None of us like to be pigeonholed. It’s associated with people making judgements about us, which leads to assumptions, which can be wrong.

But when it comes to books, pigeonholes are vital.
Think of shopping in a bookstore. How do you know where to start? Well, the books aren’t just on the shelves all lumped together anyhow. All similar books are together, and the shelves are labelled. Want a thriller novel, or a book on learning French? Check the labels and go direct to the right section.

Pigeonholes for messages
The same thing goes for ebooks, only here it’s so much more important, because there are no shelves for readers to browse along. If your book is in the wrong category, no one will ever find it.
Amazon allows you to pick two ‘browse categories’ for your book. Michael Alvear says in his book Make a Killing On Kindle:
1. Customers Browse The Categories Of Books They’re Interested In
2. Customers Purposefully Browse A Category They’re Familiar With
These two points are not the same. Some people look around like browsers in a bookstore, but will concentrate on the kind of topics they like. Some people go straight to the section they want and check to see what’s new.

Science Fiction categories on Amazon
So, even if your book is not finished yet, it’s never too soon to find your pigeonhole!
Ann Marie Thomas is the author of three medieval history books, a surprisingly cheerful poetry collection about her 2010 stroke, and the science fiction series Flight of the Kestrel. Book one, Intruders, is out now. Follow her at http://eepurl.com/bbOsyz
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