In response to a previous post on branding science fiction romance, Jess Granger (BEYOND THE SHADOWS) suggested that we hold an Amazon tag party in order to help move our favorite science fiction romance books up in the listings. I figured, hey, I always wanted to be a party girl, so here’s the post to get things started. Chef is rolling out carts loaded with finger foods and all manner of virtual libations, so dig in!
BevBB also commented in response to the aforementioned post, and recommended that if we’re serious about it, we should, “Hit all the major booksellers online, including the solely ebook ones.” She also suggested we should include the online library sites.
Before we peruse the preliminary tag list I brainstormed, here are three resources about tagging:
What is tagging?
Amazon’s tagging how-to page
Why tags? This is a good example of why.
Now for the work-in-progress tag list.
Basic SFR tags:
Author’s name
Science fiction romance
Sci-fi romance
SF romance
Space opera romance
Futuristic romance
Futuristic lovers
Romance
Science fiction
Question: What about tagging SFR books with “paranormal” or “speculative”? Should we go there?
Tags for common story elements:
Apocalyptic
Post-apocalyptic
Cyborg
Android
Action romance
Adventure romance
Military SF romance
Near-future romance
Romantic SF
SF erotic romance
Futuristic erotic romance
Sci-fi erotic romance
Steampunk
Steampunk romance
m/m futuristic romance
There are two main tasks to accomplish that I can see: 1) Make additions or deletions to the tag list to lend consistency to our efforts (I will update the list as passengers add their ideas) and 2) Compile a list of the major booksellers we should hit up (I will update the post with this list as well). Also, feel free to suggest any other issues we should address.
Party hearty!
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tag Party
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11 comments:
This is a good start, Heather, but might I suggest that the best way I've found for doing this is to pick out my top favorite books on any particular topic and tag them because it helps identify my own personal tag list that I'm looking for even if I didn't already know what it was.
What everyone could do is go drag out their top favorite science fiction and/or their top favorite romances or romance crossovers with SF novels. Ten to twelve or so would probably be enough to give them a good sampling of their tastes in whatever combination works for them. Next, be honest about what themes are in each that attracted the reader in you to them and reduce a couple of those per book to one or two words. Or more if necessary but be honest and don't pad things.
I'll be back later when I have my stack of books to play with. ;-)
As of now, I haven't played with tags. Will read the linked pages and see what I can figure out.
@BevBB Sounds like a plan.
Ella, you go girl!
I went through my list and tagged all my very favorites, then started on my top twenty. It was a lot of fun and not very time consuming. (Which is always a huge plus!)
I did note, however, that the Science Fiction Romance community on Amazon is sadly lacking in activity. I think there were all of three (3) posts. Maybe we could work on making this Amazon community more active too? New book buzz. Favorite SFR picks. Possibly carry over some of Heather's excellent topics to the Amazon community? Time is always an issue for me, but this would take no longer than posting a comment on a blog.
Just thought I'd throw this idea out there as another way to get the word out on SFR.
I just went on a tagging spree, too!
Regarding the Amazon community, in lieu of one of my weekly posts, maybe I could do a very short post on the forum there or throw out a topic for discussion and we could all chat over there.
Or start topics like Laurie suggested and use the time we'd normally spend here adding the information.
Oh, and maybe another time we could gather at Goodreads. Hmm, that might be interesting...maybe do something like this once every few months? It would be a start, at least.
SFR Regulatorssss...mount up!
(If you haven't seen Young Guns, that made no sense whatsoever.)
But seriously, if we're going to support and promote our subgenre, these are excellent ways to do so. I love your ideas, Heather. Tell me when and where (and even better, provide a link) and I'm there!
I'm going to be proactive and post the SFR Book Buzz and All-Time Favorite SFR story discussions on the Amazon community now.
Here's the link (sorry I can't hyperlink it in a comment). I'll also add it as a link on Spacefreighters Lounge.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/science%20fiction%20romance/ref=tag_ciu_bkt_itdp
I tagged about 25 science fiction romance books at Amazon very easily but I do not see how to tag at any other online book stores . . .
It is kind of a crime if you type in science fiction romance at Amazon how many paranormals pop up under the sort by "bestsellers" filter. sheesh
I had a strange weekend. I wasn't feeling great, so I didn't get around to playing with this at all yet. (Nothing wrong really, just that time of life. I hate being pre-menipausal. Oye.)
Anyway, I'm also toying with the idea of when I tag my top favorites of doing a contrast post on my blog showing how they're labeled by the publishers and how *I'd* tag them.
but I do not see how to tag at any other online book stores . . .
It's weird isn't it and that's what I've been trying to highlight for a while now. (See http://bevsbooks.com/notes/?p=406) I mean it's one thing when they don't give complete information but some of these bookstores aren't even giving a category at all. Or there doesn't seem to be one on the book page. That blows my mind.
@C Conant Yeah, I noticed that too (both points you raised). Thanks for participating!
@BevBB What can Chef get for you? A daiquiri? A back rub? A back rub daiquiri?
If you do a contrast post, I would totally read it.
Hey, Heather,
If people feel passionately that certain paranormal books truly and honestly do not belong in sfr or science fiction romance, do you have the power to vote them out of there.
Here's an example.
A friend of mine had his books tagged "IDIOT". I suggested that he clicked on the tag "idiot" (which was in orange font) as that would take him to the Community of Idiots.
Once there, we found his books, ranked according to how many of his readers thought he was an idiot. Above each book is a plus or minus sign.
Anyone can vote the tag up, or down. It seems that -3 is enough to discredit the tag.
Please use this knowledge responsibly and with kindness.
Rowena Cherry
preferred tags: "sfr", "futuristic romance"
That's an excellent point. In addition to tagging, I also untag. As an example, Twilight had been tagged as Science Fiction Romance. I clicked the link that says "Do you agree with these tags?" (or something like that) and it gave me the option to check the tag and then vote that "I don't agree with the science fiction romance tag." It also showed a bar graph of other votes that said "yes" or "no."
I wondered how many "I don't agree" votes it took to make a difference, so that information is good to know.
When I tag, I generally use three references--science fiction romance, sci-fi romance, and SFR, as well as futuristic if the romance is the main focus, and paranormal romance because paranormal is the umbrella category used by RWA that SFR falls into and according to the tagging information it moves the books ranking up because this is such a huge and active Amazon community (unlike the science fiction romance Amazon community which really needs a boost in both members and activity).
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