Finding My Readers
Meta data.
These two words have come up many times on my self-publishing journey.
So what exactly is it?
In a nutshell, meta data are the keywords you use to describe your book. It’s the way to find (and target) the readers who will enjoy your work. How do you achieve that? How do you figure out who your ideal audience is?
That is where Amazon Advanced Search comes in. I had never heard of this feature before I had a video call with self-publishing expert Carla King. It’s a search engine on the Amazon website that allows customers to type in keywords so they can find the titles that most appeal to them. Carla suggested I come up with categories where I think I belong and explore a little.
I quickly fell down a very deep rabbit hole. Did you know there is a genre called Cashier Memoir, that focuses on service employee’s experiences with customers? Talk about your real-life horror stories!
Horror itself is a very broad category, so I narrowed my focus. I fed four keywords into Amazon Advanced Search.
Cosmic Horror. Lovecraftian Fiction. Supernatural Thriller. And Urban Fantasy.
What did I find?
That’s another post…
