Amazon Changes Everything All The Time
What’s that old saying about death and taxes? We can add one more to the list of life’s certainties: changes to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing’s interface and guidelines.
Amazon changes everything all the time. And they almost never give anyone any notice. It's on you as the publishing author to stay on top of those changes and how they might affect your listings.
In the last year-ish (2023-2024), here are some examples:
Category options: trends change over time, and categories ebb and flow. In response, KDP has added and removed categories without notice.
Category selection: instead of choosing two categories up front and using the super-secret request method to ask for inclusion in up to eight additional categories, KDP now allows self-selection into three categories, period.
In every system, there are people figuring out how to game it. These changes were at least partially in response to category stuffing, or authors jamming their books into less competitive categories that aren’t relevant to achieve better rankings and get the associated benefits. Amazon prioritizes its customers’ experience, and books “shelved” in the wrong location do not make for a positive experience.
Explicit images/title: KDP changed from asking if your listing contains the very generic “adult content” to asking specifically if your cover or interior includes explicit images or if your title uses explicit language.
Hallelujah, this one is helpful! KDP’s original “adult content” question was intended to flag material best restricted to an adult audience, but implementation was all over the place. Romance authors with spicy or intimate scenes in their books often ran into a Catch-22: if you checked yes, you ran the risk of being exiled to the erotica dungeon; if you checked no, you ran the risk of having your book (or account) removed by Amazon. With this new, clearer language, authors can answer with confidence. (That doesn’t mean authors aren’t still struggling with dungeon banishment, but that’s a topic for another time.)
AI-Generated Content: though they aren’t doing anything with it, yet (that we are aware of), KDP is asking authors to self-report whether they have used AI tools to produce their book, specifying “texts, images, and/or translations.”
TBD on how this data will be used in the future. Some AI-related lawsuits are making their way through the courts now, and the outcomes may determine what kind of details and in what way retailers share them with customers. (One would hope AI-generated material would be easily identifiable, at the very least, possibly segregated from human-created works, and maybe even compensated at a significantly lower level… If Amazon allows AI-produced creative works to be sold at all.)
Keyword guidelines: KDP’s “Keywords to avoid” section on their help site includes a few new suggestions, including “words already mentioned in your book categories” and “brands that you do not own or that you are unauthorized to use.”
The guidelines run the gamut from “straight to jail” to “in some situations, ignoring this might actually be helpful.” Most often, language changes shine a light on how people are trying to game the system, and provide greater clarity on how to improve your odds of success in an ethical way.
This is not a comprehensive list, but it does give you an idea of what kind of changes to expect.
So how do you, as an author who just wants to move forward with projects, stay on top of what’s new and know when to adjust your listing?
First, go to the source. Because you’re likely monitoring your listings (especially your keywords) and sales anyway, meander on over to the Help Center. KDP puts their news and updates front and center on the home page.
If there’s nothing there, go to your bookshelf and open up one of your books. Any changes to the fields in the details, content, and pricing pages will be flagged.
You can also take a few minutes to review the most pertinent guidelines. Areas that are most likely to impact your performance are keywords, categories, reviews, pricing, and some of the marketing tools.
As another great resource, check the social buzz. Sometimes, the changes and their potential benefits/drawbacks are less than clear. You might need help navigating how to implement them in the most effective way.
Reviews about the value of KDP’s help community are mixed. Feel free to read what’s there, but also find a few reliable sources on your social platform(s) of choice, and see what they’re saying. (Hint: SPS will be working on reporting industry news like this via Instagram, Facebook, and maybe TikTok.)
Finally, you can always schedule a consultation with SPS if you have any questions that can’t be answered online.