Experienced Kindle Publishers understand the importance of category selection.
Categories help browsers (people) find your book
.When customers browse through the Amazon Kindle Store for books that might interest them, they are presented with genres and subgenres. By selecting browse categories, you decide which genres feature your book.
Your positioning on Amazon can make all the difference to the visibility of your book as well as your potential to get on the best sellers list with very little effort.
When publishing your book to Kindle using the Amazon KDP Platform you will be asked to select two Kindle Bookstore Categories for your book.
There are many categories your book may be applicable to, your selection will highly affect your chances of getting your book to the top of the Kindle Best seller list.
Top Factors In Kindle Book Publishing Category Selection
- Number of books per category. Fewer books means less competition
- Best selling rank of top 10 Best Selling books in that category versus the same numbers in another category.
- Number of free books in Best Sellers Rank per category.
- Relevance to your book
Pick Your Categories
Amazon allows you to choose up to two categories for your ebook, and you must choose at least one.
For best results determine the BEST categories for your book.
Pick a Category
Your book’s primary category should be the place people are most likely to browse for your book. For example, the primary category of the book The Prolific Writer’s Toolbox is “Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing Skills”, because the book’s primary audience is writers.
Even though this is the primary category, don’t be afraid of choosing an obscure category buried deep in Amazon’s hierarchy. Your book will also show up to people browsing the parent categories too. For example, The Prolific Writer’s Toolbox will not only appear in “Writing Skills”. It will also appear in “Education and Reference” and “Writing Research and Publishing Guides”. In fact, the smaller category you choose for your book, the more likely people will find it and buy it, as in small categories your book will stand out.
Using KDP Select Promotions To Hit the Kindle Best Sellers List
When you run a KDP Select Promotion for your Kindle book you are offering your book for free on Amazon for the selected time period.
Free books always get downloads. People love free stuff in general. You can also schedule KDP promotions as part of a bigger marketing campaign.
If your selected Kindle Category has less than 100 books, by promoting your book as free you stand to gain immediate access to the Top of the free Kindle books list. Using keywords and categories, you decide how people find your book, and where it’s placed in the Kindle store.