The Amazon AI Search Update That Could Change Your Book Sales

Amazon is changing how readers discover books, and authors who understand the shift now will be in a much stronger position than those who wait for the results to become obvious. Search is becoming more conversational, recommendations are becoming more context-driven, and AI is increasingly influencing how books are matched with reader interests, moods, questions, needs, and expectations.

In this episode, we break down what those broader AI changes mean for your Amazon presence and why the old approach to retail copy is no longer enough. A book description cannot simply sound polished. Your subtitle cannot rely on vague promises. Your categories, keywords, author bio, and book-page messaging all need to work together to clearly communicate what your book is, who it is for, and why the right reader should choose it.

We talk through the biggest mistakes authors still make on Amazon, including generic descriptions, keyword stuffing, unclear genre signals, overly salesy subtitles, and back-cover copy that never tells readers what kind of experience they are actually buying. You will hear practical ways to strengthen your book’s positioning, clarify its themes and reader promise, and make your retail page more useful for both human readers and AI-driven discovery tools.

We also look at the overlooked areas that can either support or weaken visibility, including your Author Central bio, the per-title “About the Author” section, and the language you use to describe your audience. As Amazon search becomes more intelligent, the authors who win will be the ones who make it easy for the platform to understand their books—and easy for readers to recognize that they have found exactly what they were looking for.

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Are Tackling

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the book marketing tips and offer success podcast. Penny Santa Ferry and Baby Cornell. This is a really interesting. If you've been on Amazon at all last six months, this is their new AI tool. We're gonna go into that with as any of you listeners know what's going on. We have any strong feelings about a lot of things. So we're gonna break it down.

Book Launch And Texting Group

SPEAKER_01 0:39

So first I want to mention, again, my book, Think Local Sell Global, is up for uh it's actually off of pre-orders, it's up for sale. Grab a copy. I'm really excited. It's doing really well. I'm so thrilled that this book is finally out. So if you've if you've read it, let me know what you think. We really love to get your feedback. And speaking of feedback, if you if you're not part of our texting group, text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. Let me know what you think of the book. Let us know what you think of the book. Send us your show ideas, questions, all the things. You can communicate with us directly. Just text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. Okay, let's break this down. Amy, I'm gonna put Amy on the spot here real quickly. Amy, when I came to you with this idea, you the first thing you thought or said was what? Well, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

So honestly, I'm I'm gonna pull out an 80s term. I kind of thought, like, well, duh, you know, like which makes me sound wildly intelligent, I realize. But it's also important, I think that's why we had a great chat around it because we really dug into what this means, how it changes things. And it was also really satisfying on a more personal level, too, because a lot of what we're going to be talking about are things that Penny and I like to talk about a lot already, you know. So I always love when we make, you know, recommendations and somewhat industry predictions and things like that, and they come true.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

You know, I know, I love that. It makes us it makes us feel very um, I don't know, on the pulse, yes, of of all the things. So the the

Meet Rufus And The New Search

SPEAKER_01 2:32

idea, the idea, the origin story of this particular episode is that Amy and I started to see a lot of conversation about Amazon's AI and changing how readers find books. And the core idea is that as much as we like to turn to AI for solutions and all the things and recipes and whatever um or fun little things that you do with chat GPT on your phone, right? The the better in AI needs a lot of information, right? AI isn't just like if you put something in there that's very general, that's basically all that you're gonna get back. So the idea really is that AI has has forced us into you know, some really serious specificity when it comes to presenting your book on Amazon. And it is something, Amy, that you and I have been saying for a long time. But I think that the conversation around Amazon's AI, specifically Rufus, which I find it's so annoying, but whatever. Amazon didn't consult with me on whether or not this was a good idea, but has really forced authors to take a second look at how their book is being presented on the retail page and whether the information in the book description is specific enough to not only appeal to readers, but to appeal to Rufus, the AI that's you know, internal and Amazon now, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Yes. And that's that's what, you know, again, we've chatted about this a lot in different ways across many different shows. But we've always talked about being specific and understanding who your actual readers and buyers are and making sure that they really understand what makes your book stand out, why it fits their needs, why it answers their questions, why it matches what they look for in a fiction read. Like, you know, we've talked about that a lot. And now it has become like a real legit thing beyond just Penny and Amy think it's a great idea because it's going to convert more shoppers. Right. Amazon also agrees. They think it's better for shoppers if you include more detailed information that can give people a better shopping experience. And honestly, it helps them make a more confident yes, a more confident purchase. And Amazon's here to sell things. So if somebody can be more confident in making a purchase more quickly, that's what they want to do. And so aligning your book's retail page with that goal is only going to

