A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Making Sense of Amazon Categories
It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. This week we discuss Amazon categories. Such an enigma! Intentionally so. Amazon does not reveal much about its inner workings, but thanks to some research, we have been able to determine the following that might be helpful for authors to know. 📚 How Amazon Book Categories Work (with Niche and Volume Dynamics) 🧠Initial Category Assignment When books are distributed via Ingram (LSI) , Amazon pulls metadata from Ingram’s feed, including BISAC codes. These BISAC codes help Amazon place the book into relevant genre categories (e.g., “Spiritual Memoir,” “Parenting,” “Historical Fiction”). Authors and publishers can influence category placemen...