How to Find Top Selling Niches and Categories for Kindle Self-Publishing
The process of writing a book starts with picking out a topic. But how do you pick one that’s both interesting and in one of the most profitable niches?
If you want to self-publish, making books in a popular niche is mandatory for success. Finding the right category and niche for your book can mean the difference between getting noticed and getting lost in the crowd.
Kindle book categories and niches help your audience find your content. Tracking interest in certain niches and keywords can help you learn what readers are interested in and how you can create content that meets those interests.
Many people make the mistake of trying to write for an “untapped market.” They believe they will get more buyers this way, but in reality, there is a reason why these markets remain untapped. They are writing books that no one is interested in.
With all the work that goes into writing, editing, and publishing a book, the last thing you want to do is have all that work go to waste. Instead, you should choose categories that attract readers’ attention so they have a higher chance of picking up your book.
Picking a popular topic means more potential readers. This can mean more profit for you, so you want to make sure you’re choosing your niche carefully.
Here’s how to identify the right niche for your future book.
Consider What People are Buying
Getting a good idea of what people are buying can help you figure out where the profitable niches are. People buy what they are interested in, which means niches with a lot of sales are niches that people are likely to continue buying books for.
While you probably can’t do a large-scale survey on what kind of books people have picked up, you can use online retailers to point you in the right direction. Doing some research on what kinds of books are selling will show you what the current best niches are to publish in.
Look at Best Sellers on Amazon
Amazon is the biggest vendor for ebooks, which makes it a great resource for seeing what people are buying.
Thousands of books are published on Amazon every day, but if you want to know what sells, you should be primarily interested in the cream of the crop. Keep an eye on the books that float to the top of the best-seller list, especially the new releases. These will show you where people are spending their money.
Luckily, Amazon makes it very easy to find out what’s selling well on their website. Bestsellers are chosen in every category and subcategory, and they’re updated every hour.
This ranking system is great for their customers, as they can find products that other people have purchased and been happy with. It’s also great for you since you can use these same tools to see what niches and topics stand out to buyers.
How to Find Best Sellers
To see Amazon’s current bestsellers, navigate to the books category and click on “Best Sellers & More” at the top of the page. From here, you can choose to look at the best-selling books based on most read, most sold, and editors’ picks. You can also sort by physical print books, Kindle books, and audiobooks.
While each of these sorting options can provide useful information, you’re probably going to want to stick to the most sold list and the format that is most relevant to how you plan to publish your book.
The books that rank highly in Amazon’s best seller’s list have topics that are interesting and engaging for readers. These are good niches to write in, as many people are buying books on the subject—your book could be the next one to top the list!
Stay Recent
Looking at best sellers only really helps if your list is recent. This is why it is a good idea to use Amazon for your research, as the listings are updated constantly, giving you up-to-date information.
A niche that was very popular a few years ago may not draw much attention today. A book that is flying off the shelves today probably won’t be pulling in the same number of sales a decade from now. This is especially true for fiction, where tastes change drastically from year to year.
Just consider the results on the market of flashfire successes like Twilight. For a few years, you couldn’t take a few steps without tripping over a supernatural romance novel or show. Now, the trend has all but died out.
If you want to capitalize on the current trends and interests, you need to make sure you are looking at rankings within the last year, preferably from the last month. Write what people want to see now, not what they wanted to see two years ago.
Publish in Evergreen Kindle Book Categories
While looking at recent trends is important, you should also try to pick book categories that won’t go out of style anytime soon. These evergreen categories avoid the “rise and crash” nature of trendier topics.
There are some topics that people will always be interested in, because there is always a need for them. Think about self-help books to improve confidence or revive a struggling relationship, or books that teach readers how to be fiscally responsible. These kinds of skills are always in high demand, as are the books that teach them.
No matter what the current climate, evergreen niches turn a profit. They help to encourage consistent sales in the long run. Your book will still be valuable a decade after its release, which means it will still be a viable purchase for many readers.
Write About What You Know
Choosing a niche that is popular is only half the battle. There are many popular niches. How do you find the right one for you to publish in?
One way to narrow down your choices is to think about what you know best. Why publish a cookbook if you don’t enjoy cooking? If you write about something you know, you can bring your expertise to the book, improving its quality and helping it stand out to readers.
Pick a Niche You Care About
Writing about something you couldn’t care less about is tedious at best and actively frustrating at worst. If you try to force yourself to write a book outline—or a whole book, for that matter— about something that doesn’t appeal to you, you’re going to end up pulling your hair out by the end of the writing process!
It can be tempting to just pick the most popular niche without any further consideration, but it’s better to release a book on what you know and what you are interested in.
This doesn’t mean you can’t research more about a topic if you’re not an expert in it. It just means you should care about the content of the book you’re publishing. When you do, your enthusiasm will be evident to readers.
