 KDP categories are the sections of the Amazon websites in which readers can find your book and, combined with keywords, they help determine the ranking of your product page in the search results. But you need to keep in mind that KDP categories are not the same as Amazon categories. The categories shown on KDP when you go to publish your book are BISAC categories (Book Industry Standards and Communications). This is a universal base category system, a series of categories that most libraries, bookshops and online retailers use as an industry-standard classification system. Big publishing companies use BISACs to easily disseminate new books across the market. When you select the categories for your book on the KDP platform, Amazon then uses metadata to create equivalent Amazon categories, which can be BISAC categories but can also be totally different. Just to give you an idea, the number of BISAC categories available is a little under 4,000, while there are over 16,000 Amazon categories. What’s more, Amazon categories constantly change with the market – if customers are suddenly looking for books about cats, then a cat category will appear on the Kindle store. BISACs, however, remain pretty much the same. This is why you need to know how to find and choose the best Amazon categories for your book, rather than just the BISACs. Here are a few strategies to do that:
 We hope this article gave you a good understanding of Amazon categories. The market is difficult and competitive, and we know that researching categories and keywords for your book is a full-time job that often leaves you feeling like you’re stumbling in the dark. There are bits of software to help with keyword and category search, but they are expensive and can be a steep learning curve. Besides, you don’t want all this marketing to distract you from your writing. Our experts at Rowanvale Books can help you boost your sales through a bespoke Amazon Analysis service. Check it out and get in touch with us!
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 In recent years, Amazon has positioned itself as the best marketplace for books and eBooks, especially in self-publishing. As an author, it is essential that you get to know the ins and outs of Amazon in order to boost your book sales and get the most out of your marketing strategy. Because Amazon, like most websites and search engines today, works with algorithms, it can be quite difficult to grasp how to get your book in the highest rankings. This article will help you understand how to choose the right categories for your book or eBook and therefore boost sales, but we recommend checking out our Amazon Analysis service to find out how we can help. How does Amazon work? The Amazon search engine works with an algorithm that is constantly updated in order to generate better results. An algorithm is a process or set of rules used in calculations that performs a particular function. Let’s take the Google algorithm as an example. Through a complex mathematical calculation, Google finds websites that can constitute the best search results and then uses an algorithm to assign rankings for relevant search terms. The Amazon search engine works in a similar way, in that it aims to produce the right results for the right customers. Most importantly, the rankings in the search results are based on what Amazon believes will increase their sales. In the case of your book, its success on the Amazon marketplace will depend mainly on the keywords and categories you choose, which are the main elements that the algorithm uses to generate search results. What are keywords and how to choose them Keywords are the first tool Amazon will use to determine the ranking of your book on the results page. Kindle keywords are the words customers type into the Amazon search bar when looking for books or eBooks. Simply put, the more precise your keywords are, the higher up in the results your book will be. The recommended number of keywords to associate to your book is seven, so you need to choose them carefully. If you overdo it and choose too many words that aren’t relevant to the content of your book, Amazon will remove your book from the search results altogether. The Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) website provides a useful guide on how to avoid this. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your book’s keywords: 
 Despite its widely popular levels of readership, Young Adult fiction hasn’t always been the household name it is today. In fact, it’s only over the last decade or so that Young Adult, or YA, novels have truly made their impact in the world of literature. Typically defined as a category written for those between the ages of 12 and 18, Young Adult fiction has expanded beyond tweens and teens, reaching adult readers on a daily basis. But what is it that draws readers to this genre, and how can you implement this in your work as an author? 1. Write a Relatable Heroine A large part of the appeal of Young Adult books comes from the relatability of the heroines. Now, you could say that this is important throughout all genres of books, and to some extent this is largely true. What is unique about Young Adult fiction, however, is the centrality of your main character. Readers need to feel they can connect with the heroine in almost all aspects of their journey, regardless of whether the novel’s set in a far-off land or simply in a small, white-picket town. Ensuring your main character is relatable will allow your audience to easily connect with the journey they take, better allowing them to empathise and fully immerse themselves in the world you have created. 2. Think Like a Teen This can be harder than you might originally think, especially if your teen self feels worlds away from where you are now. Regardless, conveying that all-important teen or tween point of view is crucial to the flow of your story. One of the best ways to achieve this is by spending time with your target audience. If you’re writing as and for 16 year-olds but haven’t had any contact with that age group since you were last in school, chances are you’ll end up alienating your audience rather than connecting with them. Just as you would research for any other genre of novel, it’s crucial with Young Adult fiction that you’re able to convince your readers of the authenticity of your characters’ age and life experiences to capture that true teen essence. 