# Getting into (and staying out of) Amazon's "Browse" categories



## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

If someone else posted this, I didn't see it:

You know all those lovely categories that only Amazon can put our books into?

On their help pages they have lists of the categories and the keywords you should use to get the books put automatically into those categories -- without all the rigamarole of contacting them, etc.

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41

It has worked splendidly on two of my books (although it took a day or two).

Camille


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## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

Great info! Thanks!

I believe I can use that to some good with one of my books, though I'm really shocked not to see a zombie character in science fiction & fantasy.


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

I followed the instructions on that KDP page 10 days ago and it doesn't work for me. I emailed KDP support and am waiting for a reply.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> I followed the instructions on that KDP page 10 days ago and it doesn't work for me. I emailed KDP support and am waiting for a reply.


That's one of the reasons I post here (aside from letting others know about it): I figure we'll get data.

I just added some keywords to another book (Ride To Save King -- noting it here so I will remember the date, as I have a cold and my brain is not working) to see if they'll add the preteen category to it. I have a couple of other harder to class stories that I'll have to think about.

Camille


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> That's one of the reasons I post here (aside from letting others know about it): I figure we'll get data.
> 
> I just added some keywords to another book (Ride To Save King -- noting it here so I will remember the date, as I have a cold and my brain is not working) to see if they'll add the preteen category to it. I have a couple of other harder to class stories that I'll have to think about.
> 
> Camille


Specifically:
I was glad to see a new subcategory thread -- M,T & S > Crime Fiction > Serial Killers. I had to ask KDP to manually add that subcat to my product page as it was not available on the dashboard. That got me out of a 5,000-title subcat and into one with less than 1,000. Greater discoverability; so far so good. I really got excited when I saw that M, T & S was one of the seven categories for which KDP listed required keywords (according to the page link you posted above). I followed the instructions and, among others, added the keywords Dark, Disturbing, Scary, Private Investigator and Urban. These correspond to the tick-the-boxes choices on the lefthand side of the M, T & S> Crime Fiction > Serial Killers page, namely Moods & Themes, Characters and Settings. If the keywords Amazon instructed me to use worked, box-ticking consumers would find my book in lists with as few as a dozen titles. Great discoverability. But as I said, it's been 10 days and it isn't working.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

I didn't even know there was a category for the Bronze Age of Comics.

To the Bookshelf!


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> Specifically:
> I was glad to see a new subcategory thread -- M,T & S > Crime Fiction > Serial Killers. I had to ask KDP to manually add that subcat to my product page as it was not available on the dashboard. That got me out of a 5,000-title subcat and into one with less than 1,000. Greater discoverability; so far so good. I really got excited when I saw that M, T & S was one of the seven categories for which KDP listed required keywords (according to the page link you posted above). I followed the instructions and, among others, added the keywords Dark, Disturbing, Scary, Private Investigator and Urban. These correspond to the tick-the-boxes choices on the lefthand side of the M, T & S> Crime Fiction > Serial Killers page, namely Moods & Themes, Characters and Settings. If the keywords Amazon instructed me to use worked, box-ticking consumers would find my book in lists with as few as a dozen titles. Great discoverability. But as I said, it's been 10 days and it isn't working.


Um, the page I linked to, under Mystery Thrillers and Crime, has only ONE keyword to get into serial killers -- and that's serial killers. I know it seems obvious, but you didn't list that, so I'll ask the obvious: did you include "serial killers"?

In the meantime, my kid's book hasn't had the 9-12 age range added to it yet. Of course, I have no idea how much it varies. Also, how soon it might be a good idea to "prime the pump" by either editing the book description and keywords again, or writing them.

What I'm wondering is if they are enforcing some kind of internal limit on number of categories as well as the limits they put on us (i.e. two categories). So if your book falls into multiple categories they don't change one to another as easily. It might be worth it to leave out a word associated with a category you are less interested in (or will hit with your main category) to see if they move the book.

I think I had to do that with one book the kept putting in "Sword and Sorcery" I might have mentioned "Swashbuckler" in the keywords. (It's takes place in an alternate universe but one of a modern -- WWI-is -- era.) I took that keyword out, and they took it out of "Sword and Sorcery" .... then put it back in. (Also put it in "Christian Studies.") It's got a guy with a sabre on the cover, and maybe that's it. (Do they understand that "Sword and Sorcery" does not include ANY kind of sword or ANY kind of magic? Sigh.)

I finally got the bad genres removed after a couple of rounds with email. I was hoping knowing about the keywords could avoid most of that. But alas, I don't know if it's so.

