Ten Must-Have AI Prompts for Authors & Book Marketers: From Metadata to Marketing
AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, are game-changers for authors who want to optimize their books for discoverability and sales. However, the real magic lies in knowing the right prompts to use.
This article will guide you through ten specific ChatGPT prompts to improve your book’s metadata and marketing strategy.
Note: This is not about using AI to write books or create covers—it’s about enhancing the details that make your book stand out in a competitive market. Let’s dive in.
AI Prompt #1: Book Description
The first AI prompt involves rewriting and properly formatting your book’s description. This comes first, because the result will become a vital part of all nine of the remaining AI prompts.
Obviously, you’re going to need a book description of your own with which to start. We can help with that. I encourage you to take just 9 minutes and 32 seconds to watch a short video we’ve prepared about writing dynamic book descriptions. You’ll learn the anatomy of a compelling description and discover many ways to approach each section within it.
Once you’ve written your book’s description, enter this AI Prompt into ChatGPT: “Rewrite the following book description so that it has a compelling statement in bold at the top, followed by 4 bullet points, and ending with short paragraphs that convince a reader to purchase it. [Paste book's description here]."
You’ll probably be surprised to discover at least a few changes that improve what you’ve already written.
Don’t stop at just one option though. Ask it to provide another variation, and then another. Depending on how the first example reads, you could ask AI to “Provide another option that is more casual or fun” or “Provide another option with shorter bullets that are alliterated.”
Take your time and piece together what you like best from each variation, proof it for accuracy, and compile an optimized book description. Now you’re ready for AI prompt #2.
AI Prompt #2: Book Title
Even if you’ve already nailed the name of your new book, there might be room for improvement. So, I encourage you to not skip this step.
Here’s AI prompt #2: “Generate 10 options for a book title that will be discoverable on Amazon and Google via SEO that is compelling, accurate, and contains less than 100 characters including spaces. This is the book’s description [Paste book’s description here]”
The title and subtitle fields combined can take up as much as 200 characters (including spaces), so you could go longer than 100, but we typically recommend a subtitle that is longer than the title (to fit in relevant keywords).
Review the ten options, ask for more if needed, and be specific with additional prompts. For example, ask for an alliterated option, a rhyming variation, and a shorter or longer version. For more information about nailing the name of your book, watch this 38-minute video.
AI Prompt #3: Subtitle
Since the title and subtitle fields are given the most weight with Amazon’s relevance algorithm, it is important to include relevant words that customer use when searching for a book like yours. Those words need to flow naturally and shouldn’t appear forced or clunky. This is certainly an art and science, but it can be done, and it is worth taking the time to do it right.
Here is AI prompt #3: “Generate 5 options of a subtitle for a book called [Paste book title here] that flows naturally and will help with discoverability by including SEO keywords. Include relevant book genres and other words or phrases that explain the content in a compelling way. Limit the subtitle to [200 characters (including spaces) minus the characters in your title]. This is the book’s description: [Paste description here]”
Again, ask for another round or two of options, refining your prompt each time, so that you get closer to a subtitle that the words customers are using are incorporated in a way that flows smoothly.
AI Prompt #4: Backend Keywords
Although the title and subtitle carry the most weight in Amazon’s relevance algorithm, backend keywords also play an important part in the discoverability of your new book. This is a mysterious and confusing metadata field for many authors and publishers.
At Amplify, we’ve helped 28 publishers since 2019 and most of them weren’t using the backend keyword field correctly.
The fourth AI prompt will help.
“Generate a list of backend keywords for Amazon book metadata that will help with SEO discoverability. Apply a limit of 250 bytes. Separate the words with a single space and don’t use punctuation. Use lower case. Don’t repeat any words. Start with the words or phrases that are the most relevant with the highest search volume. Use singular terms without duplicating it with the plural counterpart. Do not include any stop words. Do not include any of the following words: new best bestselling [Paste title, subtitle, series name, and description here]”
The results will look strange, but review the list of words to make sure they are relevant (don’t try to game the system) and add those to your book’s metadata (via ONIX or KDP).