3. Make it a Page Turner Keeping the story moving is crucial to Young Adult fiction. Unlike adult novels, where authors have the luxury of spending chapters building anticipation, Young Adult fiction tends to be more demanding when it comes to the pace of the storyline. So, while it’s important you’re able to build tension, it’s equally important you do so in a timely manner. This isn’t to say Young Adult authors must rush the plot, but more that readers should be given pockets of excitement throughout. This is often why many YA novels are set in dystopian worlds – although this isn’t a necessity, as John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) and Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), among others, have successfully proven. Whether you’re utilising the thrill of adrenaline to keep the page turning or adopting a sense of wanderlust, so long as your reader remains thoroughly and entirely engaged, you’re onto a winner.  4. Develop Complex Emotions If you spend much time around teenagers, or remember how you were yourself, you’ll likely know how deep and thoughtful teens can be. There’s no denying it, being a teenager is hard. Because of this, it’s often equally as difficult to capture this complexity of emotion in your writing. In the transition from child to adult, things become foggy, intertwined and confusing. This sense of journey needs to be reflected in your work. Readers require the immersive feeling of falling in love, making difficult decisions, enduring life’s torments, coping with mental and physical health, or handling grief, all while feeling it’s for the very first time. 5. Shine the Light at the End of the Tunnel Young Adult fiction frequently deals with dark and heavy topics, which is often a big draw for the genre’s readers. Encapsulating that coming-of-age sense of independence in dealing with such themes for the first time is crucial to the structure of a Young Adult novel’s plot. Growing up can be an intimidating thing and this is something all audiences can relate to. Young Adult fiction often deals with this through eliminating the hand-holding comfort many of us will have experienced and oftentimes poses very real barriers for the heroine to independently overcome. As an author, while your novel may deal with intense themes, it’s important to allow your readers that glimmer of hope as you draw your novel to a close. Life is difficult, but tomorrow is a new day. This is a theme you must ensure to incorporate as the heroine prepares to face her final hurdle and overcome the challenges that lie ahead.  Supporting your favourite independents has never been more important! If you’re anything like the team at Rowanvale Books, reading will have been a helpful companion to see you through the various lockdowns of 2020/2021. Why not show your love for books by buying your next to-be-read stack from a local independent? Here are some of our faves in Cardiff! TROUTMARK BOOKS Nestled away in the Castle Arcade, Troutmark Books is a booklover’s dream! Like something out of a movie, it has cosy and maze-like floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed with any genre of book you might ever need. Despite being relatively small, we’re certain you could spend hours in there getting lost in the sea of second-hand treasures while trying to convince yourself you don’t need to buy the whole shop. The shop symbolises everything that’s great about the Cardiff arcades, and has to be one of the most unique and quirky shops in the city! OXFAM BOOKSHOP Gone are the days of feeling like you’ve spent too much money on books, when you know that money is going straight to charity. Not far from Troutmark, Oxfam Bookshop sits at the top of St Mary’s Street. Forget the preconceptions you have about charity shops being an disorganised mess of unwanted rubbish; this Oxfam is set up like any good bookshop with sections ranging from sci-fi to gardening to local history, full to the brim with bestsellers as well as some rare finds that you might not see in your average high-street Waterstones. It’s a great place to look for cheap coffee table books, and you’ll know that with every page you turn, you’ve made a contribution to one of the UK’s leading charities. GRIFFIN BOOKS Though it’s just outside of Cardiff, we couldn’t leave Griffin Books in Penarth off our list! Situated right in the heart of the community, they pride themselves on bringing people and books together and have even kept this going through lockdown with Zoom quiz nights and book clubs. Their lovely staff are always happy to help you find whatever you’ve gone in looking for or give you their recommendations if you’ve fallen into a bit of a reading slump. Paired with a stroll along the beach, a trip to Griffin Books is the perfect excuse to get out of the city for a few hours!  SHELFLIFE BOOKS AND ZINES
Tucked away in the Castle Emporium, Shelflife Books and Zines is another perfect example of Cardiff’s independent and creative scene. They describe themselves as a space for marginalised voices and operate as a not-for-profit shop, providing a space for independent publishers and DIY zine makers! A true one-of-a-kind bookshop, they even have a pay-it-forward scheme where you can choose to donate some money which another customer can use to buy their book if they’re struggling for cash. WELLFIELD BOOKSHOP For us, Wellfield Bookshop is the perfect definition of an independent bookshop. A family-run business, they’ve been open since 1982 and are truly passionate about supporting and maintaining local highstreets. You’ll find the best new releases as well as some of your old favourites, and their pure love of books will start radiating as soon as you talk to any one of the staff members. Head over to pick up your new favourite book and dive straight in over a cup of coffee in one of Roath’s independent cafes, or if you’re lucky, sit outside and enjoy the sunshine in Roath Park while you get lost in a new world in your book. If you’re not in Cardiff but are still looking for your fix of independent books, then look no further than Rowanvale Books! We may not have a physical shop, but our online bookshop is full to the (virtual) brim with exciting new reads if you’re looking to add something new to your shelves! Head to our website to find out more.  Good news! A new and exciting opportunity has recently arrived for all US-based Amazon and Kindle sellers to help you up your ad game. In this article we’ll be covering the what, the why and the how of Sponsored Brand placements to help get you started! What are Sponsored Brand placements? The Sponsored Brand placements that are now available to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) authors are actually nothing new. The only catch with them was that they were previously available to almost all Amazon sellers, apart from indie authors. Type any book genre into Amazon and the Sponsored Brand placements are the three ads that show up first, right at the top of the search (see the highlighted red box on the below image). They shouldn’t be confused with the first two products in the search, which are Sponsored Product ads.  Why should you use Sponsored Brand placements?
