Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
First question - Do I have to?
Second Q. - What genre can I put my book into?
Details: 100,000+ words.
The timescale is 1925 to 1939 so it covers a lot of ground.
The setting is south-east England in parts 1 & 2, Northern France in part 3.
Its MC, Albie, is a poverty-stricken waif of 12 at the beginning, a soldier at the end.
He has some gypsy blood and there's thread of gypsy magic running through the story.
There is some romance but it's not Chick-lit.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received though not necessarily acted upon!
Comments
It is important as it enables Amazon to put your book into that pot when someone searches by genre.
What
Categories can be 'mined down'. From what you have there you've got
Fiction; 20th century; magic.
But what genre do you think it is?
Maybe historical fiction?
What do you mean by 'mined down'?
For example a romance book; you start with romance (lots of books) then add the category eg historical romance- regency- historical regency fiction- historical fiction- women's historical fiction- women's fiction. (just an example)
So if you make a push on your sales, your book will be ranked within each category, so the smaller the amount of books within each category the nearer you might get to being no.1 in that category and triggering more push by Amazon.
I think the limit is 10 categories, but Baggy will probably know for certain.
You mention gypsy magic so use the magic category.
It's actually ESP rather than magic but I can't think of the word.
I think you can choose 2 categories on CS. Maybe Historical should be one. If another doesn't fit, you can opt for General. I usually can't find an accurate fit from the options given!
Another category is Keywords. I think you can choose 8, separated by commas. You can choose your own specific words and phrases in this section.
They also ask which school grade it's suitable for. You'll have to look up U.S. grade ages. It does mean it narrows down the audience a bit.
Which I think is tasteful and appropriate - you'll all have to read it and tell me!
Right now I am changing so much that a few words on the back cover are a mere bagatelle!
1. a member of a travelling people traditionally living by itinerant trade and fortune telling. Gypsies speak a language (Romany) that is related to Hindi and are believed to have originated in South Asia.
2. a nomadic or free-spirited person.
I have a done a lot of travelling (as many of you know) and I have often referred to myself as being a vagabond or being a bit of a gypsy and I have never ever meant it in an offensive way! I've even used Gypsy as a user name. Now I suppose I can't. Bloody political correctness.
*sighs*