Conversational Search Needs Specific Copy

SPEAKER_00 5:18

help you at this point.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Well, and it's not so much about giving up on keywords because keyword or keyword strings, as we like to talk about, those are still important. But it's really understanding that because of the AI element in Amazon, reader behavior has become more conversational, right? So instead of searching, for example, historical fiction women frontier novel, a reader is more likely to ask, what's a good historical novel about a resilient woman starting over in the American West? And what that does is it changes the dynamic of how your book is searched, meaning that if that is not part of your book description, you're probably not going to get found. And by that I mean the detail of the resilient woman and starting over. And I mean, that level of depth. Amy, you you used a word that I really love when we were in the green room and we were kind of discussing this episode. Do you remember what that was?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, well, hopefully this is the one. But yes, I I said that I view it as creating a really immersive experience. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's also putting up a retail page. And that's everything from your description to all the content you can add via author central. Like you are quite literally creating an immersive experience from top to bottom as somebody scrolls through that page. And your ability to keep them interested is the bar, you know. You have to keep them interested. And if you're doing that, you're likely also doing well in AI searches. Because I agree with you, Penny. You know, a standard search on Amazon may be a little more, you know, choppy and direct, but people use AI like they're having a conversation. Yeah. You know, it's very different. They treat AI very differently. It's the give and take, it's the immediate response. It's, you know, and AI is designed to keep that conversation going as well. So it naturally leans toward that. But so you really have to, you know, you have to be able to do both. So typically, if you're probably doing well in AI, you're probably doing pretty well on the standard Amazon search still. But it's that, that, you know, meeting those demands for the AI search results really is next level. It's it's next level branding, targeting, positioning, messaging. And I mean, I find it fascinating and super fun, but I realize it can be overwhelming as an author, especially if you're doing all your own content yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah. And, you know, and a lot of times I know that authors will turn to, let's say, Chat GPT or Claude to write a book to like write this book description for me. And the AI can only write a description, a really, really solid description with the right input. Like it's not necessarily going to it's not going to in infuse your book description with elements that it doesn't know. You know what I mean? If you don't, if you don't put it, if you don't put it in, you're not going to get it out.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

So yes, AI will lean generic, it'll lean buzzwords, it'll lean kind of fluffy marketing language, because surface level, superficially, that all sounds really great. You know, and it's like if you're just scanning, you're like, oh, that's pretty, I like that. And, you know, that's fine, but that's not what we're talking about. You know, fine is not good enough anymore. You really have to push it. And that's why, again, you know, this is something that we have definitely talked about over the years. That's why really understanding who your readers are, who your shoppers are, and what they're looking for, what makes them tick,