Camille


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## S.R. Booth (Oct 6, 2013)

I've been going 'round and 'round with the 7 description words and my book doesn't show up where I think it should.   I just made some changes today and now it's no longer in one of the categories where I did want it (I don't think I deleted that category but can't double check until the book finishes 'publishing') and still hasn't shown up in the new category. Blah. Guess I just wanted to complain, sorry!


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

I tried to get the Silencer books into "pulp" and "vigilante justice" with no avail, though they did finally put them back into "men's adventure". And every attempt to get my historical pirate romance put into "pirates" has failed so far. On the plus side, I did manage to get an SF novella into Galactic Empire and another into Genetic Engineering.


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> Um, the page I linked to, under Mystery Thrillers and Crime, has only ONE keyword to get into serial killers -- and that's serial killers. I know it seems obvious, but you didn't list that, so I'll ask the obvious: did you include "serial killers"?


Yeah, I included Serial Killer, and I am in that subcategory. What I was talking about were the filters on the left side of the page. Amazon lets browsers further narrow the list according to stuff like Mood, Characters and Settings. Even though I have the recommended keywords, my book doesn't appear when I click Dark, Disturbing, Scary, Private Investigator and/or Urban.


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## S.R. Booth (Oct 6, 2013)

CoraBuhlert said:


> I tried to get the Silencer books into "pulp" and "vigilante justice" with no avail, though they did finally put them back into "men's adventure". And every attempt to get my historical pirate romance put into "pirates" has failed so far. On the plus side, I did manage to get an SF novella into Galactic Empire and another into Genetic Engineering.


Lol! Well my categories finally changed - I'm still not getting exactly what I want but at least I got the categories to change.

I entered 'genetically modified food' as a keyword and one of my categories ended up being SF Genetic Engineering. Yikes! I hope no one buys my book from there before I can get it changed because I don't think it's what anyone would be expecting from that category.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> Yeah, I included Serial Killer, and I am in that subcategory. What I was talking about were the filters on the left side of the page. Amazon lets browsers further narrow the list according to stuff like Mood, Characters and Settings. Even though I have the recommended keywords, my book doesn't appear when I click Dark, Disturbing, Scary, Private Investigator and/or Urban.


Ah, the page I posted didn't give advice for getting into those. If you have a link to where they have advice on getting into those, (even if it doesn't work) it would be nice to know what they say about it.

Another technique someone here mentioned once, which helps on search relevancy -- search for your book now and then on the term you want associated with it, along with the exact title or ASIN of the book. (Use "private browsing" and don't sign in so it doesn't just assign those results to you.)

My book, _The Man Who Did Too Much_ is a Michigan cozy mystery, but it did not appear for Michigan Mystery or Michigan Cozy Mystery. I searched on it for a couple of days straight -- once a day in private browsing. I found that soon it started to come up in just plain searches for "Michigan Cozy Mystery." Doing it a lot won't give you points for better results, it just associates those search terms with it.

I haven't checked recently, but months later it still seemed to be there. (Of course, this won't work so well if it's not specific, since there may be thousands of books associated with those terms.)

The other thing that I sometimes do, just in the name of helping the algorithms: if I have a narrow special interest like that, I will make a point of using search to shop for such books. (Instead of my usual method of getting recommendations elsewhere.) I only click on the books that actually look relevant to the term, and I've noticed that the Algorithm seems to be getting smarter about what to recommend when the words "Michigan" and "mystery" are searched for generally. The list used to be 2/3 full of items that have no association to either genre, and now it's mostly actual mysteries associated with the Great Lakes region. (Especially if you include "cozy." If you just put "mystery" they also give you books about religious experiences and legends and such.)

I don't think hammering the site with search requests will help you any more than just a few searches, but those few searches do seem to make some small difference.

Camille


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> Ah, the page I posted didn't give advice for getting into those. If you have a link to where they have advice on getting into those, (even if it doesn't work) it would be nice to know what they say about it.


https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41

It's the same page you referenced above. You have to click on one of the seven categories to get the keyword requirements.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Mike McIntyre said:


> https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41
> 
> It's the same page you referenced above. You have to click on one of the seven categories to get the keyword requirements.


Okay, I got it. That's what I originally thought you meant, but something got me confused.

What I suspect about that is they have a limit on the number of categories they'll add you to. You might want to try targeting one or two of them that you consider most important. (If that doesn't work, I got nothin' at the moment.)

Camille


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2013)

daringnovelist said:


> If someone else posted this, I didn't see it:
> 
> You know all those lovely categories that only Amazon can put our books into?
> 
> ...