Hopefully it’s clear from how prominent they are in an Amazon search that these ad placements can prove highly valuable to any Amazon seller! They’re particularly perfect for series writers – in order to access them, you need at least three ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Number) in a single KDP account, aka three different products. This means you can display three books from your series in one single ad banner! However, they can of course also be used to advertise just one book in three different formats, as a paperback, ebook and audiobook each have individual ASINs. Since this feature is relatively new, there is still only low competition for each ad placement. There’s only one Sponsored Brand ad for each Amazon search, so the sooner you make a start at securing yours, the better! How do you use Sponsored Brand placements? In the ad, you get a customisable headline of 50 characters. Try and think of a tagline you know will appeal to your target audience specifically, not just to anyone and everyone. Perhaps you’ve already got something from your marketing strategy you can use to help continue a cohesive marketing strategy. If you’re publishing with Rowanvale Books, you can always contact a member of our marketing team for help if you’re low on inspiration! Amazon will use your author photo as a default in the image for the ad. However, you can choose to instead use your logo or a section of your book cover. Again, don’t hesitate to message a member of our team if you need any help or a second opinion in choosing the right photo.  ‘With something like books, we can’t be colour blind readers, because currently in most bookstores white authors take up more shelf space and, therefore, if you just go in and grab a book, you’ll likely pick one up from a white author.’ -- Elliot Chan
Elliot Chan has written this great blog post with his tips on how to diversify your reading list. We don’t want to take attention away from marginalised voices or claim that a more diverse reading list is an idea of our own, which is why we’ve kept this post relatively brief. We do, however, believe that more inclusive reading lists can be a great first step in understanding the experiences of all members of society and therefore contributing to a more empathetic and supportive world. A diverse reading list includes authors of various ethnic, sexual and gender identities as well as class, nationality and disability backgrounds. You cannot tell all of this just from an author’s name on a book cover. This means diversifying your reading will almost definitely require some extra effort. However, this should not be discouraging; it will take nowhere near as much extra effort as many of these authors will have had to exert just to be published in the first place. It’s crucial, particularly for younger readers, that people see themselves represented in books and the media in general. By supporting authors who showcase stories of all backgrounds, children and adults alike will be able to live in a world where they feel increasingly more accepted by those around them. This may seem a little overwhelming at first, and that’s totally understandable. What’s important is that you’ve recognised the problem and that you’re willing to do something about it. To help get you started, we’ve put together some resources if you’re unsure of where to look:
Do you often find yourself facing a first draft (or even a second or third!) that is ridiculously over your target word count? Do you struggle to delete even the smallest of sentences from your manuscript? Do you feel attached to each word as though it is a beloved pet or child? If so, you are not alone… If you were lucky enough to get into your stride and the words poured from your pen or your fingers furiously typed away, rejoice. This is often how great first drafts are written: naturally and freely, coming straight from the heart. However, once you finish your hefty first draft, the task of cutting it down to size can seem daunting, if not impossible. We are here to help! Read on for our top ten tips for cutting words from your manuscript.  Rowanvale's Top 10 Tips:
Remember, if you can cut 10 words per page in a 300-page manuscript, you’ve already shortened it by 3,000 (unnecessary) words! Now, pick up your literary scissors and be ruthless. Happy snipping! At Rowanvale Books, we offer a selection of individual services and self-publication packages including all services listed above. To find out more, please visit https://www.rowanvalebooks.com/self-publishing-services or contact us at info@rowanvalebooks.com  When you first decide to self-publish your book, all the information available online can be daunting. The self-publishing process can seem mysterious, and it is difficult to know where to start. One of the first key things to consider upon deciding to self-publish is the cost of this process. This is where self-publishing differs from traditional publishing, where the financial responsibility is taken on by the publishing house. But don’t let this put you off! There are many useful resources online to help you get your head around these costs, such as the reedsy blog and the bookbeaver. Below, we have set out the keys costs to take into account when you are considering self-publishing: 1. Editing There are three different levels of editing that your book may need, and the price of this process will depend on which you choose. The most extensive service is developmental editing, where the editor will take an in-depth look at your entire manuscript, examining all elements of your writing from individual words to overall structure and style. Next, there is copy-editing, through which the editor will ensure your writing is effective and consistent. The final and least expensive form of editing is proofreading. This is the process of checking the text for any basic spelling or grammatical errors. 