For authors / Amazon Categories Matter More Than You Think

Amazon Categories Matter More Than You Think

Picking Amazon categories feels like one of those “I’ll deal with it later” steps.

And then you get to KDP… and suddenly it’s three category choices, a million nested options, and no obvious way to tell if you just picked something smart or something pointless.

Here’s the simplest way to think about it (from personal experience… and trial and error):

Your categories decide what bestseller lists you can show up on.

So the question isn’t “what category fits my book?” It’s “what category fits my book and gives me a realistic chance to show up anywhere?”

Let’s do it the non-mystical way.

That intro matches the article’s intent (ABSR + visibility), without sounding like a marketer trying to pump you up.

How categories actually affect your rankings

When you pick categories in KDP, it’s easy to treat it like a checkbox step.

Pick a few that sound right, move on, done.

But those choices are basically deciding where your book is going to sit on Amazon.

And that matters more than it seems at first.

Because categories aren’t just labels… they’re tied to the bestseller lists your book can show up on. So if you end up in a category that’s packed with huge books, you’re competing with all of them for visibility. If you land in something more specific, you’ve got a much better shot at actually being seen.

That’s the part most people don’t think about.

It’s not just “does this category fit my book?” It’s “if I end up here… what are my chances of showing up anywhere?”

That’s where rankings come in.

And once you start looking at it that way, you realize it’s less about picking the “perfect” category and more about not putting yourself in a spot where you have no chance.

Quick ABSR primer (so this makes sense)

First things first, Amazon tracks how every book is performing with something called an Amazon Best Seller Rank (ABSR).

You’ll see it on a book’s page, and it’s basically Amazon’s way of saying, “this book is selling better than most books on the site” or “this one… not so much.”

It’s based on recent sales, and it changes constantly. So a book can move up or down pretty quickly depending on how it’s doing.

What matters for categories is that each category has its own rankings too.

So inside a category, there’s always a #1 book, a #2 book, and so on.

And if your book climbs high enough in that specific category, that’s when it starts getting more visibility… and that little “#1 Bestseller” tag.

The Category Game: Make or Break Your ABSR

Your chosen Amazon category directly affects your ABSR, which means it affects whether you snatch that #1 spot.

Quick Example:

Competitive Category: A #1 book with an ABSR of 2,000 means you need an ABSR of 1,999 or lower. That’s like selling 90 books a day.
Chill Category: If the top book has an ABSR of 70,000, you only need an ABSR of 69,999 or lower. That’s just 3 books a day!

See the difference? 90 books versus 3 books. Huge, right?

How to pick categories in a way that isn’t random

Want to discover the best Amazon category for your book? It’s not rocket science but a crucial step to hitting that bestseller mark. Let’s get started!

Step 1: steal category ideas from similar books

This part is pretty simple. You’re just trying to find where books like yours already live.

Did you know Amazon has over 16,000 categories? Yep, but they don’t list ’em all in one place. So, how do you find the best fit?

Option one is to search for similar books. You…

Type keywords that describe your book into Amazon’s search bar.
Scope out the competition. For each similar book, check out its category list.

For example, if your book is about language, you might find categories like:

Language Experience Approach (Kindle Store)
Education Reference Books
Linguistics Books
…and more!

Your second option is to browse Amazon’s categories by…

Heading to the sidebar on Amazon and drill down through categories and
Noting down the ones that could be a good fit for your book.

Step 2: see what it takes to compete

Now you’re asking a different question: “If I end up here… what am I competing with?”

Once you’ve got a list, time to find out which category can give you the bestseller status. Here’s how:

Click the category link on any book’s sales page.
Spot the #1 bestseller. Check its ABSR and note it down.

Pro Tip: Use a Kindle Calculator to see how many daily sales you’d need to beat that ABSR and claim the #1 spot.

Crunch the Numbers: What’s Your Best Bet?

Let’s say you find that for the category “Language Instruction,” the #1 book has an ABSR of 19,761, and you’d need 13 sales a day to beat it. That could be your golden ticket to #1!

Remember, categories vary for print and Kindle books. So repeat Steps 1 and 2 for both if you offer print versions.

