ShelfSmith for Romance Authors
The category you pick on Amazon is the single biggest lever controlling where your book appears — and Amazon reads your title, subtitle, blurb and keywords to decide whether you really belong there. Get it right and the readers who want exactly your kind of story find you; get it wrong and your book sits on a shelf they never browse.
Run ShelfSmith →What ShelfSmith does
ShelfSmith checks your book against thousands of real titles whose Amazon shelves we already know and tells you where it actually lands — the category it reads as before you publish, or the real shelves Amazon gave it once you're live. Then it hands you the exact fixes, ready to copy straight into KDP and emailed to you too.
What you get
- Where your book lands — the category it reads as, versus the one you want
- The exact Amazon category to select, and its BISAC code
- A blurb rewritten to read as your target category
- Seven keywords drawn from what readers are searching for now, plus a subtitle
- Works before you publish (paste your blurb) or after (drop your Amazon link)
FAQ
What is a BISAC code?
BISAC is the publishing industry's standard subject code — your book's shelf label. On Amazon you pick a category and Amazon maps it to a BISAC behind the scenes; that code matters directly if you also sell wide through IngramSpark, libraries and other retailers.
Do I need a finished manuscript?
No. ShelfSmith works from your blurb (a draft is perfect) or your live Amazon link — no manuscript upload needed.
Is this affiliated with Amazon?
No. These are recommendations from live market data — a strong, data-backed signal, not a guarantee, and not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon. You set the category yourself in KDP, free.