2. Type-setting / Interior Formatting Next, there is the process of turning your manuscript into the correct format to be produced as a book. You may choose to carry out this stage of the process yourself, after doing some research, or you may wish to hire a professional to do it for you. More experienced typesetters will charge more for their services, but you will be sure that your finished book will be of high quality. 3. Cover Design Your book’s cover is ultimately what decides whether it will be picked from the shelf or not. The importance of cover design cannot be understated, and so you are likely to want to commission a professional cover designer for the job. Factors that may affect the price of your cover design include the level of experience of your designer and whether you are looking for an illustrated or photographic cover. Illustrations tend to incur higher costs.  4. ISBN and Legal Registration There are certain legal requirements associated with publishing a book in the UK. To ensure that these requirements are met, the book must be legally registered. In addition to this, each book on the market is required to have its own unique ISBN (International Standard Book Number) by which it can be identified. To acquire an ISBN, you must pay a small fee to Nielsen UK ISBN Agency. 5. Production Perhaps the most obvious cost associated with self-publishing a book is the price of production and printing. These costs will vary depending on the format(s) in which you wish your book to be available. Unsurprisingly, eBook production is the cheapest option, followed by paperbacks, with hardback book production being the costliest. 6. Distribution Many online marketplaces that you are likely to use to sell your book, such as Amazon, require a fee from the seller for their place on the site. This can be thought of similarly to renting your stall in a physical market. You pay the company for the space on their site, which will allow readers to find your work.  7. Marketing
The final important cost to consider is marketing. After putting in all that work to write your book, you want to make sure that it is brought to the attention of as many potential readers as possible. That’s where marketing comes in. Marketing costs can vary dramatically depending on the approach you take and the scale of your campaigns. Many authors may choose to manage the marketing of their work themselves, whereas some decide to hire a marketing professional to be sure that their book gets the attention it deserves. At Rowanvale Books, we offer a selection of individual services and self-publication packages including all services listed above. To find out more, please visit https://www.rowanvalebooks.com/self-publishing-services or contact us at info@rowanvalebooks.com  "Don't judge a book by its cover!" We’ve all heard this before, and yet we are all guilty of buying a book simply because we fell in love with the cover. As much as we try to avoid it, the truth is we all do judge books by their covers. An eye-catching cover can be the difference between a book making the bestseller list or sitting untouched on the shelf, gathering dust. You work so hard to write the best possible book you can, and your work deserves a cover which makes it impossible to leave unread. At Rowanvale Books we have a Custom Book Cover Design Service run by our expert Design Team so you can spend less time worrying about what your book will look like, and more time doing what you love: writing. Here are our top 3 questions to ask yourself to ensure you are happy with your final book cover design.
You have put your heart and soul into writing a book that you can be proud of. You want readers to see your cover and learn a little something about the wonderful story they can expect to find inside. Your final cover design should make people as excited to read your book as you were to write it. With Rowanvale Books cover design service, we develop your cover around your ideas. We encourage you to provide our Design Team with as much information as possible, such as images and book covers that inspire you, sketches and written thoughts. This way, you can be sure that your final cover design is personal to you and truly represents your story. 
Just as you have spent countless hours editing your book into the masterpiece it is today, your cover design is unlikely to be perfect on the first try. Try out a few different styles before settling on your final cover design to ensure that your chosen image is the right one for you. At Rowanvale Books we create three different concepts for you to choose from. You may fall in love with one particular design, or you can choose to mix-and-match various elements from all three to create your dream book cover. Your cover design will stay with your book for years to come and will ultimately become the most important representation of your book to you and your readers, so make sure you are happy with every detail. With Rowanvale Books, you are able to make amendments to your cover right up until the final design is confirmed. At Rowanvale Books, we offer a selection of individual services and self-publication packages including all services listed above. To find out more, please visit https://www.rowanvalebooks.com/self-publishing-services or contact us at info@rowanvalebooks.com |
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