Newsletter: The Savvy Book Marketer-Increase Visibility in Amazon's Search Results

The Savvy Book Marketer For better viewing, click here to read this newsletter in a browser.   January, 2009   Hello, and a warm welcome to all of my new subscribers! This month's feature article explores ways you can improve your book's placement on the search results page of Amazon.com.   In the Recommended Resources section, you'll find information about the new Amazon Author Stores, testing children's books for lead content, publicity for nonfiction books, my new ebook series, and resources for writers. Best wishes for a healthy, happy, and successful year! Dana   » Increase Visibility in Amazon's Search Results Amazon.com customers typically search for books by author, title, or keyword. Like search engines, Amazon uses several criteria in deciding which products to display on the search results page and in what order to display them. Popularity (the number of books already sold on Amazon) and how well the book matches the keywords are major factors in determining the results of keyword searches. The more books you sell on Amazon, the more books you will sell in the future, because your book will appear higher in the search results. In addition, many customers assume that the best-selling book must be the best one on the topic. One way to increase your book's "popularity," and therefore its search results placement, is to direct all of your online book orders to Amazon.com. It's also important to make sure your book matches popular search terms entered by customers. If your book is not yet published, you can add important keywords to the book's title and subtitle. Some publishers use long subtitles in order to pack in as many keywords as possible. To capitalize on searches for keywords not contained in your title and subtitle, enter important keywords into Amazon's Search Tag feature.  Near the bottom of the Tags section (about halfway down your book page), look for "Help others find this product - tag it for Amazon search" and click on the "suggest" button.   You can't use keywords that already appear in Amazon's search function, such as the book title or author name. Word order matters, so create different search tags with variations on your most important keywords. After you enter a keyword, you must to tell Amazon why you think the book should be indexed under that particular term. Amazon staff members approve Search Tags, so make sure your tag and your explanation are relevant and don't sound like a sales pitch. It's best to use the keyword phrase within your explanation. You can personally submit up to ten search terms for you book. If you have additional search terms to enter, ask a colleague to enter some for you. Another way to increase your "popularity" on Amazon.com is do a virtual book tour or an "Amazon best-seller campaign," designed to push up your Amazon sales rank by generating a large number of orders on a single day. There are a number of other ways to promote your book on Amazon.com, including getting lots of good Amazon reviews, writing reviews of other related books, participating in the Look Inside program, creating an Amazon Connect blog, enhancing your book description, participating in Amazon forums for your book's topic, and creating Listmania lists and So You'd Like To guides.   For a more in-depth look at Amazon promotions, I recommend Aiming at Amazon, by Aaron Shepard. » Recommended    Resources for Authors   Amazon Launches Author Stores Amazon.com has launched a new feature called Author Stores. Right now it's in beta testing, by invitation only. Visit this page for more details, and get on the mailing list to receive information from Amazon. Children's Books Affected by New Law The new consumer safety law requiring that children's books be tested for lead content is causing problems for publishers, printers, and booksellers. SPAN has compiled a web page with helpful information on this issue. Keep Your Nonfiction Book in the News See this article for some terrific publicity tips from publicist Sandra Beckwith. For a step-by-step guide to creating publicity materials, I recommend Sandra's ebook, Publicity Forms & Templates. New Savvy Book Marketer Guides   The Savvy Book Marketer Guides is a new series of step-by-step ebooks designed to help authors and independent publishers master specific book marketing strategies. The first two titles, Selling to Libraries and Successful Social Marketing, will be available in mid-February. Stay tuned for details. Preditors & Editors Award I'm pleased to report that my Book Marketing Maven blog was awarded the "Truly Useful Site" award from Preditors & Editors this month. Check out their site for a long list of resources for writers. Free Book Marketing Ebook Available As a special thank you to my readers and subscribers, I've compiled a free ebook, Top Book Marketing Tips of 2008, featuring a collection of popular articles from the Book Marketing Maven blog and The Savvy Book Marketer newsletter. If you haven't already done so, downloaded your copy here. You're welcome to pass this ebook on to others.     » About Dana Lynn Smith Book Marketing Maven   As a book marketing coach, I specialize in developing targeted marketing plans for nonfiction books.   See my Book Marketing Maven blog for more book promotion tips.   Follow me on Twitter   Find me on Facebook   Connect on Book Marketing Network Share the Love If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with another author or publisher. Thanks!

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