How to Change Your Audible Categories & Keywords

When you go to publish your audiobook on ACX, you get to choose one broad category and that's it. You're basically at the mercy of ACX.

But did you know that you can not only be placed in 3 categories, you can also add 3 keyword phrases for your book on ACX? It's true, and there is a process by which you can do this.

(Also, for those of you who might be thinking this is old and Amazon did away with this in 2023 – that's not true. The changed their system for print and ebooks, but not Audiobooks).

Since most authors don't know this, this means that taking the time to choose your categories and add keywords will give your audiobook a competitive advantage on the worlds largest audiobook store.

So in this article, you'll discover how to view/change your Audible categories and add keywords. 

The Importance of Audible Categories

If you're an Audible listener, whether you have a monthly subscription through Audible Premium Plus or you're more of a buy-as-you-go customer, you've likely used the search function in the Audible app. If you've ever searched by category, then you know that the algorithms tend to recommend audiobooks it thinks you'll like, but also ones that tend to sell well in that category. 

Unless you have a big enough following to compete with the big names in the broad categories, it's unlikely that your audiobook will show up in the most competitive audiobook categories on Audible. 

But that there is still something you can do. Since there are over 200 categories on Audible, it's entirely possible that you can pick the right ones for your audiobook where you don't have to compete with big-name authors dominating the broader categories on the Audible store. 

How to View Audible Categories

There are a couple of different ways to view the audiobook categories of a published Audible book. One is through Amazon, another is through Audible, and the last is with a tool called Publisher Rocket. 

Option 1: Checking on Amazon

The most straightforward way is to go to your book's Amazon page in the Kindle store and then click the Audible version of your book. This will bring up the information relating to your audiobook, including the metadata (aka categories). 

Scroll down to the Product Details area of the page and look for the Best Sellers Rank. This will tell you which categories your book is in. Pay close attention to the audiobook-specific categories in the section, as these will be the ones to note. 

Option 2: Checking With Publisher Rocket

Publisher Rocket is a tool designed to help indie authors with metadata, ad keywords, and smart publishing. By pulling information directly from Amazon and presenting it in a concise, easy-to-understand manner, Publisher Rocket can help you with important publishing decisions for Audible audiobooks, Kindle books, and print books. 

Using the Competition Analyzer function and selecting Audible Only, you can search for your audiobook and see the categories it is currently in.

Also, Rocket's Category feature lists every Audible category on it. With this, you can now see:

• Sales you'd need to make in order to be #1 bestseller in that Audible Category
• Sales to be in the top #10 in that category
• Percentage of publishing companies competing in that audible category and more

Also, you can analyze every audible category for even more in-depth knowledge including:

• Historic sales trend
• Any seasonality in a category
• Average indie price and publisher price
• Review ratings average
• Average duration of the Audiobook
• Unique things found out about that category
• And more…

So, if you haven't checked out Rocket, and learned which categories are best for your Audible book, then be sure to do that. Don't leave it up to a blind guess.

How to Change Your Audible Categories & Keywords

If you've viewed your Audible audiobook categories and determined that you need to change them, the steps below will help you position your audiobook for success on Audible. 

1. Research Your New Categories

You can put your Audible book into three total categories. It's important to note that this won't change your Amazon or iTunes categories, only the Audible ones. 

It's not a good idea to pick categories without putting some thought and research into them. Remember that changing categories won't just magically turn your book into a bestseller. Choosing the right categories is one part of an overall strategy that involves marketing, email list building, and writing more books. 

That said, it's an important part of that overall strategy. Unfortunately, picking categories can be difficult if you don't have vital information on which categories are highly competitive and which ones are less so. 

This is where Publisher Rocket comes in. Using the Audible Only feature on Rocket, you can search for categories that will be a good fit for your book but that aren't highly competitive. 

Check out Publisher Rocket here to learn more. 

There is a manual way of doing this, and it's identical to the manual way of searching for Kindle book categories. You can see an in-depth explanation of the manual process in this article on selecting Kindle categories. 

