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Feeling like every promo is uphill? We unpack why marketing stalls when a book is presented to the wrong readers — and how smart positioning turns traffic into sales. Penny and Amy break down the signals that shape buying decisions in under five seconds: category choices, keywords that actually guide Amazon, cover conventions that telegraph sub-genre, and hooks that speak to what readers want right now.

We share real-world shifts that changed outcomes fast, including a romance that soared after moving from an overly spicy label to a truer contemporary slot and a mystery that found its people by swapping “cozy” for “amateur sleuth.” You’ll hear how to diagnose a mismatch when ads get clicks but no buys, why “too unique” covers quietly repel your ideal audience, and how to use reviews as free market research to refine your description and promise.

This conversation is a roadmap for authors who want to sell more without burning everything down. You’ll learn to niche with confidence, align title and subtitle with retail reality, refresh descriptions with language readers already use, and adopt the 1% rule: small, targeted improvements that compound. If you’ve been trying to reach everyone, it’s time to reach the right ones.

Ready to fix the foundation and stop wasting ad spend? Listen now, then text podcast to 888-402-8940 to share your positioning challenge, subscribe for upcoming deep dives, and leave a review to help more authors find this show.

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