The three pillars of a profitable niche
Every profitable KDP niche has three properties: enough demand (low BSR among top sellers), beatable competition (fewer than 500 reviews on the top books) and healthy pricing ($3.99+ for Kindle, $9.99+ for paperback). This calculator weights all three into a single decision-grade score.
Reading the score
75+ is a green light — go publish. 55–74 means viable but expect a slower ramp. 35–54 means you need a strong differentiator (better cover, deeper research, narrower angle) to break in. Under 35 means saturated by veterans or starved for readers — either way, your time is better spent elsewhere.
Finding real niche data
Use the Amazon search bar with broad terms ("keto cookbook", "sci-fi short story"), open the top 10 results and record their BSR, review count and price. Plug averages into this calculator. Repeat for 3–5 candidate niches and pick the highest score.
Beyond the score
A high score doesn't guarantee success — cover quality, blurb copy and timing still matter. But a low score almost always predicts failure regardless of how good the book is. Use this as a veto tool, not a green-light tool.
Frequently asked questions
What BSR is 'good' for top-10 average?
Under 30,000 indicates healthy demand. Under 10,000 indicates a hot niche.
Is high competition always bad?
Not necessarily — high competition means readers exist. It just raises the bar for cover, blurb and ads.
Does this work for non-fiction niches?
Yes. Non-fiction often scores lower on demand but higher on price, balancing out.
Should I trust the score over my intuition?
Use both. Score acts as a sanity check; intuition catches niche micro-trends data can't see.