KDP publishers find profitable niches by following a comprehensive research and validation process, focusing on identifying a broad niche, refining it into a sub-niche, and then validating the potential profitability and competition level of that niche.
Here’s a summary of how they do it:
Table of Contents
Identifying a Broad Niche and Sub-Niche
Start by selecting a general topic of interest or browsing categories on Amazon to see popular and trending topics.
Narrow down the broad niche to a more specific sub-niche that targets a particular aspect of the broader topic.
Research Specifics Within the Sub-Niche
Determine the specifics within the sub-niche, such as specific skills, styles, or demographic focuses (e.g., “how to draw” could be narrowed down to “how to draw for kids aged 9-12”).
Validate the Niche
- Competition: Check the number of existing books in the niche to ensure it’s not oversaturated. Ideal competition levels should be low to moderate (e.g., 100 to 3,000 books).
- Profitability: Verify if the books in the niche are selling well by checking their Amazon Best Seller Rank (ABSR). Books with an ABSR under 100,000 indicate at least one sale per day, suggesting a healthy buyer interest.
- Pricing: Assess the average price of books within the niche to determine if there is sufficient profit margin for new entries. Higher prices can indicate more room for profit, especially when planning to use ads.
Check Market Demand
Use keyword tools or Amazon’s search bar to see if people are searching for specific topics within the niche, indicating direct consumer interest.
Examine Sale Distribution
Look at the sales distribution among the top books in the niche. A few books dominating sales might suggest a high barrier to entry due to established authority figures.
Consider Demographics
Tailor the niche to specific demographic groups (e.g., adults vs. kids), as needs and interests vary greatly across different age groups.
Example Research Strategy
Here’s another video outlining a great Amazon KDP research strategy:
Here’s what’s covered:
- Start on Amazon: Begin by going to Amazon.com, the primary marketplace, and use the search bar to enter a broad keyword related to your niche (e.g., “composition notebooks”). This helps establish a starting point for deeper research.
- Explore and Diversify Searches: As you browse through the search results, jot down various niche ideas that you encounter. You don’t need to know exactly what each niche entails; an initial guess will suffice as you will verify these later.
- Deep Dive into Specific Listings: Select individual listings to explore related products, frequently bought together, and customers also viewed sections. This process will help uncover additional niche opportunities and understand market preferences.
- Documentation and Analysis: Continuously document every potential niche and related keywords you find on a notepad or digital document. This step is crucial for organizing your research and preparing for deeper analysis.
- Evaluate Niche Viability: To confirm that a niche has buyer traffic, consider the breadth of related products and the search terms suggested by Amazon as you type in keywords. A good indicator of a viable niche is the presence of multiple product variations and keywords.
- Keyword Strategy: For each potential niche, identify what the main search terms could be. This involves predicting what customers would likely type into Amazon when searching for products within that niche.
- Assess Competition and Demand: Check the Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) of products within your niches to gauge how well they are selling. A lower BSR indicates higher sales. This step helps determine if there is enough demand and what the competition looks like.
- Final Selection and Prioritization: Based on your findings, select the niches that have significant demand with manageable competition. You should prioritize niches where you can realistically compete based on your budget for ads and production capabilities.
- Seasonal and Trend Analysis: Additionally, the video discusses looking at seasonal trends and how to time your entry into seasonal niches by analyzing historical sales data to anticipate when demand will increase.
The approach emphasizes spending significant time manually researching on Amazon rather than relying solely on automated tools.
This manual approach provides a deeper understanding of the marketplace dynamics and helps in discovering untapped niches or angles that automated tools might miss.
Final Decision
Decide if the niche fits your goals, considering the effort required to compete and the potential profit margins. Validate that you can create a product at least as good as, if not better than, the current offerings to make your entry worthwhile.
By meticulously following these steps, KDP publishers can identify niches that are not only relevant and in demand but also practical and profitable to enter, ensuring they invest their efforts in creating books that have a real chance of success in the marketplace.
