How to Choose Amazon Book Categories in 2023

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Amazon has changed the way authors can choose their book categories. At first it may seem more user friendly and easier to use then before. However, that isn't the case.
There is a lot more going on that authors should be aware of and some key things authors need to know with regards to the Amazon Category system. Therefore, in this video, I’m going to show you what changed, how authors should go about choosing their categories and 3 secrets that every author needs to know in order to not hurt their book.
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[@Kindlepreneur]

HOW to figure out if a CATEGORY IS A GHOST::::::Sorry - I realized I should have put this in the video specifically on the steps - the ONLY way to figure out if a category is a Ghost is with Publisher Rocket. Rocket has every category tagged if it is a ghost. There is a way you can do it manually but it will require a bit of programming.

[@lauralai9694]

Yes, Publisher Rocket can do many things easier for us (either we write and self-publish or for publishers themselves). It's great software with more and more awesome features! 😍

[@anewfityoutoday]

I was just about to ask this question, thank you

[@Amy-Sparks]

So if I’m in the sci-fi fantasy, urban fantasy genre, what should I choose instead? Sorry if there’s already a video on this. I have PR but am still getting familiar with it

[@RosequistJared]

Dave you just need to have a section of your business being book managers for people haha I’d love to hire you to pick the categories and run the ads and such to make it more successful :) Love the great information you provide. Thanks for diligent research. There’s not many people I trust their information but you’re always at the top of that list for this industry.

[@Kindlepreneur]

Awe thanks - that really means a lot to read. I'll keep the service in mind!

[@DavidRothwellAdWords]

@@Kindlepreneur he's right! You should offer a chargeable service like a concierge ... Love your work and software!

[@halinagold]

THANK YOU! I have noticed something weird was going on since the change to just 3 categories. Now I understand. And am so grateful for your guidelines and for keeping us and KDP Rocket up to date!

[@anniepaquette]

I have a question. My book is a self-help/memoir hybrid from the perspective of a Highly Sensitive Person. I have found 3 categories that have low threshold for reaching #1, so I’m thinking of using those. 1.) Self-help/creativity, Health 2.) Fitness & Dieting / Psychology & counselling / personality (All books about HSPs are in here) 3.) Religion & Spirituality / New Age & Spirituality / self-help) As you can see, they do not include Biographies & Memoirs/memoirs, or Biographies & memoirs / Community / women, which have higher thresholds. Would you suggest I choose one of the Biographies categories because it best describes my book even if there are 50,000 books in these categories? Or, is it good to choose the 3 categories I named above and use memoirs / women / biographies in the keywords (?) Thanks.

[@Karenbrough]

Absolute game changer! Can publisher rocket get any better!?! Honestly, thank you!🎉

[@Kindlepreneur]

You're so welcome and glad you enjoy it!

[@VAShannon]

Am struggling to get to grips with improving my sales and you have the most amazing range of video tutorials. I bought Publisher's Rocket last year and it's so comprehenisve and easy to use. And this video is brilliant. Thank you!!

[@FrankDaley]

Such good information! Thanks, Dave.

[@pyheartworks]

Thank you! I have to admit that changing categories was difficult for the reasons you pointed out. I really like your Rocket and have used it to update my keywords and categories on my Amazon books.

[@Netzarim007]

Dave, if you can, would you please break down what constitutes a ghost category when selecting a category in KDP? I understand the example you gave looking AT an Amazon page where the left side was blank of categories, but am a bit baffled as to how to detect a ghost category within KDP when selecting actual categories for a book. Thank you so much. Just love your videos…PR and everything Kindlepreneur. Just started my KDP business…and Kindlepreneur has become such an invaluable tool for me.

[@nightyowl7]

Really awesome video Dave... I've hung off messing around with my categories for months, but sales have also suffered. So I've watched this today, and feel like I'm ready to roll my sleeves up. Thanks for all you do! I even signed into youtube (which I haven't done for years) just so I could hit subscribe and say 'Thank you'.

[@LisssyLi]

Perfect timing that I came across this video as I’m just about to launch the first book in 2 years.

