3 Ways Amazon Ranks Kindle Books and How to Get More Downloads

Did you know that 40% of what Amazon collects in ebooks gets paid out to self published authors? Last year that amounted to over $212 million dollars in royalties.

As we discussed in a previous post, you don’t have to wait for permission.

Right now you can sit down at your computer, pour out your passion, and publish it on Amazon. If you’ve yet to make your first dollar blogging, then maybe you should add a Kindle book to your blogging toolbox.

BONUS CONTENT: Be on the lookout at the end of the post! I’m going to share with you 3 specific strategies on how to get more downloads for your Kindle book.

Publishing a Kindle book is great, but wouldn’t it be even better if we knew how to get more eyeballs on our book?

3 Ways Amazon Ranks Kindle Books

One of the biggest advantages we have as Kindle authors is the fact that we get to place our work in front of millions of people. Amazon already has the traffic and they are offering you a small piece of real estate to share your passion.

Rank Factor #1: Inside of Categories

Amazon works hard to rank books by their chosen category.  Think about the last time you browsed books on Amazon. You may have done what I do most of the time. I use the left navigation area to find the category I have the most interest in. From there I drill down to the category I most enjoy and see what’s on the bestseller’s list.

When publishing your Kindle book, Amazon asks for you to pick two categories for your book. Don’t take this selection lightly.

Rank Factor #2: Selected Keywords

Another way many people browse for books on Amazon is through search. Maybe you have a specific title or topic in mind and so you do a search on Amazon. Amazon then displays the top books they believe are the most relevant to your search criteria. The keywords you place in your title, sub-title, description are important.

When publishing your Kindle book, Amazon asks for you to select 7 keywords that best describe your book. The words you choose here are super important!

Rank Factor #3: User Data

Amazon also does a great job of collecting user data. This is why you’ve probably seen “other users also bought” when viewing a particular book. Amazon will show you closely-related titles you may not have heard of but might be interested in. If you had a time management book, wouldn’t it be cool to have your book displayed on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book page?

The more downloads you receive the more potential you have to get your book cross-promoted with other more successful books.

What if you had a specific strategy to follow for each of the above ranking factors?