Amazon Sales Rankings or Amazon Search Results - Which is more important?

Understandably there has been lots of interest on the part of authors, both self-published and legacy published, in Amazon Sales Rankings. While Amazon refuses to publish data that will allow authors and publishers to determine exact sales figures based on sales rank, statistically minded individuals, such as self-publishing authority Morris Rosenthal, have done the grunt work necessary to try to build statistical models that correlate to actual sales figures.

It's fun to check the Amazon Sales Rankings for your book, particularly when it first starts to sell shortly after being published. 

What's more relevant to your success is Amazon Search Results. If you want to see your Amazon Sales Rankings improve, pay attention to your Search Results.

Amazon's website is both an eCommerce site and a search engine, and an elaborate one at that. Since as authors we have to do the bulk of the marketing of our books, particularly self-published authors, it pays to know how to get the best possible search results for your book.

Since Amazon is so secretive about its alogarhythms, it is hard to determine exactly what to do to boost your search results.

Several facts are reasonable to conclude about the process, some of which you as an author can control. They include:

1. The more your book sells, the higher it will turn up in search results.
2. If using POD with CreateSpace, Amazon allows you to list five keywords for your title. Since I only use CreateSpace now for all my POD sales for Amazon, I cannot address this issue if you use LSI or a different POD service.
3. Your book's title will have a lot to do with the search results.
4. The sub-title of your book is the key.

Since self-publishers need to take as much control as possible, lets look at the tools Amazon does provide authors/publishers to use to increase sales, the key to the first item in improving search results.

One of these programs is Amazon's Look Inside program. Authors have differing views about this program. My take on the program is simple. I participate in the program. Amazon prefers it if authors sign their book up for the program. Why? Amazon is concerned with making its consumers happy as its first priority, not authors (that being said, don't forget Amazon is the self-published author's friend). Consumers want to be able to "pick up the book and thumb through it" like they would in a brick and mortar book store. Look Inside is Amazon's way to allow consumers to do this. As an author I believe if a potential reader skims through my book he/she will buy it because of the information contained.

 

For authors who want to learn more about the entire process of selling books and getting a book listed on Amazon, there are few sources better than Amazon itself. Take the time to visit the Amazon Help FAQ page.

Amazon provides suggestions on how to optimize your book for the best possible search results. Since it's Amazon's search engine it is probably a good thing to pay heed to what Amazon has to say.

 

Categories and tags can help a book in the search result process. So let's take a look at what Amazon has to say about these two tools.

 

Categories:

Tags:

 

The title of your book can also play a huge factor in the search results for your book. No less of an expert than Aaron Shepard suggests dividing the book titling process into two distinct parts. The main title of the book needs to be named in the traditional process.

 

It is with the sub-title that Amazon's search results needs to be considered. Amazon allows the author/publisher to list a sub-title that does not necessary appear on the cover of the book. The sub-title should be crafted using keywords and in such a way as to provide the book with the best possible results in the search process.

 

Self-publishing is a business. Selling books is where the revenue comes from for self-publishers and for most of us, Amazon is where we sell our books. Amazon Sales Rankings are fun, but Amazon Search Results are what matter. Optimize to get the best possible search results for your book and you will generate more sales. You'll also have more fun checking your Amazon Sales Rankings as a result.

Amazon Author Central

It pays to check things once in awhile. 

I recently found several errors that had creeped in to the product details of several of my books such as incorrect page number or something similar.

These issues have to be addressed. Can you imagine purchasing a non-fiction book listed as being 274 pages long and receiving a copy with just 171 pages? I would think I had been cheated or my copy was faulty. Either way, I would not be a happy customer.

I recently published a Kindle version of a paperback that had been out for about three months. The cover image was hideous! The image for the paperback looked fine, simply a small version of the actual cover. I wish the same could be true for the Kindle cover! It was pink and green!

Thank goodness I had not started the "product launch" with that cover image waiting to turn off any perspective buyers.

A quick trip to the Amazon Author Central provided me with instructions on how to correct the problems.  Unfortunately, the items to do so were missing from the product page of the new Kindle book.

In this instance I simply used the contact link at the bottom of the page and sent a message to the good folks at Amazon.

While Amazon would prefer we sort out our own problems as much as possible, using the Amazon Author Central contact feature has always worked and gotten the needed results.

Just be sure to check your books periodically and make sure all the information on your book's product information page is correct.

Adding or Updating Product Browse Categories on Amazon Product Detail Listings

As self-publishing authors it is to our advantage to drive our sales to Amazon where the long tail effect of all the many search tools of Amazon can help us sell our books. One of the techniques Amazon uses to help customers find books is the Amazon Browse Category.

By requesting the appropriate Browse Categories are included as part of the book's product listing, the odds of interested customers finding the book through an Amazon search increases. To make sure your book is listed in all the appropriate Browse Categories, request categories to be added to your book's Product Details. In addition to showing the categories your book is listed in, once added to the product page the ranking of the book on the specific category list will automatically be included and updated.

Amazon will allow you to request two Browse Categories to be added to a book at a time. Be patient with the process as sometimes it takes a little bit of time for Amazon to approve the additions and actually update the book's Product Details.

The first step in the process is to create an Amazon Author Central account if you have not done so already. Log-in to your account and scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the Contact Us redirect button.

The box below will appear on your screen.

Click on the first drop box and work down the options as shown below until you reach the final option. A choice will be provided between I want Browse Categories in the Product Details section and I want to update the my book's Browse Categories. 

