Keywords and phrases play a crucial role in making your book ‘discoverable.’ They are the terms customers may use when searching for something to read on online bookstores like Waterstones. We will distribute this information across all major trade databases, including Google, Amazon, and Apple, to help promote your book. However, as the author, you have a deeper understanding of your own work and can assist by providing some descriptive words that capture its essence.
- A crucial term or phrase that captures the essence or topic of a book. It complements the title, subtitle, author’s name, and ISBN and assists readers in locating books on popular search engines like Google, Amazon, Apple, and LibraryThing.
- Consider yourself as a reader – who might be interested in your book? Some potential keywords could be ‘Barbary Corsairs’, ‘Eastern Mediterranean’, and ‘sixteenth century’ for a serious history book, or perhaps ‘exciting’, ‘action-packed’, and ‘pirates’ for historical fiction set in the same time and location.
- Effective keywords for your book are those that readers would use when searching, but also result in your book being listed among fewer than 20 others. Finding the right balance is key; too broad and your book will get lost, too niche and no one will search for it. Keywords can include jargon, synonyms, famous names or references, special terms, or alternate spellings from your book’s title. They should be specific and relevant to your book’s content. Avoid using words that may cause controversy or have adult themes. Using improper keywords can lead to confusion for readers and incorrect categorisation by retailers, potentially causing your book to be removed from listings entirely.
- Each keyword/phrase usually contains one or two words, never more than five. We are allowed to submit up to 15 keyword/phrases for your book. These will be used by retailers like Amazon and Apple when selling both print and digital versions of your book online.
- One effective strategy for increasing the discoverability of your book is to incorporate relevant keywords into your book’s description. Utilise as many keywords as possible, but make sure they fit seamlessly within the overall description and flow naturally.