Amazon Category Research
Guided workflow for finding profitable Amazon book categories with low competition.
Quick Facts
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You can only select 3 categories per book
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Amazon has tens of thousands of subcategories
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Categories drive algorithm visibility
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Lower BSR (Best Sellers Rank) = more sales
Workflow
Step 1: Identify Your Genre Space
What broad category does your book fit?
Fiction Nonfiction
Romance Self-help
Mystery/Thriller Business
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Religion/Spirituality
Literary Fiction Health/Fitness
Children's/YA Biography
Step 2: Research Subcategories
Go to Amazon Best Sellers and drill down:
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Click your main category
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Keep drilling into subcategories until you find a niche
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Example: Fiction > Fantasy > Short Stories > Coming of Age
Step 3: Analyze #1 and #100
For your target subcategory:
#1 Bestseller:
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Find the book's product page
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Scroll to "Product Details"
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Note the BSR (Best Sellers Rank)
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Plug into Kindlepreneur Calculator
#100 Bestseller:
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Repeat the process
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Compare daily sales estimates
Step 4: Interpret Results
Signal Meaning
#1 has high sales, #100 has decent sales Healthy category with room
#1 has high sales, #100 has very low sales Top-heavy, hard to break in
Both have low sales Small market, easy to rank but limited upside
Large gap between #1 and #100 Competition concentrated at top
Step 5: Competitor Analysis
For top 10 books in your target category, note:
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Price point
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Number of reviews
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Cover design style
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Keywords in title/subtitle
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Page count
Output Template
Category Research: [Book Title]
Target Categories (pick 3)
- [Category path] - BSR range: X-Y, Est. daily sales: X-Y
- [Category path] - BSR range: X-Y, Est. daily sales: X-Y
- [Category path] - BSR range: X-Y, Est. daily sales: X-Y
Competition Analysis
- Avg price: $X
- Avg reviews: X
- Cover style: [description]
- Common keywords: [list]
Recommendation
[Which 3 categories to select and why]
Tools
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Free: Kindlepreneur Calculator
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Paid: Publisher Rocket ($199), BookBeam ($29+/mo)