Gardening, Plants, Math & Ghosts in Life: part-time
Lost in Translation Around the World
My novel Life: part-time, is attracting a variety of unusual Book Category interpretations at Amazon locations worldwide. In the US, the novel appears in the standard book category FICTION & LITERATURE, with sub-categories of > Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, and Magical Realism.
At Amazon UK, in the paperback book category Life: part-time is listed in: CRAFTS, HOBBIES & HOMES > Gardening > Plants. (Screenshot to the right: See the category text above the book cover.)
That’s quite a category stretch for fiction. But I will say that the descendants of the druids understand the roots of the Life: part-time story. Gardening and the plant kingdom play a significant role in the lead character’s creative journey. The UK book category designation does cover many of the novel’s themes. I’m not sure how many gardeners will be looking for a novel in a non-fiction category. But if gardeners are looking for an intriguing story where the main character has a uniques relationship with the plant kingdom and has developed ideas about how we can have a healthy, productive, economic relationship with plants and seeds, well, they’ve found their book.
These UK book category interpretations are only for the paperback edition. For the Kindle edition, Amazon UK has the same categories we have here in the US.
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Let’s travel east to India, where Amazon India lists the paperback edition of Life: part-time in Textbooks & Study Guides > Higher Education Textbooks. I’m flattered! A novel as a textbook for living a meaningful life. I like that.
The main characters in Life: part-time are on their life journey, hopefully learning from their experiences. I wonder, though. Why is my novel’s paperback edition getting recategorized from fiction to non-fiction outside of the US?
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On to Italy. Buona giornata to my relatives via my mom, Angelina Urgo. Amazon Italy has a unique category interpretation for the novel. Libri › Libri universitari › Scienze e matematica
Books – University Books – Science and Mathematics
Interesting. Science and Mathematics. Okay. I’m listening, I’m curious. I’m confused. Science, yes. The physics and metaphysics and science of the earth, seeds and nature. Math? Hmm. Mathématiques Italia? I’ll have to think further on this one.
Grazie ai miei compagni amanti del libro in Italia. La vita è bella.
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Let’s close the literary world tour in Japan for a fun, genre interpretation of the novel at Amazon Japan. Their category slot for the paperback edition of Life: part-time is Romance > Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost. That’s a lovely interpretation. Very close, but (Spoiler alert!) there are no ghosts in the story. There is an entity that could play the part of a ghost or spirit in someone’s film adaptation, but this is not a ghost story. I can see the lovely, delicate, animated movie adaptation by Hayao Miyazaki.
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Authors (and readers) know that accurate book category listings are essential to getting a book discovered online. Let’s see what happens when I contact Amazon about correcting these category listings. I’ll post an update when they’re fixed.
