So, you’ve written a book and are about to publish it on the many platforms available. Just like the card catalog of old (I can still hear the sound of flipping index cards), online and offline book retailers catalog your book based on the genre(s) you give them. That genre information is encapsulated in codes (BISAC or Amazon categories) you add to the book distributing platforms when you add your title. But how do you know what codes to use?
If you’re like me, you don’t. When I started my publishing journey, there was some random mention of category codes by my editor early on. But I was knee deep in promotion, revising, campaigning and generally losing my mind, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.
Until I had no choice. Until I was told, “Go figure out your category codes and your BISAC codes.” Until I realized I had no clue what they were talking about. If you are like me and are wondering if I’m applying building codes to publishing, then read on as I share with you the wild wild west of book codes.
Book codes defined
Before we dive into how to determine your category codes (good luck!) or your BISAC codes, let’s start first by defining them. BISAC codes are basically genre codes used by libraries and booksellers to categorize your book and put it on the right shelf. They are developed and maintained by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and continue to be expanded as more book categories develop. They are, in short, the industry standard, used by traditional, small and indie publishers everywhere.
Category codes are predominantly BISAC codes, but altered for the marketplace and platform. Amazon, for example, uses these codes to determine what shelf and category to put your book on in their online marketplace (well, they use what you tell them to use, but more on that later).
Category codes are also used in Kobo and on IngramSpark, although they are closer to the BISAC code list than Amazon’s list, because Amazon has taken a bit of a license with the BISAC codes.
Whichever platform you’re on and using, these codes are vital for the people who would stock your book. Think of them like the card catalog of the old days, each code a different index card that told a reader what section of the library to look for that Urban Fantasy title.
When a consumer searches for a genre in which your book falls, you want your book to appear. This is primarily how you get discovered by new readers. It also pertains to the lists you appear on within those particular platforms, which is vital on Amazon and their bestseller, editor’s choice and top books listings.
Now that you understand what they are and why they’re important, let’s move on to how to determine what codes fit your book.
BISAC codes
Picking your BISAC codes is mostly straightforward. I say mostly because if your book straddles more than one line, you may find it tricky to determine which code to use. You’re only allowed to use three on Kobo and IngramSpark, so choose wisely.
Not only is it hard to pick, but there’s not really a clear definition of what each code covers either. Occult and Paranormal might cover something different than just Paranormal. And don’t get me started on the nuances in fantasy! I did quite a bit of research, found conflicting information, but ended up picking the code that had the most consensus as to what a book under that genre featured.
Let’s bring it into the real world, using my debut novel as the hypothetical (real world — it’s published!) example.
First, you visit the BISG page where all of the codes (subject headings) are listed. Then, you wander down the list writing down any codes that look particularly interesting that would fit the genre of your book. Go wide, go crazy, and then begin to narrow it down.
For example, my debut novel The Deep Space Between is a contemporary fantasy book with a female lead and a mystery. On my first pass, I wrote down:
Fiction/Fantasy
Fiction/Fantasy/Contemporary
Fiction/Fantasy/Action-Adventure
Fiction/Fantasy/Urban
Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal
Fiction/Women
Fiction/Occult and Supernatural
Fiction/Mystery & Detective/Women Sleuths
Fiction/Mystery & Detective/Amateur Sleuth
Fiction/Thrillers/Supernatural
My book sort of fit into all of these categories, but not exactly. After doing the research and getting a better sense of what books fall under what category, I decided to pick Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, and Women’s Fiction. But were they the right categories?
Not really.
First of all, you don’t want to pick Fantasy because it is a very broad category code and covers anything from pirate fantasy to epic fantasy to low fantasy to magic realism. It wouldn’t tell the reader much of anything except that it falls in a category with interesting worlds and mythological or made up creatures. Or second world fantasy, which is all made up. And fantasy readers can be very specific as to the type of fantasy they want to read, which would not go well if they wanted western pirate fantasy and you gave them urban fantasy.
Secondly, you want the codes to be as diverse as your book so that you capture as many potential readers as possible. Women’s Fiction is a great code, except that it covers any fiction written by women, whether literary, short stories, fantasy, thrillers, horror, etc. Do you really want to be lumped in with all of those books against which you’ll be competing for readers, including those who don’t like fantasies with snarky heroines or literary quotes? Potentially, but choose it deliberately, not because it looks good at first blush.
But what about Women’s Sleuths or Amateur Sleuths? Well, for my book, while there is a mystery and it is the external conflict of the book, it’s not solely a mystery title and my protagonist doesn’t start out wanting to solve a mystery. She sort of falls into it or gets pulled into it. You’ll have to read my book to decide for yourself.
And therein lies the problem. You’re categorizing a book based on what you think the book is about and what you think the genres the reader who finds your book wants to read.
In the end, I chose Fiction/Fantasy/Contemporary, Fiction/Fantasy/Urban and Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal for my BISAC codes. Paranormal is a bit of a stretch, but then so is pretty much any other category I could find. My book is tricky to pin down and categorize. It has fantasy elements, coming of age elements, body snatching and magic, with a mystery on the side. And literary quotes. Because I like to make my life hard and complicated, like my book.
Don’t make it hard, but also don’t be me. Pick the codes that most fit your reader the best or who you think your reader is. And try to be diverse to capture as many readers as possible.
Oh, and do NOT pick YA if your book is not YA. YA is a very specific category and there are loads of warnings about choosing that code section. Some readers classify my book as YA, but it is not because my protagonist is twenty-five and long out of her teens years.
