Catagories and summaries

I’m working on figuring out what the best categories for Amazon would be, and what are the “critical features” to include in the short written summary to attract buyers.

Because they only allow two categories, I was thinking “military fiction” and “libertarian fiction”. Would general SF be better, or Space Opera, or Action Adventure, or …? Thoughts, suggestions?

As for the intro, should I have more than the following:
Helton Strom is a reasonably ordinary guy dropped into extraordinary circumstances while doing nothing more than going to another planet to visit his sister, while he was on a break between teaching contracts. After running afoul of law-enforcement, space pirates, the mob, parts of officialdom, the captain of a naval cruiser, and only making a few friends along the way, he struggles to establish a new life and earn a living by getting a very old spaceship flying, only to discover it’s more than a bit unusual.

6 thoughts on “Catagories and summaries

  1. I think the intro is fine. As for the category, “science fiction” and “action adventure” seem like the best fit. “Space opera” is a term that has no clear meaning to me. I could imagine a dozen different meanings, and while your story fits one of those possibilities, many of the other meanings suggest very different types of stories.
    And while “libertarian fiction” is a reasonable description, I would avoid it because it would tend to limit your audience. It’s not like you push it hard, so people who don’t lean libertarian can nevertheless enjoy the story — don’t scare them away with that label.

  2. I’d just call it science fiction. If you put “libertarian” or “military” on it, it pigeonholes it, and you lose part of your potential audience.

  3. I guess I’m a little late to the party on this one. The thing with Helton’s description is, he’s originally presented as aimless and unable to stick to any chosen path, but not too far into the story, he has knowledge of terraforming and military operations. Also takes very easily to being Captain of a ship.

    But then again, I can see why he didn’t fit well into his original world.

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