AI Prompt #5: BISAC Codes
The fifth prompt is also related to metadata. Over the course of my 25+ year career in the book business, I’ve been tasked with choosing three relevant BISAC codes for hundreds of books. This is how libraries and retailers decide where to shelve your book, so it is important to get it right.
You need to select one primary BISAC and two secondary, but still relevant, codes.
There are hundreds of codes, and it is easy to miss one that should be in the top three. Prompt #5 will help.
“Which 5 BISAC codes would be the most relevant for a [Enter book category here (i.e., children’s, fiction, fantasy, religious, self-help)] book. The title of the book is [Paste book title here], and the book’s description is [Paste book description here]”
If you want to review five or ten more, follow up with that request, and land on the three that best position your book.
AI Prompt #6: Amazon Book Categories
If you immediately follow prompt #5 with prompt #6, you can simply enter, “Now provide the same, but for Amazon book categories.”
If you’ve moved onto other things and end up coming back to ChatGPT later, the full prompt is, “Which 5 Amazon book categories would be the most relevant for a [Enter book category here (i.e., children’s, fiction, fantasy, religious, self-help)] book. The title of the book is [Paste book title here], and the book’s description is [Paste book description here]”
There are thousands of categories in the book section of Amazon, so it is important to know which ones are the most relevant for your book. Note: Amazon categories are not the same as BISAC codes.
Amazon book categories will be used in your metadata, and it can also become your list of categories to use in category-based targeting within Amazon Ads. Keep in mind, though, that not all of the Amazon book categories are available for ad targeting. They keep adding more to the list, but it remains incomplete.
AI Prompt #7: Facebook Ad Copywriting
The last four prompts are all related to marketing. Prompt #7 can guide you to the words and formatting of the copy to use in the Primary Text field of Meta Ads.
“Generate 5 examples of optimized ad copy for the Primary Text field in a Meta Ad to promote a book called [Paste book title here] that has the following book description [Paste book description here]”
Repeat the same prompt above, but swap out “Primary Text” with “Headline” and then with “Description.” The results of these three prompts should be carefully reviewed and edited, but they can be a great start to building your first Meta Ad campaigns.
AI Prompt #8: Copywriting for a Series of Organic Social Posts
Organic social media should also be part of your book launch strategy, but the wording and formatting have different best practices and limitations. So, a separate prompt will be helpful.
AI prompt #8 is, “Generate 10 distinct examples of compelling, optimized marketing copy for a series of organic Facebook posts promoting a book called [Paste book title here] that has the following book description [Paste book description here]”
Ask for more variations, giving specific guidance to how they should differ from the previous list, and then, after proofing them for accuracy, you will have a series of posts to schedule in Facebook.
AI Prompt #9: Search Terms for PPC Ads
Pay per click ads are the most effective way to engage your intended audience, especially Amazon Ads. But you need to know which keywords to bid on. Prompt #9 will identify the relevant keyword variations that have the highest volume.
“List 25 search terms that I should bid on in Amazon or Google PPC ads that are the most relevant, high-volume searches (over 1,000 searches per month) that could lead to the sale of a book titled [Paste book title here] with the following book description [Paste book description here]”
This will give you a good starting point for targeting appropriate searches with your Amazon Ads.
To learn more, watch at least part of this 25-minute video introduction to Amazon Ads for books.
AI Prompt #10: Competitive Analysis
The last AI prompt will help you better understand the market for your book. Even if you have already identified comparable titles, lean on AI to help you find others. Then learn from what they’re doing with their title, subtitle, and description.
Here’s the last prompt: “List 25 of the bestselling books (including their ISBN-10) that are relevant to a book with the title, [Paste book title here] and the following book description: [Paste book description here]”
Not only will this list of related books help you understand your market, you can then use that list of ASINs for competition-based targeting in Amazon Ads.
Conclusion
ChatGPT offers authors powerful tools for streamlining book marketing and metadata optimization. With the right prompts, you can refine your book description, boost SEO, create compelling ad copy, and ensure your book is well-positioned for discoverability and sales. Experiment with these ten prompts to unlock the full potential of AI for your publishing journey!
