Not Good

This weekend I changed all the keywords on Amazon for a client and it is working. Ok, I can see you’re already turned off. You’re saying, “WTF is she talking about? What are keywords?

Allow me to make another attempt. In order for your book to stand out on Amazon, it is crucial to have effective keywords that accurately represent its content and align with the search terms used by potential customers. Imagine yourself in the middle of the night, reaching for your phone and typing in a phrase such as "financial stress" because those are the keywords that linger in your mind. Keywords serve as a bridge between a reader's desires and the books they seek. They are the words that unlock the door to a world of literature, beckoning readers to explore and indulge in their interests.

If I type into a search engine “World War 2, Funny and Fiction,” I get

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Red Alert by Peter George

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan

So, what’s your book about? What’s the setting? What do your characters do? What’s the theme? Does it take place at a birthday party? Is it drama? What year does the action take place? The answer to all these questions and more are your keywords. 

Think like a reader. Imagine how you'd search. Make a list of your keywords and type them into an Amazon or Google search. Are the results comparable to your book? Are you happy in the company of those books? Cool.  Now where to put your keywords? The first place is in your book description. Incorporate only the most authentic keywords. You’re not trying to game the system. You want an audience that wants or needs your book. Write your description a few times. Find the most comfortable one.  And here’s the great thing about this exercise. It will actually help you become a better writer. It’s a way of distilling what you’re really saying. 

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that keywords can be fun.

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Not Good

By Liz Dubelman

I am becoming another person.  I hold my hand up to the sun, which is too strong, and I make finger blinds with the light.  I used to be a famous director.  I directed “Love Again.”  My leading lady was… what’s her name?  The one that never wore panties and never kept her legs crossed?  She won an award – I think.

Things buzz around my head.  Mosquitoes?  Bees?  Moths?  I once wrote a screenplay that took place on that beautiful island – the one in Spain.  I wrote it for Jeanette, but I think she had stopped loving me by then.

I am becoming a different person.  I can remember the trip I made with Suzanne to Idyllwild.  I bought her jewelry.  It was gold with blue stones and pearls and two elephant heads.  I think it was a bracelet.  We smoked Lucky Strikes.  I remember pulling a bit of tobacco from my mouth after the first drag and rolling it between my fingers.  

I remember reluctantly going to parties in a tuxedo.  My cufflinks had my initials like a clue or an announcement.  I touch my wrist now and feel today’s paper scolding me attached to my shirt.  Someone is always fastening notes on me.  This one says, “Mira is visiting today.”  I hate these bits.  They only tell me enough to make me anxious.  I want to tell them to stop papering me with these taunts of information, but I don’t know who’s doing this.  The scribbles on the papers attached to me are stopping me from being someone else.  I think I might like the other me.  The other me can replay the best parts of a life.  

I can see through the dappled shadows that someone is coming.  I reach into the other me for a pleasant thought of food or beauty, but I am folding in on myself.  

I can see the shape of a woman, I think, coming closer.  I can’t control anything.  I feel a warm sensation between my legs and there’s a strong smell.  I can’t remember what it’s called, but I know it’s not good.  It’s not good at all.