How to choose Amazon categories and keywords for your book

The rules as of October 2026

Much of the advice online still describes an older system, where authors emailed KDP support to be added to extra categories. KDP's own help pages describe something simpler today.

For an ebook on preorder, these choices are live from the day the preorder page goes up, so make them when you set up the preorder rather than in launch week. Our guide to how preorders work covers that timing.

Choosing your three categories

A category is a shelf. The question is not "where could my book win a badge?" but "which shelves do my readers stand in front of?" A practical way to answer it:

1. List five to ten books your reader has already bought. Not famous books in your general area: books that someone like your reader bought in the last few years and that solve a similar problem to yours.
2. Look up where each one sits. On each book's Amazon page, the product details show its Best Sellers Rank and the categories it ranks in. Write those category paths down.
3. Find the overlaps. Categories that come up again and again among books like yours are where your readers browse. Those are your candidates.
4. Check the fit honestly. Read the top 20 books in each candidate. Would a reader browsing there be glad to find your book? If your leadership book would sit among academic management texts, that is a poor fit even if the category is small.
5. Choose one broad and two specific. One category where your book belongs by subject, and two narrower ones that describe your exact angle, such as a profession or a specific problem.

Amazon's own page says plainly that its support team cannot give you specific recommendations or strategies for categories, so this research is yours to do. It takes an evening, and you only need to do it well once.

A note on sales rank

Amazon's KDP help explains that Best Sellers Rank reflects your book's customer activity relative to other books, that rankings update at least once a day, and that changes can take up to two days to appear (KDP: Sales rank). That is why a narrow category can show a "#1" badge after a handful of sales on a slow day. The badge is real, but it says more about the category than the book. If credibility in your field matters to you, a strong review page and real readers will carry more weight than a badge from an obscure shelf.

Filling the seven keyword boxes

Keywords help Amazon match your book to what people type into the search bar. KDP's guidance is to describe your book with phrases a reader would actually use. Seven boxes is not much, so do not waste any.

• Use phrases, not single words. KDP allows "keywords or short phrases." A phrase like "hiring for small business" says far more than "hiring."
• Think in problems. Nonfiction readers search for a problem they have: "how to delegate as a manager," "retirement planning for doctors." Your book's promise is usually a good keyword.
• Think in people. Who is the book for? "Books for new nurse managers," "first-time founders."
• Test in the search bar. Type the start of a phrase into Amazon's search box in the Kindle Store or Books and look at the suggestions it offers. Suggestions show what people search. Then look at the books that come up: would yours belong among them?
• Do not repeat yourself. KDP lists words already in your title, contributors or categories as information to leave out, so spend the boxes on new terms.

What keywords may not contain

KDP's keyword help page and its metadata guidelines list what to avoid. Leave out:

• The name of an author not associated with your book, and brands you do not own.
• Claims about quality, and references to sales rank such as "bestselling."
• Time-sensitive phrases such as "on sale" or "new," and promotional words such as "free."
• Amazon program names such as "Kindle Unlimited" or "KDP Select."
• Quotation marks, HTML, spelling errors, and variations that only change spacing, capitals or plurals.
• Anything already in your title, contributors or categories, and information common to most books in the category.

If a publisher handles your listing

If you publish with a traditional publisher or a publishing service, they usually control the categories and keywords in their distribution feed. Ask early, ideally at your launch planning meeting:

• Which categories have you chosen for each format, and why?
• Can I suggest keywords? (Bring your list of reader phrases.)
• Who can change them after launch if the book is clearly on the wrong shelf?

Your research on comparable books is just as useful here. Publishers welcome an author who arrives with evidence.

What most authors get wrong

• Choosing for the badge, not the reader. A badge from a shelf no one browses does not sell books, and readers who arrive from an ill-fitting category often leave unhappy reviews.
• Following old advice. Guides that tell you to request extra categories by email describe a process KDP's current help pages do not offer.
• Changing categories in launch week. Changes are reviewed and can take up to 72 hours to show, so a change made on launch day may not appear until the week is half over.
• Setting and forgetting. Revisit your choices at your 90-day review. If the books ranked near yours in a category look nothing like yours, move. See the first 90 days after launch.

Categories and keywords help readers who are already looking. They will not create demand on their own; your list, your advance readers and your interviews do that. The launch planner puts this step in the right week for your launch date, along with everything else.

If you would like help with your launch from people who have published thousands of books, Scribe Media (which makes this site and sells publishing and book marketing services) offers a free consult.