Keyword Stuffing And Vague Back Cover Copy

SPEAKER_00 9:12

this is where you really tap into that.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, exactly. So before we get into the third segment, what are some of the things, Amy, that you feel I know we've kind of hit on some of them already, but where authors really go wrong with this?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Or anything that we haven't covered? Yeah, I mean, I think I I'm surprised at how much I still see this, you know, because it seems like a very old tactic that there's I still see a lot of keyword stuffing. It sounds unnatural, you know, to the extent that the author was so focused on on hitting these keywords that, you know, and we say it all the time too, that it's almost like they forgot to read their book description out loud. You know, like would you describe a book like this to somebody you were chatting with? No way in hell, right? And if that's the case, then it's probably not good enough for your description on Amazon, you know? Yeah. But yeah, the keyword stuffing is definitely challenging because there are smart ways to use keywords, and then there are very obvious, blatant ways to use keywords that absolutely, I guarantee you 100% are turning shoppers off. As soon as they feel like they're being sold, you know, instead of catered to, they're gone. Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then I think, do you want to take the back cover one? Because I feel very strongly about this because go for it. Go for it. I work with clients on on back cover copy a lot. And, you know, back cover copy, it's challenging, but when you write your book description like the back cover, the back cover can be very atmospheric and pretty, and it can be a little bit vague because you only have so much space. And the back cover, I always think it's more like, you know, a lead-in to a cinematic event. You know what I mean? It's and that's what's beautiful about back cover copy, especially for fiction. Obviously, for nonfiction, you know, a lot of bullet points, a lot of, you know, get down to what they're gonna get in there. But you can't do a book description that is overly vague and atmospheric because that's again where you're gonna start losing the ability to describe the specific aspects of your book that makes it different, that makes it unique, that makes it specific to what your readers are looking for, the experience they're trying to have. So those serve two very different purposes. I mean, I think a lot of what people are using as their description now, Penny, probably could make solid back cover copy, but it's not going to work in terms of what you use for a description and how that plays into getting on search results, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that totally. So I think that you have to lead it's in order for your book, and we're gonna give you guys some examples too, but in order to make this make your book description, not only obviously you want to appeal to the reader, but you also have to appeal strongly to Amazon search engine, which we've talked about a lot. You have to lead, you have to lead with confidence. You have to lead with the specifics about, like we like the example that I gave earlier, what this who this book is for, right? The keywords still matter. The keyword stuffing, what Amy said, is very, very true. And I see this so much in subtitles.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Oh gosh.

unknown 12:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Right? Where I see where I see readers, you know, or or authors putting in subtitles that just feel very, you know, it feels very disingenuous, frankly. I don't know if that's real probably really not the the right word.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

No, but I know what you mean. It it is. It's that it's it feels very salesy. And as much as people realize that people are selling to them because they're shopping, they don't want to be sold like

Lead With Genre Stakes And Promise

SPEAKER_00 12:54

that. You know what I mean? Right. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

So I think that, you know, look at your rewrite the first sentence of your of your Amazon description. Lead with the genre, protagonist, setting, conflict, and emotional promise. For example, for readers of emotionally rich historical fiction, this novel follows a widowed mother rebuilding her life in post-war America while uncovering a family secret that could change everything. So, with that to me, I think that's a rock, like that's a rock star start. Like I would absolutely, as a reader, pick up this book because it sounds super compelling. What that also does is it will feed into how readers are now searching on Amazon for books that are very, you know, readers are way more specific than I think. And we're we actually have another show that we're gonna do, and I think it's a I'm a little confused on the scheduling, but I think it's coming up for next week. Readers are way more specific than I think a lot of times we give them credit for, right? I mean, they're super specific. I'm very risk averse when I decide to get a book on Amazon. So I think that also, aside from the AI conversation, that also has to be taken into account. Oh, absolutely. You know, for nonfiction, and it's interesting because when I was writing the book description for Think Local, Sell Global, I kind of went through this as I was writing this because the one thing that I know is that authors are really there, they've had it, and obviously we're not on video, but they've had it up to here, hand above the head with marketing advice, do all the things. And so my book description had to reflect that because that is how readers are going to search looking for this topic. If you're an author tired of marketing advice that goes nowhere, this practical guide shows you how to build visibility using Amazon discoverability, local promotion, and reader-first positioning. Right. Now that's a mouthful, right? This is not what I used for my book description because uh it's not, it wasn't, it's not an Amazon focused book. It's a local marketing book. But you get the idea. Now, Amy, what do you think about? I really actually love this idea, and I've seen this around as well. Adding this book is for you if section.

Add A Clear This Book Is For You

SPEAKER_01 15:29

I actually love that idea, adding it to maybe even to the bottom of the book description, you know, towards the end of the book description. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yes, we've definitely been doing a lot more of this lately with our clients as well, because absolutely, you know, it goes back to people want a sure thing. And and this is also this shows a level of confidence, I think, too, right, Penny? Like so if you can if you can confidently compare your book to very specific tropes, themes, you know, tones, authors, even book titles, because that's allowed in descriptions, you know, and then same thing for nonfiction, you know, audio type, pain points, skill level, that's one I think that's uh that's glossed over a lot. Outcomes, obviously, things like that. I think that's definitely a confidence indicator. Like if you're gonna say you do this, then you better deliver. But it's also when it comes to getting the attention of AI, that confidence level of saying this book is for you if like that, that's there's no question about where your book lands, right? If you put that in there. Yeah, and exactly.

