Hello! Welcome back.
In our last lesson, you performed a crucial audit of your existing coloring book. You moved from the general frustration of "it's not selling" to a specific diagnosis: a severe visibility problem, likely caused by ineffective keywords, compounded by a non-competitive cover and a lack of social proof.
Now, before we rush in to fix those specific problems, we need to take one strategic step back. Is the niche your book is in even worth competing for? If you're in a market with no buyers or thousands of competitors, even the best keywords and cover might not be enough.
This lesson focuses on defining the criteria for a profitable coloring book niche. We will establish the clear, data-driven rules for identifying a market segment with high demand (people are buying) and manageable competition (you have a chance to be seen). This framework is the foundation for every successful KDP book.
The Two Pillars of a Profitable Niche: Supply and Demand
At its core, finding a profitable niche on Amazon is a classic exercise in economics: you want to find a product where customer demand is high and the available supply (i.e., the number of other books) is low.
High Demand + Low Competition = Profit Potential
Our job is to translate this simple equation into a practical research strategy on Amazon. We need concrete ways to measure both "demand" and "competition" using the data Amazon provides.
Let's begin with a clear explanation of this core concept.
How To Find Profitable Amazon KDP Niches
This article from LivingWriter provides a great introduction to the fundamental principle of a profitable niche: balancing what customers want (demand) with how many other books are available (competition).
Please read the section titled 'How To Find Profitable Amazon KDP Niches'. Focus on the core equation: High demand + low available supply = Profit potential. Stop before you reach the 'Gauge The Demand' subsection.
Now that we've established the theory, let's define the specific criteria you'll use to measure these two critical factors.
Criterion #1: Identifying High Demand
How do we know people are actually buying coloring books in a specific niche? We look for direct evidence of sales, and on Amazon, the most important metric for this is the Best Sellers Rank (BSR).
Every book that has sold at least one copy has a BSR. The lower the BSR, the more the book is selling. A book with a BSR of #1 is the best-selling book on all of Amazon, while a book with a BSR of #5,000,000 is selling very few copies, if any.
For our purposes, we can define a niche as having high demand if multiple independently published books are selling well. This proves that an individual creator, like yourself, can succeed there.
Here is our first rule:
High Demand Criterion: A niche shows strong demand if you can find at least three independently published books on the first page of search results with a Best Sellers Rank (BSR) of 300,000 or less. A BSR under 100,000 indicates very strong demand.
Let's see this criterion applied in a real-world example.
I Just Dropped $12,000/Month KDP Coloring Book Niches (with low competition)
In this video, Jeff from the JeffSetLife channel analyzes a niche called 'Cat Moments'. Watch how he quickly validates demand by checking the BSR of several books on the first page of the search results.
Watch from 01:02 to 02:40. Pay close attention as he scrolls through the first page, pointing out the BSRs of multiple books and verbalizing his rule of looking for three books with a BSR under 300,000.
Seeing multiple books with low BSRs is your green light. It's direct confirmation that customers are actively spending money in this category, making it a potentially fertile ground for your book.
Criterion #2: Assessing Manageable Competition
Finding a niche with high demand is exciting, but it's only half the battle. If you search for "coloring book" on Amazon, you'll find plenty of books with low BSRs, but you'll also see over 80,000 competing books. As a new publisher, your book would be invisible.
This is why we must also assess the level of competition. Our key metric here is the total number of search results for a given keyword phrase.
This leads to our second rule:
Manageable Competition Criterion: A niche has manageable competition if the total number of search results for your main keyword is under 1,000. While some success can be found in niches between 1,000-3,000, aiming for under 1,000 gives a new book the best possible chance to get noticed.
This is where the strategy of "niching down" becomes critical. You start with a broad idea that has high demand (e.g., "dog coloring book") and then add specific words to narrow it down until the competition becomes manageable (e.g., "pug coloring book for adults").
The following video provides a perfect demonstration of this process.
KDP Niche Research for Coloring Books using only FREE Tools: Profitable Coloring Books Niches 2020
Ben Chinnock's video on coloring book niche research clearly illustrates how to assess competition and the power of niching down. Notice how he moves from a high-competition niche to a low-competition one.
First, watch from 04:25 to 05:21, where he states his criteria for low competition (below 1,000 results). Then, jump to 10:20 and watch until 14:05. Observe the difference in competition between the broad 'dog coloring book' (over 4,000 results) and the more specific 'Labrador coloring book' (107 results).
As you can see, niching down isn't about finding an obscure topic nobody wants; it's about finding a specific corner of a popular market that isn't overly saturated.
To solidify this concept, let's revisit the LivingWriter article for a concise summary of this strategy.
Determine The Competition & Narrow The Search
This text provides a final, clear summary of how to measure competition and apply the 'niching down' strategy.
Please read the two short sections titled 'Determine The Competition' and 'Narrow The Search'. This will reinforce the 'under 1,000 results' rule and the strategy for getting there.
Conclusion
You now have a clear, data-driven framework for evaluating any coloring book niche. Instead of guessing or relying on passion alone, you can use Amazon's own data to identify opportunities with the highest probability of success.
Key Takeaways:
- A profitable niche is a balancing act between High Demand and Manageable Competition.
- High Demand Criterion: Look for at least three independently published books on the first search page with a Best Sellers Rank (BSR) of 300,000 or lower.
- Manageable Competition Criterion: Aim for niches where the primary keyword returns fewer than 1,000 total search results.
- The primary strategy to find these niches is "niching down"—starting broad to confirm demand, then getting more specific to reduce competition.
In our next lesson, we will put this theory into practice. You will use these criteria to analyze the viability of your current coloring book's niche. This will be a critical decision point: we will determine if your existing niche is worth fighting for or if your efforts would be better spent repositioning the book in a more profitable one.