If you book has no Browse Categories, select the I want Browse Categories in the Product Details option. If you want to add additional Browse Categories select the second option.

To find the Browse Categories I simply look at competing books that sell well and check to see what the Browse Categories for those books are.

To send the request you may e-mail or make contact by phone. I e-mail as it allows me to have a record via my sent e-mail box of my communication with Amazon.

Be sure to include the title of your book, the book's ISBN if it is a paper book and the title. If the book is a Kindle book be sure to include the ASIN. Then list the two Browse Categories you want to have added to the books Product Details. If your book has no Browse Categories listed at all, when making your first request be sure to list the two categories most likely to be helpful in aiding potential customers finding the book. Additional categories can be requested to be added later.

Be Sure To Link Editions On Amazon!

Several of my books are available both as paperback and Kindle editions. My latest book, Selecting A Print-on-Demand Company: Comparing CreateSpace and Lightning Source for POD Self-Publishing is available in both a paperback and a Kindle edition.

With my real job taking up more time and my second child graduating from Texas A&M and obtaining her first job as a Civil Engineer (proud father moment!), I simply forgot to ask Amazon to link the two editions. The Publishing Maven gently reminded me I needed to do so.

Evidently the linking of the two helps the books come up higher in the Amazon search algorithm. Every author wants his or her book coming up as high as possible in the search results! Shame on me for not taking care of this.

As per The Publishing Maven's directions, if you have both a print and a Kindle edition and want them linked, send an e-mail to the Kindle Direct support team requesting the editions to be linked on Amazon. Use the Contact Us link on the bottom of your Kindle Direct page. Be sure to include the ISBN of the print editon and the ASIN of the Kindle edition. It will take a few days to link the two editions and for the reviews to match-up as well.

Be sure to list the books in your bibliography on your Author Central page as well. It takes less than a minute to do so.

Taking these steps are ethical ways to work the Amazon system to insure your book's best possible listing in Amazon's search results.

Amazon and the Self-Publishing Author

Why is Amazon the friend of the self-publisher?

Amazon allows self-publishing authors the same access to customers as the major publishing houses. Unlike bookstores who often shun self-published books, Amazon not only allows self-published books to be sold from its site, it allows self-published books to be sold on an equal footing as traditionally published books from established publishing houses.

Why should I target all of my sales at Amazon?

Self-publishing authors are treated as equals by Amazon; there is no discrimination or bias against self-published books. Access to Amazon customers is equal for every book listed. Another major reason for directing sales to Amazon is the more a book sells, the more Amazon will promote the book. The more Amazon promotes the book, the higher the book shows up in searches increasing the number of sales of the book. It is called a virtuous cycle, a sales multiplier. Combined with POD printing and distribution through either Lightning Source or Amazon’s own CreateSpace, self-publishing authors do not have to maintain inventory, handle order fulfillment or other tasks that can tie up capital, time and create overhead expenses.

This is just a very limited answer to this important question. To fully understand the answer to this question three books are suggested: Aiming at Amazon and POD for Profit by Aaron Shepard and Print-on-Demand Book Publishing by Morris Rosenthal.

What is Author Central?

It is the access point for authors to communicate with Amazon. It is the site where authors may make corrections to information concerning their books, list their books and set up their Author Page for interested readers to visit.

The above information was excerpted from 301 Frequently Asked Questions About Self-Publishing

Amazon Sales Rankings Information Now Available At Amazon's Author Central!

The secretive Amazon has opened up some about its Amazon Sales Rankings! Amazon authors may now log-in to their account on Author Central and access Nielsen sales data and Amazon Sales Rank data. Each Friday the entire set of data points will be updated, allowing authors to collect information about their books sales. 

Authors will still have to check with their POD printing service for actual numbers at the end of any given recording period as the Nielsen data the Amazon rankings is based on claims to only account for 75% of all retail book sales in the United States.

One of the most fascinating data sets author's now have access to is sales by geography! I found this fascinating to examine and was surprised to see where my books actually sell. The data for geographical sales is presented on a map of the United States with a color coded system of depicting book sales by area. By moving your computer's cursor over the map sales information will be provided for each area.

Included in the information is a bar graph depicting sales by week based on information from BookScan. The graph is color coded for each book and depicts four weeks of sales with a bar to represent each week of sales. User information provided Amazon about this data states that the information represents 75% of all book sales and encourages the author to again check with his or her POD service for actual total sales figures as the information becomes available.

Alas, Kindle books sales figures and Amazon Sales Rankings are not available through the information provided in an author's Author Central account. Kindle authors can track their sales data through the Amazon DTP by checking the Reports in the DTP. The information that can be found in the Reports section includes sales to date figures for the current months and royalty figures for the last six weeks.  All time sales figures by month are available as well.

Perhaps of more help for self-publishing authors is the FAQ section provided with the sales information explaining how the data is collected and providing explanations of how "to read" the Amazon Sales Rankings (I must confess, even after reading the official explanation of how Amazon Sales Rankings work, there are a few things I still don't understand).

It will certainly take time for authors to learn how to use and interpret all of the information Amazon now makes available concerning book sales. I for one am particularly interested in the geographical sales information since some of my books are not only a niche topic, but should be of more interest to potential customers in certain states. I will be able to evaluate my marketing efforts better now and be able to better ascertain if my promotional efforts are reaching the targeted reading audience.