Amazon Categories
I recently sent an email to Amazon asking to change the catagory of all my Fantasy books as they are listed there in Science Fiction which they obviously are not. I also gave them a list for each book showing the specific category tree that I would like each book in as well as the keywords I would like used as well.
What they came back with is this,
"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced in this case.
I understand you'd like to update or change the categories and keywords for your books "Angels Blood", "NIghtclans" and "Wolfe Pack"
The information shown on your Amazon.com detail page was provided by your publisher through a different channel than Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Unfortunately, we can't change information for books submitted outside of KDP and recommend you contact your publisher directly for assistance.
In order to get the categories and keywords updated for the book on Kindle store, please contact your publisher (Lulu.com) directly for assistance."
I have read here on the forums that others have successfully changed the categories by direct contact with Amazon since they have so many subcategories that are not available on Lulu. Not to mention that Lulu does not supply Amazon with keywords, so whats the deal?
Comments
Amazon will only change the categories and key words for print books. Kindles on the other hand cannot be changed. I don't know why. I got the same email from them when I tried to change mine. Maybe lulu can update them if you contact them, I've not tried yet.
Reflections of a Christian Kungfu Master
http://www.lulu.com/shop/master-rick-wilcox/reflections-of-a-christian-kungfu-master/paperback/product-22995643.html
Daddy Who's that Man? An Easter Story
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/redirect/?jumpto=http://www.lulu.com/shop/rick-wilcox-and-cliff-robison/daddy-whos-that-man/paperback/product-22456639.html
Sorry to say it but Science Fiction and Fantasy kind of tend to go together.
R.F.G. Cameron a.k.a. Sphinx
My work can be found at:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/antiqua_sphingehttps://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DDZJOT2
https://antiquasphinge.wixsite.com/booksI didn't realize that it was only for print books. I just sent through my first key word request today. No doubt it will be rejected.
It is difficult enough to find books even with keywords but it becomes needle in a haystack territory without them.
Oh well, I guess from now on I will publish direct to Kindle and then repeat the process on Lulu. Having keywords outweighs the advantages of being distributed to Kindle via Lulu.
If you've formatted the e-version well enough it doesn't take long to load it to KDP after loading it to Lulu.
R.F.G. Cameron a.k.a. Sphinx
My work can be found at:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/antiqua_sphingehttps://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DDZJOT2
https://antiquasphinge.wixsite.com/booksSorry to say it but Science Fiction and Fantasy kind of tend to go together
Yes, that can be true. Some of my books are a mix of both so I am never sure what to class them as. But you should be able to use both terms as Keywords on Lulu and you should be able to edit those. I am not sure if they are passed on to Amazon though, but I think they are.
Docx files for uploading to Amazon make use of Word's own TOC creation tool. That's the main difference.
When I first wrote Amazon they told me that the book had "no" keywords associated with it. So that means that the ones we added here didn't get sent through to Amazon. I think that the key words are more important than the catagories. Adding directly from Amazon kindle you can add them yourself. But like me I don't know how to format a kindle and they don't pay to paypal which I prefer. I think that we should suggest to lulu that they add "our' key words when they send the kindles through the portal if that's possible.
Reflections of a Christian Kungfu Master
http://www.lulu.com/shop/master-rick-wilcox/reflections-of-a-christian-kungfu-master/paperback/product-22995643.html
Daddy Who's that Man? An Easter Story
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/redirect/?jumpto=http://www.lulu.com/shop/rick-wilcox-and-cliff-robison/daddy-whos-that-man/paperback/product-22456639.html
Yes I am curious to see what Glenn has to say about how the package is sent to Amazon and if there is anything in the works to address the differences in category selection between Lulu and Amazon, it doesnt help any of us fantasy authors to have our books listed under the Science Fiction Category. The Keyword question is very important too.
They are not actually sent to Amazon. Our ePubs are sent to some distributor who converts them, then sticks them on Amazon. Ingrams perhaps.
An update for everyone who is following this thread. I have heard back from Lulu support and they have corrected the category listing from Lulu's end. Also once my books are available on the other distributors sites I have to then contact Lulu to ask them to attach search words, cheers all.
We can update and resend keywords, but there's not guarantee Amazon will use them.
One suggestion they did have was to try using an Amazon Central account to add keywords to your author profile on Amazon, which would filter down to your Amazon listings.
-Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
-Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
How would I go about moving those to more specific categories? Is there a feed or something Lulu can pull down from amazon that allows us to select amazon categories from here at Lulu? Because I can not change or update my categories from the Author Central page. And because I did not go through CreateSpace, I do not have access to all the categories? Would really help us indies over there on Amazon with the sell and ranking of our books.