unknown 16:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

But I think that is really because when I talk to a nonfiction author specifically, because this this leans heavily into nonfiction, the first thing that I ask them is how is your book different from the 90 other books that were launched just in the last hour on the same topic on Amazon? And I don't say that to be rude or to be depressing, but at the end of the day, that is the thing that your your description on Amazon has to answer that question. And this book is for you, adding an this book is for you if section is really brilliant. I really like that. The other thing, and I know I touched on this just a few minutes ago, but the subtitle, man, I can't tell you, subtitle, no more key, don't stop the keyword stuffing. It just looks really inauthentic on your retail page, but it's also really terrible for search because again, the readers are searching using a more conversational tone as opposed to a self-help book for positive thinking. Like that's not that is not really a search that's happening anymore on Amazon, as an example.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

No, and there'd be a ton of books that would show up for it. So that's not super helpful to the shopper either. You know, they're gonna get a billion choices at that point. Right, exactly, exactly. And I think the subtitle, too, I think it's worth mentioning just for those listening, is that there's, you know, subtitles can be talked about in a couple different ways. Obviously, a subtitle can go on your book cover, but some authors, depending on how you publish, you can actually choose the subtitle that shows up on your retail page also. So think about both ways. Like, yes, so if you're in production still and you're coming up with your final subtitle, that is one aspect of this. But specifically, if you are in a position to be able to choose your subtitle when you're loading your book and having your book added, you know, creating the retail page, you know, that is a

Subtitles And Keywords That Still Matter

SPEAKER_00 18:42

a second very critical opportunity to do the right things versus the wrong things. Let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Right, exactly. And I think that that you know, keywords obviously fall into the same, like if you haven't looked at your keywords in a while, just make sure that they are that they include, you know, your subgenre, maybe your setting, your character type, tropes, readers lean heavily into tropes, theme, audience fit, all of those things matter to your to your keywords. And then for nonfiction, obviously, what problem, what problem are you solving specifically? So I think, you know, the takeaway here really is so we've we've preached this for a long time, but really, not that you had a choice before, but now you really don't have a choice because all of Amazon is evolving to this kind of search, right? And the other piece of it though, too, and this is where I mean, I've seen authors that have really great book descriptions, but their bio is super lackluster. And we've done a lot of evaluations on that as well for their Author Central, right, Amy?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Yes. And I think that's also where, you know, really digging into what Author Central offers, you realize how many different opportunities you have to do the right things and present your work to people in from different angles. That's very helpful again to create that immersive experience because you've got your your main bio and that that remains consistent throughout all of your titles that will follow you across titles. And so that, you know, that you could be a little more rigid is not the right word, but you know what I mean? That that's a bit more resume-like, depending on you know what you write, what genre you write in. But then a lot of people don't realize that there's also an about the author section that you can customize per title, and that becomes a version of your bio that is very specific to that book's reader market. And that is an amazing sweet spot that so many people look over that you really shouldn't.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah. I think that, but that was really smart to mention that. I think that is, no, that's a great idea. Because we really have to. So the biggest takeaway of this, if you're if you're trying, if you're listening to this and you're trying still trying to kind of get your mind wrapped around this concept, because I know it's a lot. We have essentially moved from, you know, the discoverability question of can can Amazon find your keyword or your keyword strings to can Amazon confidently understand who this book is for? And that's the biggest differentiating factor between maybe where you were a month ago and where you need to go. And that this isn't about chasing AI tricks or anything like that. That's not what this is about

Author Central Bio That Actually Helps

SPEAKER_01 21:33

at all. It's making sure that the Amazon system can really understand. And again, knowing what you're knowing that you're dealing with an AI that needs specificity over generality, can it really understand what this book is for?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Right? Right. I find it really ironic, Penny, that now we're using machines that are requiring us to create a more immersive human experience. Shopping experience. I find it, I find it ironic and I find it interesting, but I love it because, like we talked about at the top of the show, you and I have been talking about moving authors in this direction for a long time because it really does benefit who you're trying to reach and speak to and convert. And now Amazon agrees with us.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And now, you know, now we have. So when we first started talking when, you know, when I first started talking about Amazon optimization over 10 years ago, the only thing that we were focused on was the reader and the Amazon search system. And then as you and I have evolved this within the company, right? We've become even more entrenched in that. And now layered on top of that is the Amazon's new AI system, Rufus, as he's called. They really need to start giving these things another name. I'm sure somebody named him after their dog. Fine, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

