While books can be assigned up to 10 categories, Amazon has now disallowed books from ranking in more than three categories. We first learned of this from author Pamela Kelley, who posted in an Authors Guild forum. An Amazon rep confirmed the change to her, writing, “Books can be ranked in up to three bestseller category lists regardless of how many categories the book may feature within; customer activity influences which three categories your book will be ranked in and appear on your Amazon detail page.” Kelley recommended using this tool to see all categories assigned to a book and the three categories it is currently ranking in.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
