Anyone Use Publisher Rocket? (Formerly KDP Rocket)

/ Marcia Meara

I have known for some time that my books are not in the right categories and I haven’t selected the best possible keywords for them. This is something I plan to work on after September 28, when I finish the last of my local wildlife presentations. I’ll have all of October, November, and December to sort things out, and hopefully lead more people to my books. 

My biggest problem is that I don’t sit down to write a story that fits a specific genre. I tell the tale as it unfolds, and it generally touches on (or wallows in) several genres. I started by placing Wake-Robin Ridge in Romantic Suspense, because–well, because I didn’t know where else to put it. But actually, most of my books are more Suspenseful Romance, with romance being the dominant theme.

One difference this makes to readers who might be misled by the category is that Suspense and Mystery lovers expect the book to wrap up as soon as the big reveal happens. Once they know “who-dun-it,” in other words. Romance readers can get downright angry if they go through all the drama with a couple, and yet the book doesn’t deliver the HEA they’ve been waiting for. So, putting books into the best category can help writers avoid readers who either end up bored with the last few chapters of the book, or who feel shortchanged because they didn’t get invited to the wedding.

I keep reading great reports about the effectiveness of the new version of KDP Rocket, which is now called Publisher Rocket. Not only does it help you “drill down” to specific categories, but it helps you find the best possible keywords, so folks can find your books. I’ve read posts by some pretty knowledgeable folks in the writing/blogging world, and I’m seriously thinking of investing in this to help me find the best way to market my books, past and future.

Before I commit, I’d like to know if any of you have tried Publisher Rocket, and if so, are you happy with it? I’ve been impressed with the videos and testimonials, but I’d like to hear from people I know a bit better. 

Any and all comments, pro or con, would be useful in helping me decide if this is the right choice for me. THANKS!


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24 thoughts on “Anyone Use Publisher Rocket? (Formerly KDP Rocket)”

  1. Spooky! This is exactly what I’m looking at, right this minute!!!
    I invested in Publisher Rocket a year or so ago, and I’ve dipped into it on occasion, though without the time to really follow through. I’ve decided it’s time to deal with this, and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s really going to help.

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  2. I need to look into this! I wrote Someone Close to Home because I was angry about failings in the care home system. It wasn’t until I came to publish it that the term ‘genre’ raised its ugly head and I’ve no idea where to place it. It’s a love story, but not a Mills & Boon; it’s suspense, but not a Girl on the Train; it’s a family saga, but not The Thorn Birds. When I’m asked about the genre I fluster and flap. Anything that can help me with this sounds brilliant. Reading Sally’s marketing advice has made me realise what a woeful job I’m doing… 😦

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    • You are NOT alone, Trish. I think this program can help, but there are still so many things I could do better. I’ve been making a Marketing To Do List, and will try to prioritize it soon. The only thing I’m decent at is making graphics, but you can’t get by with just those. If I have time, and I figure out some cool stuff, I’ll try to share it here. I can guarantee there are plenty of us who aren’t doing as well at marketing as we really need to do. It’s HARD. And confusingl. And time consuming, when you’d rather be writing. But it IS doable, if we set our minds to it, so let’s try to do better, and maybe by the time 2020 rolls around, we’ll have made some strides in that area. Especially at getting our books in the proper places where buyers can find them! 🙂 ❤

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  3. Hi Marcia I used the old KDP Rocket to learn a bit more about categories and keywords, then realised all you need to do is to look at the detail of categories in your best selling ‘competitors and choose the best of thoise as keywords. it takes. bit of trial and error experimenting but the new KDP Beta reporting helps a lot.

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    • Hi, Tony! Thanks for taking time to let us know your experience. It looks to me like the new Publisher Rocket does more than the original KDP Rocket, and has some additional features that would be helpful. For one thing, you can see what’s working for others, rather than just using the categories they used. There are a lot of statistics to help you narrow the keywords down to the ones that get the best results. Also, you can see how many competitors you have in a given slot, so you can choose less populated ones that are still getting good results. (This is just what I’ve been reading. Haven’t tried it yet).

      I’m thinking if the 30-days free trial is still an option, I might give it a go. We’ll see. Thanks again for weighing in. If I decide not to choose it, I’ll probably be trying the same things you did. 🙂

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    • I already know my categories are all wrong, so anything I do would likely be an improvement, Joan, for sure. But if I can find a way that really helps me pick the very best ones, it would be worth the cost and time, I think. Just trying to decide if Publisher Rocket is it. So far, the biggest thing it has going for it is that it’s the only option I have, besides my own obviously pathetic grasp of the situation. I’m leaning towards doing it. SOON. Unless I start hearing from people saying it’s a waste of time and money. Making a decision one way or the other in the next couple of days. I’ll definitely keep you posted. 🙂

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  7. I’ve shared so many things from Dave (the Kindlepreneur) and do believe his methods are effective, but like you, who has the time. I usually do what somebody else here shared that they look at similar books and use those categories, lol. Now I’ll wait for Deb Jay to share her experience. 🙂

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    • I’d prefer to do more than just look at what someone else is doing, though, partly because my books don’t fit neatly into categories. It’s hard to pick a book that I “think” might be like mine, then see what it’s doing. This program has real statistics and numbers for you to check, and I’ve been reading Dave Chesson for some time, so I know he’s been studying this stuff for awhile. I think for me, it’s probably going to work a lot better to have a specific program helping me, but I’ll definitely be sharing my results once I start using it. And I’m looking foward to seeing what Debby has to say, too. So far, I think she’s impressed, so I’m hoping this is the right one for me. 🙂

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