Step 3 (optional): use Rocket if you hate manual research

If you don’t want to do all of this manually, this is where tools like Publisher Rocket come in.

Here are some of the main reasons why I use Publisher Rocket for this task, and why you should as well.

Lists every Amazon book, ebook, and Audible category
Calculates how many books you’d need to sell to be #1 or in the Top 10
Sorts categories from easiest to hardest for ranking

Just click a button, and boom! You’ve got all the data.

Extra Perks:

Percent KU and Percent Large Publisher: See what percentage of bestsellers are from large publishers or enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. Super helpful for strategy.
Historic Category Data: A deep dive into how categories have performed over time.

The historical category data is particularly helpful. Here are some things that you can learn from analyzing each category individually:

Sales needed to rank #1 or #10
% of bestsellers in KU
% of bestsellers from large publishers
Average price, age, rating, and page count of top books
Sales trend lines for that category

With this data, you’re not just guessing; you’re making data-driven decisions for your book’s success.

Step 4: actually set them in KDP

You only get three categories now, so these choices matter more than they used to.

So with that in mind, here is how to select your 3 categories through Amazon’s KDP dashboard.

How to Do It:

Navigate to “Book Details” in your KDP Dashboard.
Select preference for Sexual Content: This could limit your category options.
Click “Choose Categories”: Under the section labeled ‘Categories.’
Pick main and subcategories: The more niche, the better.
Add more if needed: Click “Add another category” to pick more subcategories.

What to Watch For:

Age Restrictions: Books for Teen or Children’s audiences need the recommended reading age set.
Comic Books/Manga/Graphic Novels: Must be a “fixed layout comic format book.”
Kindle Singles/Short Reads: Amazon assigns these.
Companion Books: Should only be added to “Study Aid” category.

A couple category “gotchas” people don’t mention

There are a few things about Amazon categories that don’t really click until you’ve actually gone through this a couple times, and they can throw you off if you’re not expecting them.

The first one is that categories aren’t always as separate as they look. You’ll see a bunch of different paths inside KDP and it feels like you’re picking completely different buckets, but sometimes those all end up pointing to the same place. So you think you’ve spread your book out a bit… but you haven’t really. It’s not obvious when you’re setting it up.

Another thing is Amazon doesn’t just take your categories and call it a day. It’s also looking at your keywords, your description, your title… all of that. So even if you pick great categories, the rest of your setup can push your book into slightly different places anyway. That’s why everything needs to line up, not just the category picks.

And then there’s the competition side of it, which is where most people get tripped up. It’s really easy to click into a big, popular category because it looks right, but those are usually the hardest ones to get any visibility in. You might technically be in the perfect category… but you’re buried so far down no one ever sees your book.

What you’re really looking for is something that fits your book, has readers, and isn’t completely stacked against you. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to make sense.

A few extra notes before you call it done

There isn’t really a “perfect” set of categories, which is part of what makes this annoying. You’re just trying to make a solid decision with the information you have and move on.

The good news is you’re not locked in forever. If you publish and realize your book isn’t showing up anywhere, or you picked something way too competitive, you can go back and change your categories. So this isn’t something you have to stress over for hours trying to get exactly right on the first try.

It’s also really common to go after the biggest, most obvious categories because they feel like the right fit. And sometimes they are… but they’re also where everyone else is. So unless your book already has traction, it can be hard to show up in those. A slightly more specific category usually gives you a better shot at actually being seen.

If you’re doing all of this manually, it can take a while. You’re clicking through books, checking ranks, bouncing between pages… it adds up. That’s where something like Publisher Rocket can help. It pulls a lot of that data together so you’re not doing everything by hand. You don’t need it, but it definitely speeds things up if you plan on doing this more than once.

At the end of the day, categories aren’t going to make or break your book on their own. But they do affect where your book sits, and that’s one of the few things you actually get to control. So it’s worth putting a little thought into it… and then moving on.

Your action plan: get listed, climb ranks, repeat

Categories won’t fix a book that isn’t connecting.

But they will decide what lists you can realistically show up on… and that matters more now that you only get three picks in KDP.

If you want to do this manually, the “similar books + click categories + check the #1 book’s rank” method works.

If you want to do it faster (and with fewer tabs open), Rocket makes the research part way less annoying.