For over 3 years my novel “The Fourth Awakening” has been the #1 Kindle Bestseller in the US in the category of “Mysticism”. It has spent over 2 years at #1 in the same category in the UK. My last four novels since the release of TFA have all gone to #1 in their niche. Here's how I did it....


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Use “Keywords” to Get in the Right Niche

Amazon chooses the niche they will rank you in and exactly how they selected your niche is a closely guarded secret. However, you can influence, but not control, which niche you end up in with “keywords”.

When preparing your book for Kindle publication they offer to let you pick up to 7 keywords to describe your book.  Here you need to be cold and analytical. Don’t just throw in large categories like “mystery” or “Young Adult.”

Do you really want to be competing with James Patterson, E. L. James and JK Rowling for ranking?

On the left hand side of the Kindle Bestsellers page is a list of all of the available categories. Comb through it carefully and locate one that is less competitive.

This can be done by carefully going through the “sub-categories” and finding niches that have books with high rankings in the category but are nowhere near the coveted “Top 100” of all Bestsellers.  With The Fourth Awakening, we selected “Religion and Spirituality>New Age>Mysticism”.   

If you find a suitable niche, click on the top ranked book and scroll down to the ranking section:

TFA USA RANKING 10/21/2012
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,328 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

TFA UK RANKING 10/21/2012
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,328 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

This morning TFA was only the 5,328 of all books on Amazon but was still #1 in that Bestsellers niche.  Second place was well over 7,000 in all books.  Because we’re in this niche -- which is easy to dominate -- TFA has been a #1 Bestseller for over three straight years.  It was number one when the Kindle was selling for $4.99 and $2.99 and now when priced at 99 cents.    

When selecting your keywords, start backwards from your niche. “Mysticism, New Age, Religion & Spirituality.”

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