Hello! Welcome back to the course.
In our last lesson, we established the two core criteria for a profitable coloring book niche: high demand (proven by sales) and manageable competition (a chance to be seen). This gave us a theoretical framework for what to look for.
Today, we get practical. This lesson is all about applying that framework using Amazon's own tools. You will learn how to use the search bar and bestseller lists to gather the raw data needed to analyze your current coloring book's niche. By the end of this lesson, you'll have performed a data-driven viability check on your niche to see if it's a field worth competing in.
Step 1: Using the Search Bar to Assess Competition and Find Ideas
The Amazon search bar is your primary research tool. Its most immediate use is to quickly measure the level of competition in your niche.
Remember our criterion from the previous lesson: we are looking for niches with fewer than 1,000 search results to give a new book the best chance of being discovered. Let's see how to check this.
Monochrome Coloring Books... a HUGE New Amazon KDP Niche!
This short clip from the Self Publishing Empire channel demonstrates the first and most basic step of niche analysis: checking the number of search results to gauge competition.
Watch from 01:00 to 01:35. The key takeaway is how to find the total number of search results for your keyword and what that number signifies about competition.
This simple number gives you an instant snapshot of how crowded your niche is.
The Search Bar as an Idea Generator
Beyond just checking numbers, the search bar is a direct line into the customer's mind. When you start typing, Amazon's autocomplete feature suggests what other people are actively searching for. These suggestions are niche ideas handed to you on a silver platter.
This is an iterative process. You might start with a broad idea, but let the search results and suggestions guide you to a more specific, less competitive niche.
The Part Most KDP Creators Skip: Let Research Pick the Niche
This article from Renee Clancy, titled 'The Part Most KDP Creators Skip', provides an excellent narrative of this research process. It shows how a publisher starts with one idea and uses Amazon's search feedback to pivot to a more viable niche.
Read from the beginning down to the section 'Step 5: Validate the Niche With Search Volume'. Pay attention to how the author starts with a broad idea ('coloring books for moms'), realizes it's not strong, broadens it ('coloring books for women'), and then discovers a powerful sub-niche ('devotional coloring book') by observing repeated patterns in the results. This demonstrates the mindset of letting data guide your decisions.
Step 2: Using Search Results and Bestseller Lists to Measure Demand
Once you've identified a niche with manageable competition, you must confirm that customers are actually buying books there. This is where we look for the Best Seller Rank (BSR).
Finding BSR on Product Pages
As we discussed, a lower BSR means more sales. Your goal is to find at least three books in your niche with a BSR under 300,000 to confirm healthy demand.
The video below shows you exactly where to find the BSR on a book's product page.
Monochrome Coloring Books... a HUGE New Amazon KDP Niche!
Let's return to the Self Publishing Empire video. This next segment shows you how to locate the BSR and interpret what it means for sales demand.
Watch from 01:35 to 03:20. Focus on where the 'Best Sellers Rank' is located in the 'Product details' section and the general rule of thumb that a rank under 20,000 indicates very good sales for a coloring book.
Using Bestseller Lists for Discovery
Another powerful, free method for analyzing niches is to browse Amazon's own Bestseller Lists. This approach allows you to see what's currently trending and discover profitable sub-categories you may not have thought of.
This method involves starting at the top-level "Books" category and systematically drilling down into sub-categories relevant to your interests, like "Coloring Books for Grown-Ups."
How to Find Endless Profitable KDP Niches (4 Ways)
This video from Tomass at BookBeam demonstrates the 'top-down' research method of using Amazon's bestseller category lists to uncover niche ideas and analyze trends.
Watch from 03:16 to 06:12. Observe how he navigates from the top 100 books to the 'Crafts, Hobbies & Home' category, identifying repeating themes like 'medicinal herbs,' 'crochet,' and 'gardening' as potential niche leads.
This "category mining" technique is a fantastic way to understand the broader market and see where demand is concentrated.
A Systematic Approach to Niche Mining
We've now looked at several practical techniques. To bring it all together, here is a clear, step-by-step guide that formalizes the process of using Amazon's categories and search to find and validate niches.
KDP Niche Research: The 5-Step System to Find Profitable Sub-Niches
This guide from KDPEasy, titled 'KDP Niche Research: The 5-Step System', provides a structured methodology. We will focus on the first step, which perfectly aligns with what we've just discussed.
Please read 'Step 1: Category Mining' and the 'Example: Coloring Book Niche Mining'. This text reinforces the strategy of drilling down into sub-categories and provides clear examples of what 'too broad' versus 'profitable sub-niche' looks like in practice, mentioning target numbers for search results and reviews.
Your Turn: Analyze Your Current Niche
Now it's time to apply these methods to your own coloring book. Take the primary theme of your book (e.g., "mandala coloring book," "animal coloring book") and perform the following analysis.
- Start Broad: Go to Amazon and type in the main, broad keyword for your book's niche (e.g., "animal coloring book").
- Assess Competition:
- What is the total number of search results? Is it over or under 1,000?
- Niche Down (If Necessary):
- Using autocomplete suggestions or ideas from the bestseller lists, add a specifier to your keyword (e.g., "jungle animal coloring book for toddlers").
- Repeat the search. What is the new number of search results? Keep refining until you find a keyword with under 1,000-3,000 results.
- Assess Demand:
- On the search results page for your refined keyword, open the top 5-10 independently published books in new tabs. Ignore sponsored ads for this analysis.
- For each book, scroll down to the "Product details" and find its Best Sellers Rank (BSR).
- Do at least three of these books have a BSR of 300,000 or less?
Based on your findings, make a preliminary judgment: does your current niche appear to be viable, or does it seem to have either too much competition or too little demand?
Conclusion
You now possess the practical skills to investigate a niche's viability directly on Amazon. You are no longer guessing; you are making decisions based on the two most important factors: competition and demand.
Key Takeaways:
- The Amazon search bar is your tool for measuring competition (number of results) and discovering customer search terms (autocomplete).
- The Best Seller Rank (BSR), found on the product page, is your primary indicator of customer demand.
- The Bestseller Lists provide a top-down view of popular categories and trends, helping you discover new niche ideas.
- The process is iterative: Search → Analyze → Refine → Search again.
In our next lesson, we will dive deeper into the data. You've learned to find the BSR, and next, you'll learn how to analyze the BSR of competing books to estimate potential sales volume. This will help you understand not just if a niche is selling, but how much you could potentially earn.