[@TheLoneCamper]

I'm sure Amazson also use AI and a special NER (Named Entity Recognition) to scan your book compared to the 10s or 100s+ of thousands of books known to be properly categoriezed. Probably sentiment analysis, writing style, structure, continuity (of each secion,part, chapter, etc. within the book and across all books in the series when applicable), and probably have every character of every book time stamped and dated and connected to the user and everything about their access and location at each step...and many intricate marketing, psychology, and personal interest patterns their algorythm can gleam from the users to make forecasts from the up to date trends of their information loops.

[@chrissyqmartinYARomance]

Thank you for this! I appreciate all the updates and information.

[@nogreenwashin]

Good! Yet confused about the ghost section

[@ClaireStoneAncientWisdom]

My tarot book has been no 1 bestseller in a few categories for almost 2 weeks since I published but not the one I want it in - Tarot ! It’s frustrating. Thanks for the tips x

[@MicheleEGwynnAuthor]

Okay, I watched this and have spent the last hour updating categories and keywords. Will see if this helps since the 'Zon seems to have done something yet again that is affecting the algorithm and tanking sales despite ads. Thanks, Dave!

[@Moonwalker_Forever]

Thank you so much for making things simple for us. Keep up the great work. My Best Wishes! 🌻💫

[@Kindlepreneur]

Thanks!

[@dn7396]

Thank you Dave - helpful as always! :)

[@debzeb6899]

The excitement of getting an orange banner is nice, but trying to list to get one can be very counterproductive. One of the best ways I've found to determine the best categories for my books is running category ads. I run ads that put my book across categories and then adjust the book placement.

[@leewoodauthor]

Great info, as we have come to expect from you, Dave.

[@RavagesOfHonor]

Very helpful, Dave. Thank you.

[@tamaraladamsauthor]

Amazing information once again! Thanks Dave!!

[@prateekrawat8922]

Hey Dave, Hope you are doing well. I have a question; Suppose I have a marketing content on my website. Now why I choose book publishing over affiliate marketing. Like I can earn affiliate commission by directing the traffic toward hostinger, tubebuddy, get response. Tell me reason why I divert traffic to a marketing book page. Because in affiliate marketing, I don't have to convince anyone about how good the product is because it's somebody else product and everyone know about the hostinger, get response and tubebuddy. So it's easy to get conversion. So why I choose book publishing?

[@tgc1427]

You are just awesome. I appreciate all you do for writers!

[@Kindlepreneur]

Awe shucks :) Thanks - that made my day to read.

[@authorstephanywallace]

The updates to rocket are amazing but this video also gutted me because I write Paranormal Romance so my categories have always included Science fiction and Fantasy/Fantasy but now those are ghost categories? 😳What am I supposed to choose? 😩

[@Amy-Sparks]

I have the same question!

[@SimoneLeigh-Author]

Thanks so much. Great advice and info as always 🙂

[@Kindlepreneur]

You're so welcome and glad you enjoyed it :)

[@nathanwilson5789]

Excellent content! Thank you!

[@patricioc]

Really good information thanks Dave

[@KellyFalardeau]

I love the content you create! Thank you for being so awesome! I'm still a little unclear as to how to determine whether it's a ghost category. Help pls. Thx!

[@Kindlepreneur]

As it stands, the only way to figure out if it is a Ghost is with Publisher Rocket. In Rocket we have tagged every category that was found to be a ghost. There is a way to do this manually but it requires a bit of coding.

[@CateBaum]

Great video Dave!

[@onceuponadance590]

Wow, so interesting! Thank you.

[@JuanBorn]

Again great video Dave!!!

[@Kindlepreneur]

Thanks!

[@audreywolski8555]

Question on Publisher rocket what does it mean when there is nothing listed next to the category? Most say selectable or ghost but some have nothing listed?

[@writerbyluck]

thank you for this.

[@Arman_Kaymakcian]

This is off topic but you made a video about creating Amazon book review link by using the ISBN 10, but ISBN’s only come in 13 digits, how can I figure out my ISBN 10? Also can I create this link before my book Is available on Amazon? My book is being formatted and formatter is asking me for link. I’m not uploading my book for preorder so how can I do this?

[@tlux2991]

I’ve noticed Amazon Canada 🇨🇦 offers fewer categories than Amazon USA 🇺🇸. Please tell me how to get the better categories.

[@RachelMacdonald-sz4ud]

This video is very good. Can you please show how we can identify a ghost category easily? Thanks

[@Kindlepreneur]

Sadly, the only way is either using Rocket which tags each category that is a ghost, or if you know a bit of programming, and can find the category's official node number, and use some coding to see how the category responds to query.

