amazon-category-research
Research profitable Amazon KDP categories for book publishing. Use when planning a book launch, analyzing competition, or optimizing category selection for discoverability.
SKILL.md
Full skill instructions
Amazon Category Research
Guided workflow for finding profitable Amazon book categories with low competition.
Quick Facts
- You can only select 3 categories per book
- Amazon has tens of thousands of subcategories
- Categories drive algorithm visibility
- 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:
- Click your main category
- Keep drilling into subcategories until you find a niche
- Example:
Fiction > Fantasy > Short Stories > Coming of Age
Step 3: Analyze #1 and #100
For your target subcategory:
#1 Bestseller:
- Find the book's product page
- Scroll to "Product Details"
- Note the BSR (Best Sellers Rank)
- Plug into Kindlepreneur Calculator
#100 Bestseller:
- Repeat the process
- 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:
- Price point
- Number of reviews
- Cover design style
- Keywords in title/subtitle
- Page count
Output Template
## Category Research: [Book Title]
### Target Categories (pick 3)
1. [Category path] - BSR range: X-Y, Est. daily sales: X-Y
2. [Category path] - BSR range: X-Y, Est. daily sales: X-Y
3. [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
- Free: Kindlepreneur Calculator
- Paid: Publisher Rocket ($199), BookBeam ($29+/mo)