Friday, 20 March 2015

GRRR!!

Amazon Category Frustration!!!!

 I have just discovered that putting my latest book (a modern re-telling of Tudor history) into the Amazon category 'Alternative History' (which is undeniably IS), also means that it must go into 'Science fiction and fantasy', which it most definitely ISN'T.  I realise any fiction is fantasy, really, though my contemporary family/romantic drama is not what is generally meant by the term in the bookselling world, ie, dragons and magic rings, imaginary lands and men with hunky chests turning into vampires. 

Here: (though indeed it will probably be out of the genre chart by the time you read this!) 
LAST CHILD

I will just add that when I chose the category Fiction > Alternative History, I didn't go via Science Fiction by mistake!!

And while I am here, why is there STILL no 'rock fiction' category, or any categories suitable for fiction about the music industry/musicians?  

Similarly: to me, the term 'lad lit' means the sort of books by Nick Hornby and David Nicholls that are made into films starring whoever the current version of Hugh Grant is, but Amazon seems to think it means SAS adventures, which is logical, I suppose.  I'll stick with calling those 'just an ordinary guy who eventually gets the girl' dramas 'bloke lit', I think, like I used to.

Amazon, get yerselves sorted....

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10 comments:

  1. Shelley Wilson20 March 2015 at 09:46

    Haha totally agree Terry. I struggled to find the right category for my young adult series. I did a spot of research to try and help - I looked up the Harry Potter books and found them listed under orphans! ;)

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    1. Terry Tyler20 March 2015 at 09:49

      Ha ha ha! That's really funny. My most frustrating was my two books about musicians trying to make it, Dream On and Full Circle - in order to get them to fall into genre charts during promotions I had to look at different aspects of them, like 'fatherhood', because a couple of my characters were trying to reconcile fatherhood with rock stardom! Thus, they ended up in charts with a load of books with pictures of dads and babies on the front...!

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  2. JO20 March 2015 at 11:33

    Oh how I agree - that wretched box where you have to list the categories and then it starts to 'help' you! And there's no category for 'just read the book and decide for yourself!'

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    1. Terry Tyler20 March 2015 at 12:39

      Aye - if you click on my link above, Jo, it still shows my contemporary family drama as being scifi fantasy....!!!

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  3. Vallypee21 March 2015 at 04:15

    So agree! I've found it terribly difficult to tick the right boxes for my books. They all fall into more than one main category! And Amazon doesn't give that option so you get channelled into choosing something that just doesn't fit! Grrrr indeed!

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    1. Terry Tyler21 March 2015 at 04:38

      OR, you find four that are equally apt, right? I spent a while weighing up between Romantic Suspense (too heavily populated ever to get into a genre chart) and Alternative History.... and ended up in Science Fiction!!

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  4. Lizzie Lamb21 March 2015 at 06:05

    There is no category for #Contemporary #Scottish #romance. Although I weave a lot of history into my Scottish novels they are certainly not historical. Grrrrrrr.

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    1. Terry Tyler21 March 2015 at 07:02

      Grrrrrs all round, Lizzie - I feel your pain!!!!

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  5. Carol Hedges21 March 2015 at 06:50

    I am glad I no longer have to battle this one...it's the old genre thing isn't it? And so many books don't fit into one category!! GRRRRRR

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    1. Terry Tyler21 March 2015 at 07:02

      What pisses me off is that you're only allowed TWO, as well!

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