At the beginning of the summer Amazon made significant changes to its algorithms that changes the way you market your books on KDP. The new system is called “A10.” If you’re like me, you didn’t even know the old system was “A9,” but that’s certainly not what is important here. According to experts I’ve been reading A10 is designed to “reward authenticity.” For those of us who never quite got the hang of “keyword stuffing” a book description, this is great news.
Let’s look at what that means. You may have noticed that in the past few years many Amazon book blurbs began with statements such as, “best-selling author,” “Winner of XYZ Award,” or even a list of tropes or keywords that help describe the book, such as “Friends to lovers romance.” You wouldn’t find the book description until you skipped down one or two paragraphs. Personally, I found myself quickly skimming past those tags and heading straight for the description, and I’m guess Amazon found I wasn’t the only one because now, they are emphasizing “reader engagement and relevance,” and a “natural sounding description.” In other words, a great book blurb.
As an author, what should do?
- Do your book blurbs begin with awards, reviews, or other data rather than a description? The answer is simple. Reverse the order. Don’t cut the mention of your great Kirkus review, just put it at the bottom.
- Grab your readers’ attention with interesting copy. Make them want to buy your book.
- Previously Amazon prioritized descriptions and subtitles filled with awkward keyword phrases, such as “a friend-to-lovers, forced proximity romance” as a subtitle. Now, it is looking for “clarity and reader experience.” In other words, write for a human, not a search engine.
- Break your description into short paragraphs. Put key phrases in bold and italic so they stand out. Line breaks make your copy more readable. Use them. Format your description so it is easy to read.
- Sure, it’s great to get your keywords in the description, but make sure the words and phrases flow naturally.
- Author websites, social media presence, and newsletters contribute to your legitimacy with the algorithms.
- Amazon Ads boost relevance as well as add visibility; A10 is looking for these.
- Relevance is king. A10 is all about helping the right readers find your book. It’s not just about matching keywords—it’s about matching purpose.
- Include a short bio to give humanize yourself and give yourself credibility.
- Revisit your description every six months and make sure your categories, keywords, and other details are still relevant and up-to-date. Continue to change and optimize your listing.