Amazon Categories: How to Choose the Right Ones
Amazon Categories: How to Choose the Right Ones
When you publish on Amazon, you get to choose categories for your book. It seems like a small decision. It's not.
The right categories can mean the difference between your book being discovered by thousands of readers—or disappearing into the abyss of 12+ million Kindle titles.
Let's get this right.
Why Categories Matter So Much
Amazon's algorithm uses categories to:
- Recommend your book to relevant readers
- Determine which bestseller lists you can rank on
- Show your book in browse searches
- Connect you with readers interested in your topic
Think of categories as the shelves in a bookstore. If your book is shelved in the wrong section, the right readers won't find it.
How Amazon Categories Work
You can select up to two categories when you publish through KDP. But here's what many authors don't know: you can actually get your book listed in up to ten categories by contacting Amazon support after publication.
Categories have levels:
- Broad: Business & Money
- Narrower: Business & Money > Management & Leadership
- Specific: Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Mentoring & Coaching
The more specific your category, the less competition—and the easier it is to hit bestseller status.
Strategy 1: Find Less Competitive Categories
Check how many books are in each potential category. You can see this on Amazon by:
- Go to Kindle Store
- Navigate to your potential category
- Look at the number in parentheses
A category with 500 books is easier to rank in than one with 50,000.
Pro tip: Categories with fewer than 5,000 books give you a real shot at reaching the top 100 and getting that "bestseller" badge.
Strategy 2: Match Reader Intent
Put yourself in your ideal reader's shoes. When they're looking for a book like yours, what would they browse?
If you wrote a book about productivity for entrepreneurs:
- They might browse "Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Time Management"
- Or "Self-Help > Personal Transformation > Success"
- Or "Business > Skills > Productivity"
List 5-10 categories that match how your specific reader thinks.
Strategy 3: Study Your Competition
Find 5-10 books similar to yours that are selling well. Check their categories by:
- Going to the book's Amazon page
- Scrolling to "Product details"
- Looking at "Best Sellers Rank"
You'll see which categories they rank in. If a similar book is doing well in a category, that's validation that the right readers are there.
Strategy 4: Balance Relevance and Competition
The sweet spot is categories that are:
- Relevant to your book's content
- Specific enough to have manageable competition
- Active enough that readers are actually browsing them
A category with 200 books that gets no traffic is worse than a competitive category with engaged readers.
How to Request Additional Categories
After your book is published, you can email Amazon KDP support to request more categories:
- Go to your KDP dashboard
- Click "Help" in the top right
- Select "Contact Us"
- Choose "Other questions"
- Request to be added to specific categories (include ASINs and exact category paths)
Amazon typically adds categories within 2-3 business days.
Categories to Avoid
Be careful with:
- Overly broad categories (too much competition)
- Irrelevant categories (might get removed and hurt your credibility)
- Empty categories (no readers browsing)
- Categories dominated by traditionally published titles (harder to compete)
The Bestseller Badge Strategy
Here's a tactic many successful self-published authors use:
- Choose one or two very specific categories with low competition
- Coordinate your launch to get a burst of sales in the first 24-48 hours
- Hit #1 in that small category
- Screenshot your "Amazon Bestseller" badge
- Use that credibility in your marketing forever
Being a "#1 Amazon Bestseller" sounds impressive whether you're #1 in a category of 300 books or 30,000.
Review and Adjust
Categories aren't permanent. Monitor your performance and adjust:
- Check which categories are actually driving sales
- Request to be removed from categories that aren't working
- Request to be added to new relevant categories
- Watch for new categories Amazon creates that might fit
Take Action
Before you publish:
- Research 10-15 potential categories
- Note the competition level of each
- Check which categories similar successful books use
- Select your initial two carefully
- Plan which additional categories you'll request after launch
Need help getting your book ready for Amazon? Start with our guided planner to make sure your book is structured for success.