For whatever reason, my books have been added to categories without me doing anything. Aside from the two you pick when publishing, they have been included in children's fantasy, teen fantasy, young adult fantasy, and fantasy sword & sorcery. It was originally listed in epic fantasy and literary fiction (the second being a mistake that ended up never needing to be fixed).


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> Ah, the page I posted didn't give advice for getting into those. If you have a link to where they have advice on getting into those, (even if it doesn't work) it would be nice to know what they say about it.
> 
> Another technique someone here mentioned once, which helps on search relevancy -- search for your book now and then on the term you want associated with it, along with the exact title or ASIN of the book. (Use "private browsing" and don't sign in so it doesn't just assign those results to you.)
> 
> ...


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

> Question: how do you select 'private browsing' on Amazon?


It's something you set in your browser. Firefox calls it "Private Browsing," Chrome calls it "incognito." (I don't know about Exploder.) Basically it doesn't save the browsing history during a private session. It doesn't let sites access cookies which were set earlier (so all the sites where you're already logged in -- like here or Amazon -- won't recognize you until you get out of that mode). And it doesn't keep any cookies or information that occur inside that mode. (What happens in private browsing, stays in private browsing.) It does not help you with true internet security -- your router is undoubtedly telling them where your geographical location is, etc. But it's great for uses like this.

In Firefox and Chrome, you will see that option anytime you go to the "File - Open" menu or right click to open a new window. You can just open it or open it in "Private Browsing" or "Incognito." With old browsers and Safari, you have to find a separate option in the menus that says "Turn On Private Browsing" -- and then you have to turn it off again when you're done. (With Safari, I think it's in the Safari Menu. Though you might find it in something like "Tools.")

Camille


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## ToniD (May 3, 2011)

Thanks for the instructions--very helpful. I'll give it a shot.

And congrats on digging my question out of that post of mine. Not sure how I embedded it in your quote, but I sure did.


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## Kat Lilynette (Oct 12, 2013)

I'm very interested if anyone can post sort of a "step by step" if they are using the keywords successfully. I would be absolutely tickled if I could manipulate my book's Teen & Young Adult listings without having to involve KDP support.

I understand that the keyword list is setup to place books in the browse categories (categories not clearly defined in the publishing dashboard - which could be another complaint thread on its own).

So, for example, if one was trying to publish a book to "Teen & Young Adult > Romance > Fantasy & Paranormal" you would publish using the keywords "fantasy, paranormal, magic." But, these exact keywords are also shared by this category: Teen & Young Adult › Mysteries & Thrillers › Fantasy & Supernatural

Also, I haven't been able to find any hard evidence, but what I've been able to find online says that you need to include the keywords "teen, young adult," so that you aren't placed in Juvenile Fiction categories (Children's Books). Amazon also makes zero mention of having to use these two keywords, but using them seems to be what I've seen echoed online.

I tested this myself, publishing my book under "NON CLASSIFIABLE" and using any and all proper keywords. Naturally, the keywords didn't have any effect. This leads me to believe that the keywords may only work if you publish under the correct category in your KDP dashboard.

So, I'm assuming that in order to get your keywords to work, and get listed in a category like "Teen & Young Adult > Romance > Fantasy & Paranormal," you have to publish your book under "Juvenile Fiction > Love & Romance" in your KDP dashboard, then, use some or all of the following keywords: Teen, Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic

I'm in the process of testing this now, but it would be great if anyone could share first-hand experience on navigating the rubix cube that is Amazon category selection and placement. Just throwing up keywords from their list doesn't seem to work for me.


Edit: Oh, and also, does it always take 72 hours for category changes to go into effect? I already received a response from KDP support, that they had manually changed my categories on one of my books (as they've done before), but it never seems to change. Do they really mean "We put in a request to have your categories changed. Your guess is as good as ours if it will go through."?


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## Nell Gavin (Jul 3, 2010)

I'm awaiting the arrival of the "New Adult Fiction" genre on Amazon. It has a following, but I have no idea what keywords or categories they use to find it. "Young adult?" I finally changed one of my categories to "coming of age" to see if that put _Hang On_ in the right place. It's not exactly correct, but it isn't "young adult" either with the language in it. So...dunno.


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## LarryNW (Sep 6, 2013)

I've discovered that the keywords/tags I've included have so far put my book into the top 20 - humor and satire. There are zombies in this book, but I've opted not to list it as it isn't a horror novel - zombies used for comedic effect. It's very difficult to categorize yourself down to the truest essence.


