It’s been one week since my novel, Love Simplified, went live on Amazon Kindle. To all the kind souls who
bought a copy, you should have a notification that the file has been updated.
Why, ask? I had to update my keywords.
For those who don’t know about the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing process, a part of
uploading your novel is entering in up to seven keywords. Keywords are very
similar to tags. They make it easier for people to search for my novel on
Amazon.
Or they make put you in bad company.
When I first uploaded my novel, I didn’t use all seven of my
keywords. I only used, in this order: Christian fiction, African American (my
protagonist is African-American), reality TV, relationships and romance. I
thought I had picked good keywords…until I saw the other books with those same
keywords. Well, one keyword in particular.
Apparently, African American fiction is synonymous with
smut. I am not a shy person and I don’t embarrass easily, but some of the other
books with that keyword made me blush. And the covers! Oh, my. I really wish
Amazon had a feature that filtered cover art. Call me sheltered, but I don’t
want to see anything that makes me want to wash my eyes out with bleach.
And there was my baby, mixed in with all the smut. As soon
as I realized it (last Friday night), I went in and changed my keywords. As
much as I hate to admit it, I had to take the African American out. That seemed
to be the culprit. I did, however, try a
new keyword: interracial relationships (there is a mixed couple in the book).
And that made it worse. I found my novel buried seven pages
deep in more smut…now just interracial smut. So I went in and changed it again.
No African American, no interracial, just Christian fiction, romance,
relationships, dating, and reality TV. I have two more keywords I can enter,
but I’m afraid.
The African American/smut connection makes me very sad. I
would love to see some redemption come to that genre. I would love to read
books with African American characters that aren’t half naked, crackheads,
drugdealers or pastors sleeping with the members of his congregation. But that
is for another post.
For now, I’ve changed my keywords and hopefully have escaped
my bad company.
2 comments:
Hi, Terri!
I just found your blog from doing my usual search for Interracial Christian fiction.
Your post is why I created a blog. Interracial is the worst offender of the content being erotic. As if that is the only bases.
I just want to read stories where faith is integral with characters who happen to be of different shades.
Your book sounds good. It is definitely in my "To Buy" list!
Desponia,
Thank you for your comment.
As a reader, the state of AA/Interracial Christian fiction has always disturbed me. That was part of my motivation to write interracial characters. As a writer, I hope to help change that stigmatism.
I hope you enjoy Lance and Tempest.
Post a Comment