Self-Publishing KDP Key words.

[Jake E]

Hi all,

I know I've posted a few questions this week. Appologies, for the bombardment; I'm quite some way outside of my wheelhouse (I don't even think this house has a wheel. It looks more like a steam punk control console from a distopian future where Ai has finally taken over...)

Anyway...
KDP asks for seven keywords when publishing a book. Can anyone offer advice on this?

Much love.
J

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Are they for SEO?

 

[Jake E]

Are they for SEO?

I think so, yes.
They are keywords or phrases that will link to my book when a person searches on Amazon. Not sure if it extends to outher search engines .e.g. Google.

 

[Rachael Burnett]

Hi all,

I know I've posted a few questions this week. Appologies, for the bombardment; I'm quite some way outside of my wheelhouse (I don't even think this house has a wheel. It looks more like a steam punk control console from a distopian future where Ai has finally taken over...)

Anyway...
KDP asks for seven keywords when publishing a book. Can anyone offer advice on this?

Much love.
J

I’d recommend coming up with some ideal keywords, searching on Amazon for books and see if any books come up that are comparative to yours you could use. I’m sure you’ve mentioned David Gaughran and he’s good for advice on keywords. You’ve mentioned Terry Pratchett, I think, as a comparative, so try to hook into keywords for Pratchett, see if when you search if these books come up and what other books are on the list, what other keywords are linked to these other linked books. Ask Litopia generally, for your genre what keywords would you search for when looking for this type of book.

 

[Jake E]

Amazon suggests words that link to themes and tropes in the book, but not to repeat anything that's in the title or description (blurb).
That's doesn't leave me very much.

 

[Rachael Burnett]

Amazon suggests words that link to themes and tropes in the book, but not to repeat anything that's in the title or description (blurb).
That's doesn't leave me very much.

Quest, wizard, magic, any relevant creatures, saviour, funny, humour, dark comedy, epic fantasy, parody, adventure, heroes journey.

 

[Jake E]

Quest, wizard, magic, any relevant creatures, saviour, funny, humour, dark comedy, epic fantasy, parody, adventure, heroes journey.

You need to start charging fees.
Those are great

 

[CageSage]

You need to go to Amazon-books, and start typing in any of the keywords you think of. If those words don't create a dropdown 'list' of similar words, then it's a word that people don't use in searches.
If there's a drop-down list, those are the words people search for.
You want words people search for.
And you can use phrases, but they should be specific.
Wizard returns more than wizards; magic returns mostly kids books but returns more than magic kingdom; fantasy humour & comedy fantasy return more than humour fantasy or fantasy comedy; fantasy books returns more than fantasy book or fantasy novel; wizard books does better than wizard novel; wizard first rule does slightly better than wizard of, (these last two searched for through Publisher Rocket, which shows the search word wizard gets the most returns - but also has the highest competition - so if the first few words of the blurb/book don't catch attention ...), etc.
You need to test each word and phrase to see which is higher on the drop-down list, as well as fitting the story. Basically, you want your book to be found, so find the phrases that bring it to the top of the search: wizard, [and/or] wizard books, fantasy books, fantasy humour, [and/or] comedy fantasy.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

yup. Wot @RBurnett said.

 

[RK Wallis]

I'm with @CageSage. You need to go that step further and test what readers search for. Start with @RBurnett's list, but go that step further and check popular word searches. Just don't do,

wizard first rule

for the love of God. It's close to "Wizard's First Rule" by a bestselling author who's very unliked.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Might be worth checking Publishers Rocket – people use it for Amazon ads, but in theory it could do the keywords for your KDP set up as well. I think I have an old account somewhere that I could possibly check, but you'll have to wait for me to finish work (it's on my other laptop).

 

[Claire G]

Make Your Book More Discoverable with Keywords

kdp.amazon.com

Have you seen this page?

 

[Nikky Lee]

Some results from Publisher Rocket for you (sorry about the image quality, Litopia tends to compress screenshots like this). This is just going from your short description above. If you have any comp titles or authors I can plug them in as well and see if it comes up with anything.

 

[Jake E]

I'm with @CageSage. You need to go that step further and test what readers search for. Start with @RBurnett's list, but go that step further and check popular word searches. Just don't do,



for the love of God. It's close to "Wizard's First Rule" by a bestselling author who's very unliked.

I know exactly who you mean.

 

[Rachael Burnett]

You need to start charging fees.
Those are great

I’d see how ‘Terry Pratchett’, ‘Neil Gaiman’ and ‘chosen one’ do is your research as well.

 

[Jake E]

I’d see how ‘Terry Pratchett’, ‘Neil Gaiman’ and ‘chosen one’ do is your research as well.

It's against Amazon's terms to use other writers names. Otherwise, i absolutely would

 

[Rachael Burnett]

It's against Amazon's terms to use other writers names. Otherwise, i absolutely would

Ah, I did wonder. Makes sense.

 

[Rachael Burnett]

It's against Amazon's terms to use other writers names. Otherwise, i absolutely would

Are you allowed ‘Pratchettesque’ and ‘Gaimanesque’
Also, what about’ satire’?

 

[Jake E]

Are you allowed ‘Pratchettesque’ and ‘Gaimanesque’
Also, what about’ satire’?

Not sure about the esques... It doesn't outright say so.
Satire i could probably use

 

[KateESal]

As stated above, the trick is to go for the keywords readers use to search for books like yours. Anything too niche isn't likely to pull many in.

The trial and error method (typing possibilities into the Amazon search bar) is a good place to start!

 

[MattScho]

KDP – Science Fiction & Fantasy Keywords – Affinity Inspiration

robert-chalmers.uk

worth a look