Selling Books: What's Tags Got To Do With It?

There are little things that we can do to help authors, and in turn, help them sell a couple books. Like checking off tags—a small task that can reap big benefits.

But What Are Tags?

Let’s say you’ve just finished a book and you think it’s swell and you want to help the author optimize her/his web presence. So you find the title on Amazon, then you scroll down past the basic info, past the reviews, perhaps past a few more sections, and then bam! Say hello to the Tags.

Here are the tags for the book, Love Comes Later, currently on a WOW! blog tour:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.
contemporary romance(7)multicultural romance(7)london(6)middle east(6) olympics(6)qatar(5)romance(5)kindle free(1) kindle freebie(1)      Agree with these tags?

So tags are keywords or labels. They have tons of uses and you can find out more here. But you want to know what tags have to do with selling books.

Why Tag?

When you click on a book’s tag, you’re sending a vote. You’re saying, “Yes! I agree this book is about this label or that label.” The more times a particular tag is clicked (like contemporary romance), the more that book will show up in searches (of contemporary romance). So checking the tags helps that author’s book get more exposure. Easy, right?

And authors, you can help yourself by tagging your own book! You can add up to 15 tags, and you make it a little easier for your readers to vote when they can click on that “Agree with these tags?” button.

Is That All There Is To It?

Well, you have to be signed in to your Amazon account for your tags to register. And your tags will only count on whatever edition of the book you tagged (ie. hardcover, paperback, Kindle). And really, you should read the book so that your tags are accurate.

But, yeah. That’s it. So check those tags—and help sell a book!

~from Cathy C. Hall