Whichever method you choose, make a list of five categories that are the best fits for your audiobook.

2. Select Three Categories

When you have your list of five categories, research them by looking at the top sellers in that category. Pay close attention to the covers, subtitles, and descriptions of these top books. 

You want your cover, subtitle, and description (blurb) to be in line with the top sellers in three of the categories. You can only choose three, so take your time and pick which three are the very best for your audiobook. 

If your book is science fiction, you may want to select a category like Military Science Fiction as one of your three categories instead of the broader overhead category of Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

It would take fewer audiobook sales in the Military Sci-Fi genre to get your book ranking high in that category than it would for the larger parent category. 

This is just an example to give you an idea of what's possible when you choose the right categories. The same remains true whether yours is a nonfiction book or a novel. 

It's worth noting here that Audible can change your categories as they see fit. However, they will generally only do this if one or more of the categories you've chosen really aren't a good fit. 

3. Contact the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX)

Since you can only choose one category when setting your audiobook up on ACX (audiobook creation exchange), the only way to change your categories is to contact ACX through email or their form with your new selections. 

Option 1: ACX Category Change Form

1. Go to this form here: https://www.audible.com/contactus-acx?n1=Updating_your_audiobook&n2=Add_remove_title_to_audiobook_category
2. Login to your account
3. Fill out the information

Option 2: Email ACX Directly

1. Send an email to support@acx.com

What to Say On the Form or Email

When you go to contact ACX, you need to ensure that you include the title of your book, your ASIN, list the 3 categories (use full category slug like in the example below), and list the 3 keywords. Also, ensure you only do one book at a time. If, for some reason you get an ACX human who isn't as good at their job, just repeat the process, or choose the other option and repeat:

Here's an example email you can use:

Hi ACX team,

Can you please put my book titled Star Child, ASIN B076PGG2XK, into the following categories:

1. Audible Books & Originals > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy >
Paranormal & Urban > Contemporary

2. Audible Books & Originals > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Superhero

3. Audible Books & Originals > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Magical Realism

For keywords, can my book please have:
“Superhero”
“Magic Academy”
“Super powers”

Thank you,

Important Notes from ACX

Here's what ACX has to say about this, from the help section of the website:

“Your audiobook can be listed in up to three categories/genres on Audible. Please review the available options here.  Once you select the categories you would like, along with corresponding sub-categories, please email your selections to support@acx.com.

Please note the following:

– We cannot change the categories for audiobooks unless they are completed. Titles that are in production or still being tested by quality assurance cannot have their categories changed.

– We cannot change categories on Amazon or iTunes independently from Audible. Typically a title will be listed in the same category on the Amazon website, if it is offered. If the Audible category is not available on the Amazon website, then it will be placed in a similar category at the retailers discretion.”

When they mention sub-categories, they're simply asking that you format your request like this: Category > Sub-category. 

It can sometimes take a little while for the change to take effect, but it typically happens in 7 to 10 business days. 

A Note About Teen/Children's Categories and Erotica

Before I wrap this up, it's important to note that there are some caveats surrounding certain categories. 

Teen and children's books cannot be combined with other categories. So you're unable to choose a single children's or teen category along with two other “adult” or “normal” categories. If your book is aimed at younger readers, then you'll want to select three categories in the appropriate age range. 

Similarly, erotica audiobooks cannot be put into regular browse categories. These audiobooks will only come up in specific erotica-related search results to prevent children from stumbling across them on the website. You aren't able to change the categories on your erotica audiobook because it's done by the editorial staff at Audible. 

So, what are you waiting for?

A solid story with a good narrator can turn an audiobook listener into a fan of your work. But in order for Audible listeners to discover your audiobook, you need to make sure it's discoverable by picking the right categories for your product. If an Audible member likes one of your books, they may go on to listen or read your other ones, which can bring a whole new source of revenue to your author business. 

If you have yet to publish your first audiobook and are unsure which way to go, check out our article on Audible vs Findaway Voices here.