If I'm looking in a book store for a Thai food cookbook, I'm not going to look for it in the toddler section. If a cook book is in that section it's out of place and no one would think to find it there. It's the job of the staff to make sure everything is categorized clearly and easy to find.
Online is a different animal. With Amazon, an author requests certain categories that their book be placed in. The problem is the categories authors can choose from don't exactly match the categories in the online store, so how can does it get organized? Well in my case, I asked for the "Imagination" category and got "Sports". There are no sports in "Not Just a Princess" so I emailed Amazon to correct this. After three requests, each taking 72 hours, and the help department getting confused about what I was asking in the first place, it was placed in a more appropriate category. The Amazon store apparently doesn't have an imagination category despite making it an option for authors to click.
I'm noticing this isn't a unique problem either. I ran across a children's book the other day that was put under adult self-help. I don't blame some clueless, overworked person behind a computer. I'm sure this is a computer glitch of some sort but one people should watch out for. There are many reasons a book may not be selling and not being able to find it is definitely one of them.
To check your book, scroll down to nearly the bottom of your sell page where it says "Look for similar items by category". If the category doesn't fit the book, and is way off from the category you selected, email amazon.
Click the "Contact Us" button on the left of this page:
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help
♥ Mary Lee
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