[@ColinTheRecruiter]

Should your kindle keywords be same as your paperback keywords? 🤔

[@TracyJohnson-o8r]

Do you recommend having the same categories for both the paperback and ebook?

[@Kindlepreneur]

If the 3 are really good and you can't find others (beyond the 3 you chose for one), then yes use the same or equivalabent (they aren't always the same).

[@AlhanRahimi]

So now we can only choose 3 categories and not 10 as it used to be, right?

[@DivinelyGuided2911]

Yeah, this is frustrating. I don't know where to categorize my planner. Most of them are listed under office supplies, but that isn't offered to me. Do you have any suggestions? Also do you recommend having your own self publishing ISBN or to use theirs? What are the benefits? Thank you. Also, they aren't letting me put pictures for the inside of my book. That's kind of lame. Any suggestions?

[@Muzammildear100]

there is no catagory for notebook and journals in kdp/ what is the solution for it. please let me know

[@ricardocarlos1449]

I think using keywords to help you in the selection of categories is a two-edged sword. For example, if I used THRILLER as a keyword to help me place my book in a THRILLER category or sub-category, this will help ensure I am placed in this category.... BUT... keywords are really meant to help readers find your book organically, so entering THRILLER is near useless because it is too broad. Instead, I would prefer a more niche keyword closer to the essence of my book, such as "BRITISH ESPIONAGE" or ""VINTAGE BRITISH CLASSICS". It's about Amazon started confusing authors with keyword selection. Keywords are to help readers kind your book based on search words, and not in the category selection of your book.

[@Kindlepreneur]

That's why I recommend the following: 1) you use 1-2 of the 7 kindle keyword boxes to fill in to the max of character keyword phrases. 2) Choose from the large list of keywords that Rocke tprovides ones that fit your book, and thus are 2 birds with one stone, rather than a double edged sword ;)

[@FCSchaefer]

Still don't understand the new way to pick categories on KDP.

[@sidehustlemomideas]

Thnx, new subbie. ~Michelle

[@EED13-s3l]

Any thoughts on why Amazon has decided certain categories are ghost categories? I just checked rocket and most of mine are ghost. :(

[@Kindlepreneur]

Nope - not really sure why they even have it.

[@TrishL333]

? Can a person leave more than one book review for the same book on Amazon?

[@CreativeWarriorClub]

How do you know/tell how a category is a ghost category?

[@Kindlepreneur]

The only current way is through Publisher Rocket. Otherwise, you'd have to discover the official number of the category (they have their own code system), and then create a certain link which should show you that Categories' official category page. From there you can see if it has the category path on the left or a actual title.

[@DrLaurenBaker]

Question on ghost categories - as I pick categories on amazon for my paperback it will not let me NOT pick a ghost cateogry. Ie it will not save for book>parenting and relationships > parenting > early childhood (it wont save if you stop there) and forces me to pick “child development,” “infants,” “toddlers,” “general,” “breastfeeding,” or “toilet training.” Otherwise it will not show up under category placements selected. And every single one of those options show up in publisher rocket as ghost options - so it kind of seems like while early childhood is a legit category because it forces you to pick a ghost category it becomes unusable? Is this right?

[@Kindlepreneur]

If “child development,” “infants,” “toddlers,” “general,” “breastfeeding,” or “toilet training” are the placement under "early childhood" and all of those are Ghosts, then picking one of those placements will have you rank in early childhood - which is above them. But all of those just funnel into the one. Basically, all those placements are just "early childhood". Crazy right?

[@DrLaurenBaker]

@@Kindlepreneur ok! that makes more sense, but does it make it so that you could not rank in "early childhood" since you have to pick a ghost category or would you still be able to rank in early childhoood?

[@Kindlepreneur]

@@DrLaurenBaker You can't rank in the ghost, but you can rank up the chain in category.

[@DrLaurenBaker]

brilliant thank you so much! @@Kindlepreneur

[@tlux2991]

How do you know it’s a ghost category? Please be clearer on this. Thnx

[@Kindlepreneur]

The only way is through Publisher Rocket. There is a manual way of figuring it out but it is super tedious and needs a bit of coding.

