Tags are shopping tools for readers. Kinda like walking into a massive shoe store. You don’t have the time to look at every pair, so you tell the cashier you want a pair of red stilettos with a black bow in a size 8. The cashier brings you 6 pair that meets your list of criteria. Your shopping experience is now streamlined and saves you time. This is what book tags do.

You’ll find a little box to enter your tags. Click on “save tags.” Or move your curser off the box after you’ve listed them and hit your “t” key twice in rapid succession. Another little box comes up, asking if you agree to the tags. Click your answer and this saves them.

There’s a group on FaceBook called Amazon Tags Author Assist. They’re a group of writers committed to helping each other by going to the product links of other authors and agreeing  with the tags by clicking on them. Groups like this are forming like crazy!

One post I read on another site suggested that Likes and Tags “keep your book from dying in obscurity.”

The best post I’ve read on this subject is from M. Louisa Locke. Locke gives a very thorough study on how to tag and why you should. She also discusses how self-published authors, by their choice of categories, keywords, and tags, can increase the chances that readers will find their books in an ebook store. She offers strategies: You can’t afford to ignore this post. Locke has an updated post too.

One thing  Vonnie Davis suggests is that authors should participate in blog tours and schedule a spot at 4-5 places a week for 2-4 weeks. This generates buzz and yes, this is for each release! People get to hear about our new book AND they’ll get to know us better. Sound fun?

It has always been said and I believe it’s true: relationships sell books.  Now go get on all those social sites and make some new friends!

How do you feel about tags, likes, and promotion in general?