Now that we’ve covered BISAC codes, and I’ve probably confused you, let’s dive into Amazon categories, which is a whole other beast. Buckle up, cowboy.
Amazon category codes
Amazon category codes are based on the BISAC codes, except Amazon added a few more (a lot more) categories. And, just to make it even more confusing, different Amazon domains have different categories or name variations for the same categories. Amazon also hides a lot of their narrower categories from view, because they like causing authors pain.
At least that’s how I see it. But I digress.
What’s the big deal about the categories on Amazon? Can’t someone find your book if they’re looking for Fantasy, for example? Yes, they can, but they’ll have to wade through over 100,000 titles to get there or over 60,000 titles in Urban Fantasy to get there. Even New Adult and College Fantasy, which is a fairly new genre, has over 7,000 listings. Trust me, once you ask a potential reader to move to page 3 or 4 of the search results, you’ve lost them.
And so, Amazon created a few additional pieces to help sellers out. First, they’ve expanded the categories to allow readers to narrow down their searches more. Next, they’ve created badges of ‘bestseller’ ranking within those categories. And lastly, for some of the categories, they have the Top 100 books listed. If you’re looking for a highly ranked (read and purchased) urban fantasy, you’ll find it on the Top Shelf listing for that category.
The more bells and whistles you have, the better the chances a reader will find your book. A key way to do that besides spending money on ads is to ensure you pick some relevant, but smaller book categories in which to place your book(s). The more niche the better so that you can snatch the coveted bestseller badge when your book has a strong sales velocity and history.
Now that you know why you want it, let’s dive in to figuring out how to find the categories that aren’t necessarily listed out anywhere.
First, find a book that’s comparable to yours. It could be by theme, genre, character species/races, etc. Next, scroll down the page to see what the top three categories are that are listed for that book. Here is an image of the categories showing for a comparative title to my book (only three show, but you can choose up to ten):
Write it down. Click on one and see what other books fall into that category. Take a look at total books featured. If it’s a smaller number than over 60,000, write it down.
And repeat, ad nauseum.
You could also go to Amazon Kindle and under the Books category in the left-hand pane, open each category until you can’t drill down any further. That would also give you the list of the categories. For example, if you’re looking for Werewolf and Shifter Romance, you’ll want to drill down to: Books >> Romance >> Werewolf & Shifter Romance.
Did you catch it? Werewolf & Shifter Romance is NOT a category under Fantasy, even though werewolves and shifters are fantasy characters and species. So you can’t just look at the Fantasy category and figure it out from there. You have to do both layers of research — individual titles and category research in the left hand pane.
Want some more fun ways to slice a genre by Amazon?
Books in Books >> Romance >> New Adult & College Romance are not necessarily the same books as those found in Books >> Science Fiction & Fantasy >> Fantasy >> New College & Adult, unless the author chose both categories when they loaded their books into Amazon.
To top it all off:
- You can only choose two categories when you load your book into KDP. You can add up to 10 total categories to your book, but you have to email support to do so through your KDP dashboard.
- Each domain name — amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.co.uk, for example — have different category breakdowns and/or name variations, so you need to research each separately; and,
- Different categories exist for the eBook vs the Book (Paperback) vs the audible format.
To give you an idea of how complicated it gets, here is a sample of what I submitted to broaden my Amazon categories to coming of age books (Fiction & Fantasy) for three domains. If it’s not present, it wasn’t an option:
- .COM, eBook
Kindle Store » Kindle Store » Kindle eBooks » Science Fiction & Fantasy » Fantasy » Coming of Age Fantasy eBooks
.COM, paperback
Books » Books » Science Fiction & Fantasy » Fantasy » Coming of Age Fantasy
Books » Books » Literature & Fiction » Genre Literature & Fiction » Coming of Age Fiction - .CA, eBook
Kindle Store » Kindle Store » Kindle eBooks » Science Fiction & Fantasy » Fantasy » Coming of Age
.CA, paperback
Books » Books » Literature & Fiction » Genre Fiction » Coming of Age - .co.uk, ebook
Kindle Store » Kindle Store » Kindle eBooks » Science Fiction & Fantasy » Fantasy » Coming of Age
.co.uk, paperback
Books » Books » Science Fiction & Fantasy » Fantasy » Coming of Age Fantasy
You can do what I did and search on the different domains for the same titles and/or dig into each of the categories on the left-hand pane. You can also use Booklinker to see the hidden categories for any of the Amazon titles for both the US and Canada. Or you can throw a dart at the wall and hope the category you pick is the right one (seriously, don’t do this).
Do make sure you broaden your categories out from the two you initially pick. I failed to mention that the available options when you load your book onto KDP are very limited to the broader category options, which won’t get you far toward your bestseller badge.
You can adjust the categories on KDP if you get it wrong, misjudge a category, or want to add some new ones. You’d use the same method you did to add the categories, but put the ones you didn’t want in the ‘Categories to Remove’ section.
They are not set in stone, but you do need to do the work. If you set your book up right, you’ll soon be able to claim an elusive bestseller badge. But snap a picture of it quickly, as the badges can disappear as quickly as they come.
To sum up
No matter what platform you choose to put your book on or how you plan on categorizing your book, you will need to know at a bare minimum your BISAC codes. If you plan on using Amazon, you’ll definitely need to investigate their category codes as well.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to write and publish a book. I thought at a minimum it would be fulfilling. And it is. But I never thought I’d be digging around in Amazon’s innards to categorize my book. And I never thought it would be this hard to figure out where my book fit.
If I’d have known… I wouldn’t have changed a thing.