Ask The Expert

“How can I convince Amazon to make my book more ‘findable?'”

September 3, 2020

“How can I convince Amazon to make my book more ‘findable?'”
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Q –

Angela,

My book is on Barnes and Noble and Amazon but it cannot be found in a search. I recall selecting a huge quantity of keywords for my book. I have one 5-star review on Amazon so my average review is a 5. Yet, other books with a lower average show up before mine when I search with obvious keywords related to my book’s topic. How can I convince Amazon make my book more “findable?”

A –

Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have millions of books for sale. They do not share their search engine parameters with anyone because people would then be able to game the system.

I looked up your book online. Amazon has thousands of books on that topic, as well as similar topics. I just typed your book’s title and subtitle into Amazon’s search box and it popped up right on top.

The sad fact is there are so many books for sale on Amazon that someone stumbling upon your book by chance is extremely remote. Most of the people who will buy your book will do so because of the marketing efforts you do, and that would include providing people with the direct link to your book on Amazon and other sites.

Unless you have several books for sale in the same genre, we don’t recommend purchasing advertising on Amazon. You will likely spend far more than you’ll receive in resulting book sales.

If you subscribe to WritersWeekly, you can receive a free copy of 50 Dos and Don’ts of Book Selling.

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2 Responses to "“How can I convince Amazon to make my book more ‘findable?'”"

  1. Diane  September 4, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    Earlier today I noticed that I couldn’t find a book on Amazon which I just ordered a month ago. I was typing the exact title into the search field. Finally I went back to my orders and found it. The reason my search didn’t work was that they had used the ` symbol (above the Tab key) instead of apostrophes, two places in the title! Even such a small thing can make your book “disappear”!

    Your answer/article is very helpful overall, thanks. 🙂 It can be hard for authors to realize that most of the marketing is up to them, in one way or another.

  2. mike  September 4, 2020 at 11:37 am

    do’H!

    To be more findable you need to sell more books.

    Amazon pushes products that sell a lot more than those who sell little.

    If your keywords are generic and used by many others you will not be findable unless your book sells a lot more than the others are selling right now.