You know, like the Amazon thing, right? Like all the dogs on the broken links and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

I know that's the best part of the 404 pages on Amazon. Are all all the are all the dogs?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

We need to more bad pages because the dogs are adorable.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Right. Exactly. Exactly. So just to give you, do should we do a couple of examples like a bio and a fiction example just before we let everybody go? Do you want to start with the fiction one first?

Before And After Examples

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Sure. Okay. This is perfect. Okay. So before a gripping story of secrets, betrayal, and one woman's journey to find the truth. So again, like if you're already, you know, a mystery thriller fan, you're probably like, okay, like semi-interested. But again, this is very much what we talked about. The issue is that you could apply this to literally thousands of books. Right. Thousands. So that's where it's missing the mark. So the after would be for readers of domestic suspense and book club fiction. This title follows a suburban mother whose carefully ordered life begins to unravel when a buried family secret exposes the people closest to her. Whoa. Right. You're already imagining the movie version, right? Are you not? Oh, yeah. I'm totally imagining. I'm like, okay, well, this feels a little bit like the housemaid. Like, yeah. But I think that, especially for fiction authors, I think that's a very fair, relatable way to maybe present this to make this feel less scary and challenging, is that really like we went from something that could be used for a lot of different books to something where you're almost pitching your Netflix miniseries, right? Based on this alone. And people can visualize how that would play out. And I think that is the goal you're you're kind of reaching for at this point.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah, exactly. And and I think that as you said, the first one was okay, but you really could plug that into pretty much any book that you see on Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Right. Leading character is the female, and it's, you know, somewhere in this dispense genre, it really works for so much. And that's the problem. That is right. Exactly. That's a problem.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Now for bios, and again, y'all gotta pay attention to your bio on Amazon. Fiction or this is gonna be a nonfiction example, but fiction or nonfiction, you really want to be as specific because it all matters to the Amazon AI search engine system. Boy, that's a mouthful. So here's a before John Davis is a speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur who has spent more than 20 years helping people succeed. He lives in Colorado with his wife and enjoys hiking, travel, and coffee. That is so boring. Like, sorry, John. Of course, I love hiking too, and I love travel and coffee. So we could probably we'd probably get along, except your bio is super boring. Instead, John writes practical leadership and workplace communication books for managers, founders, and team members who want to build stronger teams without corporate jargon. Drawn in more than 20 years as a consultant and speaker, his work helps readers improve communication, reduce conflict, and lead with more clarity. What the second piece doesn't include is any of John's personal details. Because honestly, the audience that you are speaking to, it's particular for nonfiction, doesn't really care. Like, sorry, you know what I mean? They don't really care about those personal details when they are deciding on a book.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Yeah, it's not the time and place, it's not adding to your credibility at this point, you know? Right. And that's where we've talked about this before, too, where we've mentioned like it's you gotta let go of it being about you sometimes and really make sure that it's about the reader and who you want to buy your book, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Yeah, so the more specific that you can get both in your description and in your bio, the better that you will do in this whole new Amazon AI search system, which I realize feels a little bit scary, but really it's just redefining what we've already been talking about. So I hope that this episode, Amy, did we before I we signed off, did we forget anything?

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Did no? I think we covered quite a

Final Takeaways And What To Do

SPEAKER_00 27:05

bit, and now everybody has a little uh analysis to do on their retail pages, which I hope you have fun with because I love this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah, I know. It it feels a little bit lit, it's a little bit like a mystery. You know what I mean? Like it it is it is really fun. We both love we both love digging into this topic. Uh, we and we'd love to hear from you. So leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts, but also text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. We'd love to know how you're doing with this information. Uh and also, do you have a favorite podcast? We'd love to know what your favorite show is so far. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next week. Bye bye.