[@danapratola]

I'm confused.

[@Kindlepreneur]

About?

[@HAL9000.]

@Kindlepreneur Life. The meaning. WHY ARE WE HERE, DAVE???? "Daisy, Daisy. . ."

[@timhuguenin]

Does publisher rocket show which categories are ghost categories?

[@Kindlepreneur]

Yes it does. Rocket tags the categories and shows which ones are Ghosts.

[@TOPMEDIACLUB]

Il y a t-il une version traduite en français?

[@patriciakpritchard404]

Hello, is this just for kindle or also for print KDP?

[@Kindlepreneur]

Both

[@patriciakpritchard404]

When they ask you on Amazon if any of the book has been made with the help of AI what should one answer if they had but had it changed a lot? @@Kindlepreneur

[@nataliethomson240]

Does Publisher Rocket need to be updated to get the feature showing the keywords attached to the categories?

[@Kindlepreneur]

You need to be on version 2.0.76 - which you can see your version number in the bottom left corner.

[@meleastin9974]

Hi! I'm in the process of uploading and understand about Ghost caragories. BUT, on most category strings, Amazon requires that you select, Fiction or non-fiction. When that is added to the string, then it becomes a ghost! For example, books-children's books-animals-pet(this is a good category according to Publisher Rocket, but when I go to enter it, Amazon forces you to add fiction to the string, making it a ghost. I haven't found a way around it! Any ideaa?

[@Kindlepreneur]

Honestly, I'm not sure. I'll look into that.

[@a.deiterich9121]

I'm having the same issue, and pretty similar category string: ... animals - horses. Until I added "fiction," the category would not populate at KDP.

[@meleastin9974]

@@Kindlepreneur thanks for checking.

[@congnghiaa3]

@@Kindlepreneur how about that question now? Thank you

[@congnghiaa3]

@@meleastin9974 how about that question now? Thank you

[@ouicmoi6823]

Cann plz add market plz frensh in app like us de uk

[@avivagat]

Does this also mean you are only featured in 3 categories and no longer should email amazon to add you to ten?

[@Kindlepreneur]

That is correct

[@avivagat]

is there a way to check if a category is a ghost category?

[@Kindlepreneur]

The only way is through Publisher Rocket

[@librarythang821]

@@KindlepreneurI have publisher rocket. Does it now TELL you a category is ghost? I’m confused about how to actually identify a ghost category. Thank you!!

[@Kindlepreneur]

@@librarythang821 yes. Just like you see in the video here, as well as the emails we’ve been sending to Rocket owners and the tutorial which was updated, it shows you the tag on Rockets category feature which tells you if it’s is ghost.

[@librarythang821]

@@Kindlepreneur thanks! I’m back from vacation so I haven’t caught up on all my emails yet. Much appreciated!

[@gallaghergreen2053]

Do you think that "Ghost" categories are just outmoded categories they just haven't removed yet? Or do you think they will just stay as ghost?

[@Kindlepreneur]

Honestly, I think the ghost system is intentional...or a bit intentionally lazy. I definitely don't think they are outmoded, considering some of the ones that are ghosts.

[@gallaghergreen2053]

@@Kindlepreneur I noticed a few seemed way to important for them to be dumping. Thanks. :)

[@Kindlepreneur]

@@gallaghergreen2053 Yeah, agreed - that's why i don't think they are getting dumped but this is more of a lazy approach to adding categories without having to add pages, and link trees to those category pages, etc.

[@fanorama1]

In your experience, should your 7 keywords and 3 book categories be the same for all formats of your book?

[@Morikeaiaa]

As an infopreneur, you have to juggle a ton of messages every day. If that's the case, imagine freeing up time while providing a quick response to your subscribers through our AI solution. If you're interested in revolutionizing your message management and enhancing audience engagement, I would be delighted to discuss it with you. To your success!

[@donnascott7500]

You're always so informative, but this info is far above my pay grade and 'me no speak computer'. 😕 Is this really for everyone or just for the people who are publishing now? In other words, do I need to change what I already have or should I only worry about this for future novels? PS--I agree with @RosequistJared. I'd hire you to manage my KDP info in a heartbeat.

[@jennygraves3304]

Yes, I'm in the same boat. I'm not sure if I should be updating my categories for my books that are already published. Dave, can you help, please?