
It's About What!?! | When Books Surprise You
"Now that may totally strike your reader cookie fancy. I, on the other hand, shall blink in stunned silence for a while longer."
I am not old, at least to my perspective, and I never considered myself a prude.
Though recently I think both of those things may be true.
I work for a book publishing company, and in the capacity of my job I, at the very least, touch near every part of how a book is published and marketed.
Recently, I have been working on keywords.
The words that are attached to a title to help listing algorithms on bookselling platforms and bookstores know what the book is about without having to read it.
Keywords.
Mystery, romance, western—these keywords are too bland now.
Space opera, Police Procedural, Historical Adventure—These too lack a little spice!
You need to niche down, with niche being the new buzz word of sales to make your anything rise to the surface in the giant ocean of products and places to source them.
Nowadays niche means super ridiculously specific kind of different.
Like…
(And this is where my age/prudishness shines because this keyword made me blink a couple time…)
Paranormal reverse harem.
As in a paranormal novel about a woman having a group of male, often supernatural creatures, at her sexual disposal.
Ummm…
Now that may totally strike your reader cookie fancy.
I, on the other hand, shall blink in stunned silence for a while longer.
Keyword specificity.
But you can even add more.
Like…
Paranormal reverse harem romance.
(Is that better than just complete sex slaves?)
Paranormal reverse harem vampires
(When another book makes Twilight look wholesome.)
Paranormal reverse harem academy
(Wait—NO!)
(Full stop.)
(A school to LEARN how to have a harem of sex slaves?)
(…)
(Too far.)
(And now I feel like I need to cleanse my reading brain with a little Harry Potter.)
But yes, these are some of the keywords, specific subjects, that help you as readers find the kind of books you like.
And to help us book publishers wave our books in the faces of those people that would actually LIKE them.
No, those keywords would NOT work for me.
When I search for a book on Amazon, I start entering a word or two of the books I am looking for and lo! And behold! There are additional words the auto-populate with those words I started typing that may intrigue me.
I typed in “thriller” and got some options, then added “legal” (because I like The Lincoln Lawyer series quite a bit and bam! Actual legal thriller series are being suggested.
Wonderful!
That makes it easier for me to find my next favorite book. My next favorite author.
I’m letting you know as a reader what I am doing as a book publisher to help you search. Because if I am doing my job right, then it will be easier for you to find the books that I have that you will like and not the ones you won’t.
Happy finding, dear readers!
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