The Amazon Dungeon Pt 2 – What You Can Do

There are a few things that you can try, but I unfortunately must remind you that even if you do all of these things, there are no guarantees. Some authors have been successful in getting their books out of the dungeon and others are trapped there despite their best efforts.

I would also not recommend doing all of the changes at once because otherwise you have no idea what the change was that freed you. It can take up to 72 hours for things to happen in the Amazon system, so start with one at a time and wait it out before trying the next step.

In terms of words to look out for, I can only give you an idea based on anecdotal evidence, because as I’ve previously mentioned, there is no definitive list for us to work through. What impacts one book may not impact another, but if you’re in the dungeon and any of the following show up anywhere in your metadata or book information consider changing them to see if it gets you out: 

Daddy, alpha, omega, breeding, letters that denote the relationship in the book that indicate there are more than two people involved, polyamorous or polyamory, BDSM, erotic, omegaverse, harem, why choose, general profanity, references to incest or pseudo-incest like step-brother, anything that could be broadly interpreted as containing bestiality including mythical creatures or shifters getting spicy in their animal form.

Obviously this is a non-exhaustive list so please use your best judgement and assume that there are pearl clutching puritans reviewing your work. 

Let’s start with the least intrusive options and move to the most intrusive:

1. Change your categories. Do you know what categories your book is in? If you don’t, I’ll attach a link in the description where you can input your ASIN to find out. 

https://www.bklnk.com/categories_2022.php#cat_search_form 

Once you’re aware of your categories you can decide how to approach them. If your book is in an incorrect category you can contact Amazon to change your categories. To do that I have a very handy step by step guide helpfully provided by Vera Valentine so you have the tools to do this. 

Step 1, you’re going to get onto your KDP account and click the Help icon in the top right.

Step 2, you’re going to scroll down and click on the Contact Us button on the bottom left.

Step 3, you’re going to select Update Amazon Categories from the menu on the lefthand side.

Step 4, you’re going to fill out the information they require. The format is to provide the ASIN or ISBN, marketplace, book format, and category. You can get the ASIN from the book listing on Amazon if you don’t already know it, and that website I linked will give you the categories in the correct format to provide to Amazon. 

If your categories are correct, you can move on to the next option.

2. Change your keywords. If there’s anything you even remotely suspect could have upset the Amazon gods, change it. Even if it makes it harder for people to find what they’re looking for in a search, it’s not as hard for people to find as if the book stays in the dungeon. 

3. Change your blurb. Have other authors read it over and see if you can pinpoint any issues. Revise how you say things so that you still get the idea across, but you’re also removing anything that Amazon might consider objectionable.

4. Change your cover. If you think your cover is at fault for your dungeoning you can re-cover the book. This could involve a little bit of censoring anything provocative or getting a completely new cover. 

5. Change your content. No one wants to do this but if you’re desperate you can try. If you think content warnings might be the reason you can move them from the book to your website and see if that makes a difference. See where the 10% cutoff is, go over the content in that section with a fine tooth comb and modify if you want to. 

Like I’ve said before, doing these changes is no guarantee. Your book could still stay in the dungeon regardless of the changes that you make. If you don’t want to make these changes you absolutely don’t have to. The dungeon is bad, but it’s not a death sentence unless the dungeoned book is your only book. You can still do your own advertising on social media and if you have other published works people might be looking you up and will still be able to find the dungeoned book. It’s hard, but nothing about this career is a cakewalk.