Amazon KDP Categories Update, What You NEED to Know

About this video

Dale explains the KDP category selection update that account holders saw starting Tuesday, May 30th, 2023. KDP stopped accepting requests to add or update categories and replaced the old system — where authors picked two BISAC codes and could request up to 10 categories per book — with direct selection of three Amazon store categories for each book, based on the primary marketplace. He explains the anatomy of a browse path: a broad category, then subcategories, then the most niche placement. KDP’s updated help page stresses five points: choose accurate categories and do not mix fiction and non-fiction, less is more because more than a few categories decreases relevancy and does not improve discoverability, focus on subcategories rather than stopping at the top level, make sure your keywords line up with your categories, and be patient because frequently changing categories can cause historical customer activity and sales rank to be recalculated. The three categories chosen for the primary marketplace, plus the book’s keywords, are used to place the book in other enrolled marketplaces, so authors cannot pick categories region by region. He walks through the update process: edit book details, answer the adult-only content question, confirm the primary marketplace, use Edit Categories to remove old selections and pick a category, subcategory and placement, then save and continue through to Save and Publish. To check fit, he suggests browsing the Kindle Store or Books on Amazon, opening Product Details, and following category links to see whether similar books sit in that browse path, or using Publisher Rocket’s category search instead of sifting through thousands of variations manually. He notes KDP says it will review category changes and does not tolerate inaccurate categorization, recalls past suspensions for improper category selection under the old system, and advises updating books to the new three-category setup rather than keeping the old 10 because KDP says extra categories hurt algorithmic relevance and discoverability.

Key takeaways

• As of May 30, 2023, KDP replaced BISAC-based placement and requests for up to 10 categories with direct selection of three Amazon store categories per book
• KDP’s guidance is ’less is more’: more than a few categories decreases relevancy and does not improve discoverability
• Categories are chosen only for your primary marketplace; KDP uses those three plus your keywords to place the book in other marketplaces
• Choose accurate, granular categories down to subcategory and placement, keep keywords aligned with them, and do not mix fiction and non-fiction categories
• Frequently changing categories can trigger recalculation of historical customer activity and hurt sales rank, so Dale advises updating once and being patient

Episode details: published June 2, 2023 · 11:40 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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