3 Free Marketing Tactics using Keywords that any Kindle author can implement today

Amazon is the biggest marketplace for your digital romance books in most English speaking countries. It’s as simple as that. So your first choice when it comes to publishing your romance eBook should be through the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform.

The first thing to recognise is that “Amazon is less of a store and more of a search engine.” (Penny Sansevieri, 2105)

So how can you help readers to find your eBook using the Amazon search engine?

Amazon.co,uk logo image

Your Kindle eBook or Kobo or iBook is simply a numbered data file linked to a cover image. A piece of code which has associated words attached to it.

Those words are the metadata for your book; the title, subtitle, book description, the two categories you assign to your book, the price and the seven keyword strings, plus any publisher information and an ISBN if you are using one.   It is the combination of all of these details that make the book unique.

Let’s focus on how to use specific keywords and keyword phrases in your book data

When you publish on Kindle Direct Publishing [KDP] you can type in a maximum of seven keywords and phrases.

Don’t rush to type in the first words that you think matches your book. Keywords are magical search terms and you should research them in detail.

Tactic One. Find the Most Common Keyword search phrases that Readers use

When a reader goes onto the Kindle Store and types in a few words into the Search box, a whole list of options will appear in a drop-down list for that reader to help them fine tune their search.

For example, if you go to a blank Kindle Store eBook bestseller search and type the word ‘Amish Romance,’ then Amazon will automatically give you a drop down list of the top ten words and phrases that are the most popular search words that readers have used to find eBooks about this subgenre. These include:

  • Amish romance kindle books
  • Amish romance fiction
  • Amish romance novels
  • Free Amish romance novels
  • Christian Amish romance
  • Free Amish romance
  • Amish romance secrets
  • Amish romance books
  • Amish romance series.

They are the precise keyword phrases that readers use to find Amish romance stories most often, so why not use those exact keyword strings in your seven keywords and phrases?

Note – not single keywords, but strings of keywords.

Make it easy for Amazon to point readers to your books. Let the search engine functionality do the hard work for you.

Tactic Two. Think about Keyword themes when you write your subtitle and book description

You may have seen that for some romance categories there are sometimes additional search features called ‘Themes’ on the left-hand side of the page. These are also based on the keywords.

When you are on the first page of KDP, where you enter your book information, there is a link to a page called ‘Selecting Book Categories.

Scroll down to Romance and you will see a long list of possibilities.

screen shot keywords

 Screenshot Credit Amazon.Com

So for an Amish Romance you might choose: Romance/Inspirational/Amish and Romance/Inspirational/General or perhaps the Romance/Holidays option if you have a seasonal book.

Note – These are specific to Amazon.com in the US, but you can see the range available.

Always try and incorporate as many of those search phrases as you can into your seven keywords. If you can get them into the title or subtitle of your book, even better!

So instead of using single words, use keywords strings when you publish.

Make a list of the ideal strings and likely search phrases by researching all of the phrases which match your book, match them to the popular search suggestions that Amazon comes up with and then use some of these in your book description and some in the keyword listing.

Tactic Three: Use Emotional and Reinforcing Keywords in your Book Description

Treat your book description like a sales page.

A reader will only look at your book description on your online book page if they:

  • like the book cover and
  • you have intrigued them with your book title and subtitle.

Now you have to demonstrate that they have not wasted their time and that this book is ideal for them.

How do you do that? Let’s continue the Amish romance example.

  • By demonstrating that you understand why the reader has come to this page and what they are looking for. Romance authors in a specific niche will already know the key titles and can relate their book to those others. If you like [author name who writes Amish romance] then you will love this heart-warming inspirational series set in [family or location] which features [a set of brothers or sister, community or church].
  • By weaving in the keyword strings which you used when you loaded your book onto KDP and which you know readers are already looking for. Such as; Amish romance kindle books, Amish romance fiction, Amish romance novels, Christian Amish romance, Amish romance secrets, Amish romance books, Amish romance series and so on. Inspirational romance and holiday romance keywords would also work. So if you have a Christmas Amish story, don’t be shy to say so.
  • By demonstrating how your book ticks all of the boxes but books in your romance genre but is also special and unique and individual.
  • Make a personal connection with the reader. Link back to your website which is themed around the type of books you love to read. Let them know that you are a fan of this subgenre do and they can trust you not to disappoint them.

I hope these tactics work for you! Do let me know.

If you would like to learn more, my latest book for self-published authors has now been released and you can find out more about marketing your eBook by clicking HERE.

Happy writing!


 

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