Identify the New Information You Can Bring to the Table
If you have personal experience with something, it’s easier to add something new to the discussion.
Many niches are full of books with the same tired old advice. Shaking it up and approaching an issue from a new angle, or giving uncommon but helpful advice, can be just what readers are looking for.
If you have something new you want to share with the world, share it. Choose a niche that lets you bring a unique argument to the table.
Consider Hiring a Ghostwriter
Maybe there’s a certain topic you’re passionate about and which many people are interested in, but you just don’t have the expertise in the subject needed to write a really high-quality book.
If this is true for you, you may want to look into hiring a ghostwriter. With ghostwriters, all you need to do is provide the ideas. Then the writers get to work making amazing, well-researched content just for you.
The Top Five Most Profitable Niches
While certain topics may be trendier than others at times, there are many evergreen niches that are routinely very profitable. These niches always make excellent choices.
If you are completely stumped on what the topic of your book should be, here are a few options to choose from.
Health and Fitness
Fitness is an incredibly profitable industry.
People are always looking to get in shape, whether it’s through a change in diet, more exercise, or a full-body approach. While exercise may require you to get active, there’s plenty of space for reading in the exercise industry too.
Publishing a book that helps people get or stay fit is a great way to encourage sales. After all, the topic is applicable to just about everyone, which means there are many people looking for more health and fitness books.
Relationships
Relationship troubles are a common struggle. When issues crop up between two partners, or when people have trouble learning how to start a relationship in the first place, they often turn to books for more information.
Relationship advice is a niche that many people have expertise with, as they’ve had relationships of their own and can speak from experience. It’s a great option if this is a topic that appeals to you.
Entrepreneurship
Deciding to start your own business is an exciting time, but it’s a scary one too. It doesn’t hurt to have the experience of someone else to fall back on. Many new entrepreneurs seek out books on the topic so they can avoid making mistakes and keep their businesses afloat.
As a publisher, you’re likely an entrepreneur yourself, so you know the struggles that people can face when they strike off on their own. Books that discuss how to start your own business and manage the process of getting it off the ground are very popular, as are books that show entrepreneurs how to take their business to the next level.
Personal Finance
Personal finance is another topic that appeals to a wide audience.
Plenty of people have trouble managing their money. Your personal finance book could provide them with the solution they need to get their savings and budget in order, or get their credit score back under control.
Whether they need a way out of crippling debt or they want to learn how to invest their savings, books about finance are popular and relevant to many people’s lives.
Self-Help
It is natural to want to improve ourselves and become better people. Self-help books give us the tools we need to identify issues and fix them.
Self-help books cover a wide range of smaller sub-categories. Some books deal with losing an addiction, while others talk about learning to love yourself. Some advocate for a full-body approach to making improvements, while others help readers deal with a specific issue in their lives like low self-esteem, the loss of a loved one, or out-of-control anxiety.
Whatever the topic, self-help books are, as the name suggests, incredibly helpful for readers. No matter where your life’s journey has taken you, sharing what you have learned with others is a great way to have a positive impact with your books while still publishing in a top-selling niche.
How to Stand Out in a Top Selling Category
Popular niches can lead to more sales, but they also mean more competition. When there are so many books for readers to choose from, it can be hard to find a way to stand out.
Thankfully, there are many ways you can make sure your book is unique and catches readers’ eyes no matter how crowded your market is.
Research the Competition
If you want to beat the competition at their own game, you need to know exactly what that game is first. Doing a little research can help.
Look at what other books in your niche are doing. What are they getting right, and what are they getting wrong? In your own book, you should emulate their successes and try to avoid their failings so you can make a better product.
Look at Reviews
One easy way to see what readers find lacking in the competition is to check the reviews.
People are more than willing to leave their opinions of a book once they’ve read it. Check out the five-star reviews for ideas on what people liked that you should include in your own book, but don’t ignore the one-star reviews. These tell you the areas where you can improve upon the work.
Look for opportunities to do better than the competition. If they lacked actionable advice, make it a point to be clear about what readers should do. If readers had trouble getting engaged, try to make sure your book has a clear voice and contains personal stories.
Ideally, your book should sweep the floor with the competition—reviews will tell you exactly how to do this.
Bring Something New to the Table
If you’re well versed in your topic, use that to your advantage.
No one knows your life and your experiences better than you. If you share your unique perspective and knowledge in your book, you’ll have an easier time standing out in your niche.
Final Words
By now, you probably have a good idea of what kind of category your future book is going to be in. You likely also have a good idea of how to help it stand out in its niche.
Now, you just need to write it.
Deciding on a marketable topic for your book is only the first step. Ensuring the quality of your book is equally important.
If you want to make your book as amazing as it can possibly be, consider hiring a ghostwriter to help you out as previously mentioned, or finding a great editor who can help polish your writing. By making your book as high-quality as it can be, you increase your chances of having a real hit on your hands!