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

daringnovelist said:


> Okay, I got it. That's what I originally thought you meant, but something got me confused.
> 
> What I suspect about that is they have a limit on the number of categories they'll add you to. You might want to try targeting one or two of them that you consider most important. (If that doesn't work, I got nothin' at the moment.)
> 
> Camille


I heard back from KDP Support and my problem is finally solved. The seven keywords I picked according to KDP guidelines nearly three weeks ago all now lead to The Scavenger's Daughter.

I'm not sure if we were talking about the same thing. I was happy with my categories/subcategories. The problem was that my title was not discoverable using the keyword search filters that Amazon provides (the blue clickable boxes on the left of the page listing all the books in a subcategory). In the case of Kindle Store › Kindle eBooks › Mystery, Thriller & Suspense › Crime Fiction › Serial Killers, you can see what it looks like here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_5?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A%21133141011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cn%3A157305011%2Cn%3A6361460011%2Cn%3A7130627011&bbn=6361460011&ie=UTF8&qid=1381945100&rnid=6361460011

These filters can really narrow things down, benefitting readers and authors. In my case, if a consumer clicks any of my keywords, rather than a list of 922 books, my title will appear in a list with as few as 12 books. In other words, it _can_ become much more visible. I tend to browse Amazon on my Mac and my iPad, so I don't even know whether these filters exist when browsing Amazon on actual Kindles or mobile devices. If not, and if most shoppers shop via their Kindles and mobile devices, then perhaps these keyword filters aren't adding much. But as long as they're an option, I want them working for me.

By the way, these keyword filters currently exist for only seven categories: Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Children's, Teen & Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense, Comics & Graphic Novels, and Literature & Fiction. The good news is that Amazon provides the exact keywords you need to show up in specific subcategory searches. You first need to go to this page, "Selecting Browse Categories":
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41

Once there, click on the appropriate link under the heading "Categories With Keyword Requirements."

KDP Support didn't say whether they manually did something to solve my issue or if it just took three weeks for the keywords to kick in. So if you switch keywords based on the KDP guidelines and they aren't working after a few weeks, you should definitely contact KDP.


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## alidawinter (Sep 17, 2013)

Thanks for sharing this link!


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## MGalloway (Jun 21, 2011)

Nice find. 

I was wondering how my most recent work ended up in the "Colonization" and "Fractals" categories. Makes sense now...considering those were two of the keywords I used.


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## jtw78 (Jan 20, 2012)

So, help me out. My current novel lives in: Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance

It's an action romantic comedy, so that's kind of accurate, but I'm afraid that the categorization isn't helping me. 

What do you think? Should I try to get into the Thriller category?


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

jtw78 said:


> So, help me out. My current novel lives in: Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Romance
> 
> It's an action romantic comedy, so that's kind of accurate, but I'm afraid that the categorization isn't helping me.
> 
> What do you think? Should I try to get into the Thriller category?


I see that one of your other categories is Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thriller. That has 9,650 books in it. That sounds like a lot, but not compared to the more traditional Thriller thread, Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers, which has 47,316 books. The advantage of the traditional Thriller thread, however, is that it has numerous additional subcategories. The list is below, and the numbers in parentheses indicate how many titles are in each of those subcategories. I don't know whether your book would fit into one of those subcategories, but if you feel it does, it would be worth switching one of your three current categories as you would have a better chance of reaching a Top 100 list and gaining visibility.

‹ Kindle Store
‹ Kindle eBooks
‹ Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Thrillers
Assassinations (737)
Conspiracies (976)
Crime (1,342)
Espionage (5,707)
Financial (183)
Historical (309)
Legal (1,663)
Medical (437)
Military (255)
Political (690)
Psychological (8,679)
Pulp (200)
Technothrillers (2,097)
Terrorism (1,415)

ETA: Even if it didn't fit into one of the narrower subcategories, it still might be worth adding the traditional Thriller thread because it offers the clickable keyword filters I alluded to above. In your case, you might consider keywords including Action-packed, Romantic, Humorous, Fun and Urban. When a browsing consumer clicks on one or more of those filters, they are taken from a list of 47,316 titles to one that is only a tiny fraction of that, and it would include your book.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Mike McIntyre said:


> Specifically:
> I was glad to see a new subcategory thread -- M,T & S > Crime Fiction > Serial Killers. I had to ask KDP to manually add that subcat to my product page as it was not available on the dashboard. That got me out of a 5,000-title subcat and into one with less than 1,000. Greater discoverability; so far so good. I really got excited when I saw that M, T & S was one of the seven categories for which KDP listed required keywords (according to the page link you posted above). I followed the instructions and, among others, added the keywords Dark, Disturbing, Scary, Private Investigator and Urban. These correspond to the tick-the-boxes choices on the lefthand side of the M, T & S> Crime Fiction > Serial Killers page, namely Moods & Themes, Characters and Settings. If the keywords Amazon instructed me to use worked, box-ticking consumers would find my book in lists with as few as a dozen titles. Great discoverability. But as I said, it's been 10 days and it isn't working.


