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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
I've heard said that Science Fiction isn't quite as popular as it used to be... but mostly, that indie SF is still strongly looked down upon. I tried peppering my tags with SF shows and movies that were similar to my works, when it applied (like Star Trek and Firefly for the Kestral books). It didn't seem to have much effect, though, which may have been more of the indie effect at work.
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As long as a book looks professional I don't think many 'normal' users of Amazon know what is indie and what is not unless it is spelled out for them. This would be particularly true of your books that are published under the name Right Brane are they not? Therefore I don't think being indie is a major factor.
As for tags using popular titles to get people in, this may be having the opposite effect. If I search for "Star Trek" as a tag on Amazon, I expect to find books on Star Trek, and would be unlikely the buy something that did not have that connection.
I'm not sure what you mean by promotion on Amazon, it's not meant to be a promotional space, it's a bookstore. If your promoting your books well elsewhere, people will go to Amazon to buy if that is their preferred store. Are you referring to the forums? I know Amazon has cracked down on publicity in these areas but this is actually welcomed by many users.
Overall I think you have to view your figures in context. Amazon has lots of boos on it, unless you are in the Top 100, bestsellers list or are being searched for by name, it is unlikely people are going to stumble upon you via Amazon. Therefore your best bet is either working to increase your standing, via a greater number of good reviews and more downloads, or increasing your Amazon exposure elsewhere. This could be providing a link to Amazon from your site/signature or promoting yourself on Kindle dedicated boards. Also bear in mind that Sci-Fi is a specialised genre and so you have a smaller target audience.
Also by taking your books out of the Kindle store you are loosing yourself the small number of sales you would have got, and also the sales of many Kindle users who may stick almost exclusively to Amazon for purchasing. Remember the vast majority of readers are not 'Tech-Savy' and are looking for the simplest way of obtaining books.