Revive Your Book Sales Part 7: 5 Steps to Optimize Your Amazon Book Categories

Publishing Secrets

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

• How Amazon book categories work — and why they matter
• What to do before you choose your book’s categories
• How to choose the right categories for your book
• When not to invest in advertisements

Introduction to Amazon Book Categories

Before we get into optimizing your book’s categories, it’s essential to know how Amazon book categories work. Essentially, each book on Amazon is assigned one primary category and up to 10 secondary categories.

Keep in mind that Amazon has a list of more than 16,000 categories — so it's essential that you choose with care. The key is to select categories that are relevant to your book's topic and that target the right reader. This means choosing categories that are broad enough to fit your book and niche enough to get your book noticed by potential readers.

Ready to get started optimizing your Amazon book categories? Here are the five steps you should take.

1. Research

To improve your Amazon book categories, you’ve got to understand your reader and what they’re looking for — and that means doing a little research. Look into the categories that similar books to yours are listed under, and also check to see what categories are most popular. This will help you find the categories that are best suited for your book.

Once you have an idea of the categories that fit your book, do a quick search to see what books come up under those categories. This will give you insight into the competition that you're up against.

2. Choose Your Categories

Now that you have some information on your market and competition, it's time to choose your Amazon book categories wisely. In a nutshell, you want to pick categories that are relevant and not as competitive.

If you choose categories that are too broad, you'll get lost in the sea of competition. But if you choose categories that are too specific, you won't get enough visibility. So try to aim for a mid-level category that has high demand but isn’t too competitive.

Another important point here is that it's best to choose categories that accurately reflect your book's content. Don't try to force your book into a category that doesn't fit just because it has less traffic and you'll have a better chance of hitting the bestseller list. Amazon may eventually remove your book from that category if it doesn't fit the criteria.

3. Evaluate the Categories

After choosing a few categories that fit your book, it's time to evaluate them. You need to optimize your Amazon book categories so your book can rate higher and be more visible to potential readers.

You can do this by using relevant keywords in your book's title, subtitle, and description. These keywords help Amazon's algorithm place your book in the right category and improve its visibility.

4. Monitor

Once you've done the work to choose the best categories and keywords for your book, make sure to monitor your book sales, rankings, and reviews. This will help you see which Amazon book categories are working and which aren't.

If you're not getting the results you expected, don't be afraid to adjust your categories and your keywords until you get the desired outcome. Selling books is often an iterative process — you'll need to start with one strategy, and then tweak it based on the results you get so you can improve your rankings.

5. Leverage Amazon Advertising

If you want to get an extra boost for your book’s visibility, leveraging Amazon advertising can be a great way to do it. Amazon offers a few advertising options that can help you market your book to potential readers.

With Amazon ads, you can target specific categories, keywords, or even readers who have already shown interest in your book or in another book that’s similar to yours. This can help you improve your sales and visibility in the long run.

But a huge word of caution here: Don't get ahead of yourself. Only take this step of leveraging Amazon advertising after you've taken the steps listed above. If you don't start by choosing and optimizing your Amazon book categories and keywords, investing in ads will be a waste of money — and you won't see a return on your investment.

So don't just throw your money out the window! Improving your categories on Amazon is a crucial step to getting more book sales as a Christian author. Researching your market, choosing relevant categories, optimizing your categories, and then moderating your book’s performance will help you stay ahead of the curve. Then, once you've taken all of those other steps, consider leveraging Amazon advertising to give you that extra boost.

Once you’ve completed all five steps, you'll be well on your way to selling more books and gaining more new readers.

Get Your Book to #1 on Amazon

Want to make your book a bestseller on Amazon? This is your opportunity to learn the secrets behind having a successful launch and long-term success!

With Nate Hambrick's free training, getting your book to #1 on Amazon is within reach. You’ll be able to select the right Amazon book categories that easily attract new readers, keep them coming back for more, and ultimately achieve higher sales numbers than ever before. Plus, you’ll stay informed of cutting-edge strategies that only experienced professionals know — nobody else will have access to these secrets.

So don’t miss out! Get started with Nate’s free training today to take advantage of this chance for exponential growth.

BIO:

My name is Tamara "Coach Tam" Jackson and I am a published author, Facebook© Certified Digital Marketer, host of the Top 100 Publishing Secrets podcast, and founder of The Christian Authors Network (C.A.N.) Facebook© community. I specialize in helping mission-driven authors, coaches, and entrepreneurs increase their exposure, impact, and income through strategic self-publishing and digital media appearances. Just say yes and we will work together to attract a tribe of loyal followers that 1) "get you", 2) love what you do, and 3) are happy to invest in your book, business, cause, or movement. Plus, we will accomplish all of this without fake, salesy, sleazy, or manipulative tactics. Yes you CAN write, publish, and profit in a way that honors God; join the community today at https://christianauthors.net/fbgroup.

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