I had never seen those boxes before today. What scares me is there is a box for humorous under serial killers.
And yes Mike I found you dark and disturbing. Oops in the dark and disturbing categories.


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

cinisajoy said:


> I had never seen those boxes before today. What scares me is there is a box for humorous under serial killers.


There are 22 serial killer books using the keyword "humorous," including "20 rules on how to be a successful serial killer - Or: How to find out if being a serial killer is for you" by I. M. Varlet.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Mike McIntyre said:


> There are 22 serial killer books using the keyword "humorous," including "20 rules on how to be a successful serial killer - Or: How to find out if being a serial killer is for you" by I. M. Varlet.


I think I will leave those at Amazon. My kindle has enough serial killers and erotica on it. Also something about a Scavenger's Daughter and the Kindness of Strangers. 
Oh never mind, my kindle has nearly every WC writer on it. One of these days, someone is gonna have me committed if they look at the assortment on my kindle.


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## jtw78 (Jan 20, 2012)

Mike McIntyre said:


> I see that one of your other categories is Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thriller. That has 9,650 books in it. That sounds like a lot, but not compared to the more traditional Thriller thread, Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers, which has 47,316 books. The advantage of the traditional Thriller thread, however, is that it has numerous additional subcategories. The list is below, and the numbers in parentheses indicate how many titles are in each of those subcategories. I don't know whether your book would fit into one of those subcategories, but if you feel it does, it would be worth switching one of your three current categories as you would have a better chance of reaching a Top 100 list and gaining visibility.
> 
> ‹ Kindle Store
> ‹ Kindle eBooks
> ...


Thanks so much for the suggestions.

By the way, how do you know how many books are in each category? Are you just doing that manually by filtering on Amazon?


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## Ancient Lawyer (Jul 1, 2013)

Thank you - I am trying this out on an experimental basis to see whether it has any effect on visibility.

The only thing I don't understand is - how can you check on your own visibility?

Sorry to be a bit dim, I'll re-read the thread tomorrow.


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## Mike McIntyre (Jan 19, 2011)

jtw78 said:


> By the way, how do you know how many books are in each category? Are you just doing that manually by filtering on Amazon?


Start here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_3?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A%21133141011%2Cn%3A154606011&bbn=133141011&ie=UTF8&qid=1381972974&rnid=133141011

This page lists all of the ebooks for sale on Amazon. On the lefthand side of the page are Amazon's categories. (The numbers in parentheses are the number of titles within each category.) If you click on any of the categories you will arrive at subcategories, and if you click any of those, you will arrive at even narrower sub-subcategories. Each of these will have their corresponding number of titles inside parentheses.


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## Ancient Lawyer (Jul 1, 2013)

Thank you, Mike!

I will try that out now and then wait for a few days and see whether altering the key-words has had any impact on visibility. I'm still experimenting at the moment.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Okay, after some poking around, I figured out what you were talking about.

And yes, my books aren't in those browsing categories either (i.e. the mood/themes, characters, setting, etc).  I might have to see if I can get them to deal with that.

But this brings up a point:

Yeah, it's ridiculous that it's so hard to get into these categories, but that's also the only reason they are so under populated.  I mean, in cozy mystery, they only have a hundred or so "amateur sleuth" books.  (And it's hard enough to get listed as a cozy!)  But most of the books in cozy (and a great many that aren't) are amateur sleuth books.

That would be a great way to narrow down search for the reader if it had more books.  As it is, those who get into the categories might see some advantage for a while, but the fact that there are so few books just means that the readers are likely to stop using it, unless new books start flooding in fast.

Camille


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

So, I'm publishing my next work and smugly clicked through to pull up the list... and it is gone. Anyone happen to save a copy? I wonder if they are doing away with specific keywords to categories.

ETA:
I found the specific pages via a complicated search, but the big page is gone. Here's the page for: 
Fantasy: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2G3ZMYDPB9VRM
Romance: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A19G4ONBAU6NO3
Mystery: https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3NTX9NCJD3D5X

Might want to save them to a document for future use...


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