Amazon

Tagging for my ebook in Amazon’s kindle store coupled with my kdp select free day promotion on Wednesday of this week appears to have greatly helped my placement in the results for some tags. The tag of “humorous crime thriller” has been particularly helped.

When I search for “humorous crime thriller” in kindle store ebooks this evening, Tangled Ties to a Manatee is #6, on the first page of results for over 200 ebooks listed. That’s great placement for readers using that specific search term. When I check for those published within the past 90 days, Tangled Ties to a Manatee is #1 listed. In both the overall list and the 90-days published list, there are other ebooks listed below mine that have much better paid sales ranking. That’s why I believe it has to be an effect of having a good free promotion day and a well-tagged ebook.

It is yet to be seen whether this translates into better sales. “Humorous crime thriller” may not be a frequent search term used, but it accurately depicts my debut novel in its genre. Such search results do make the book more discoverable to readers searching than those ebooks placed lower in the list. (I realize the final ebook listed may also be preferable to those lost in the middle, but that’s more another topic.)

So, at least in conjunction with recent kdp select free promotion days, it appears that tags can help a novel be more discoverable on Amazon than higher paid sales. This effect may be only for a limited time, but I appreciate this unanticipated benefit of kdp select’s free promotion days and tagging, though I can’t vouch for whether tags or free day sales or some algorithm for the combination therein is responsible.