. Let's make this a little easy for you!)
So your categories should look something like this…
Literature and Fiction > Romance > Contemporary > New Adult and College > Sports
or
Literature and Fiction > Romance > Science Fiction and Fantasy > Teen and Young Adult > Dystopian
Now you may be wondering how come there are several categories listed at the bottom of each book's product page (on Amazon), well this due to the keywords!
After you have chosen your categories on the publishing sites, below it should ask you for keywords.
In this box you:
*Add any other category you think your book may fit under. Eg; for a paranormal romance, you may add urban fantasy (if its in a city setting).
* Mention the type of paranormal creature the book features, such as; vampires, angels, demons, ghosts etc.
* The age group you think the book is targeted to. Young Adult, New Adult etc.
Most sites have a max of about 7 keywords, so make sure you choose 7 of the most crucial ones.
Now, remember above how i said choose 1 big and 1 small category?
This is because of the Amazon Algorithms.
There are a few loop holes in the algorithms, and if you find those, then congrats, you are on your way to a successful publishing career. It is all about playing with and researching the market.
If you want to know more about these loop holes, feel free to message me on Facebook, comment here, tweet me @llhunterbooks or email me: llhunter.author@gmail.com.
*Please note, I am not an expert in this area. I am simply passing on a few secrets i have learned from within the publishing world.
In my experience, these days, big publishing house are doing less and less for authors in the terms of marketing. The authors are forced to do this themselves. (I feel you should anyway. Being 'visible' is important.) In this post i am going to tell you a little something i learned during the brief time I was with my agent. It wasn't all for nothing!
If you self publish using KDP, (Kindle Direct Publishing), D2D (Draft 2 Digital) or Smashwords, or want to in the future, i am going to give you a little tip that will hopefully give you good sales and visibility in the online stores.
See, there is this thing called a keyword.
What is a keyword you ask?
In terms of publishing, a keyword can be crucial and if you get it right, then it can be a VERY handy marketing tool.
You should:
* Choose categories you think your book fits under.
When a publishing site asks you to choose which categories to place your book under, they only give you only 2 options.
What if my book fits into more than 2?
Ah, now this is where the keywords come to use.
The key to making the most out of the categories, is to choose 1 BIG category such as Contemporary romance, or Science Fiction, and 1 SMALL one. For example; sports fiction. (There are more general categories you could use, such as just choosing fiction > romance, but it almost impossible to be found there. Let's make this a little easy for you!)
So your categories should look something like this…
Literature and Fiction > Romance > Contemporary > New Adult and College > Sports
or
Literature and Fiction > Romance > Science Fiction and Fantasy > Teen and Young Adult > Dystopian
Now you may be wondering how come there are several categories listed at the bottom of each book's product page (on Amazon), well this due to the keywords!
After you have chosen your categories on the publishing sites, below it should ask you for keywords.
In this box you:
*Add any other category you think your book may fit under. Eg; for a paranormal romance, you may add urban fantasy (if its in a city setting).
* Mention the type of paranormal creature the book features, such as; vampires, angels, demons, ghosts etc.
* The age group you think the book is targeted to. Young Adult, New Adult etc.
Most sites have a max of about 7 keywords, so make sure you choose 7 of the most crucial ones.
Now, remember above how i said choose 1 big and 1 small category?
This is because of the Amazon Algorithms.
There are a few loop holes in the algorithms, and if you find those, then congrats, you are on your way to a successful publishing career. It is all about playing with and researching the market.
If you want to know more about these loop holes, feel free to message me on Facebook, comment here, tweet me @llhunterbooks or email me: llhunter.author@gmail.com.
*Please note, I am not an expert in this area. I am simply passing on a few secrets i have learned from within the publishing world.
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