5 Amazon Stats You Need to Know

When you're ready to publish your book, it's important to get to know the genre you're about to enter into. When you walk into a party, it's not only important to introduce yourself, you also need to get to know the people who are already there. Researching a few key Amazon statistics can be an easy way to understand your milieu in a relatively short period of time.

Category and Sales Rank

This is how you decide which party you would like to attend. A category is basically a book's genre or niche. You'll find a book's category if you scroll past Related Products and Editorial Reviews to Product Details. The category is at the bottom of that column.

Start searching books you love, and click on the various categories it falls into. For instance, when I explored categories I looked at books like Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, as well as other books on creativity. When you click on the categories listed it will show you the Top 100 Books Paid and Free. The bestselling books in the Paid category are often well-known books with traditional publishers. When you study these books you can learn a lot about tricks of the trade, what sells, etc. When you go into the Free category, you'll find a lot of literary entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping your books. Doing a free promotion of your book and running ads is a great way to spread word of mouth.

When you explore different categories, follow your heart. What books excite you? What's the company you long to be in?

Book Cover and Description

Once you find a category with other books that inspire you, start auditing the cover and book descriptions you find there. What conventions does this genre follow? What characteristics jump out at you about bestselling covers? What ideas do the descriptions focus on? What kind of vocabulary is used? Would you want to buy it?

Truth be told, you're likely to experience more success by studying the conventions of similar books, and doing with your own spin. This doesn't mean copying someone else's formula, it means learning from what works, and doing it in your own way.

Customer Ratings and Reviews

Reading customer reviews gives you a deeper understanding of what readers are looking for in a given category, so you can incorporate your findings into your book description, and even your manuscript. This is important because getting numerous positive book reviews helps you spread word of mouth, which readers rely on when they make a purchase, and it boosts your algorithm on Amazon. The more visible your book is on the algorithm, the more eyes it will get, without ads or promotion. If you're benefitting from the information in this book, please leave me a review. It helps me help others.

Publisher and Publication Date

You can gain so much insight by checking the publisher and the publication date. You'll find them in the same column of information as the categories. When you check the Top 100 and take the publication into account, you'll start to notice the classics in your category. Studying the publisher can help you discover industry trends. You can see the kinds of books the big publishing houses are focusing on. You might also find new opportunities with an imprint or independent press that specializes in your genre. That's why it's beneficial to google any publisher you don't recognize. You may also stumble upon literary entrepreneurs who are doing well by self-publishing and understand their strategies.

Sponsored Books and Customers also Bought

Once you start to understand the best sellers in a given category, you can go even further down the rabbit hole by looking at Sponsored Books and books that customers bought. Amazon will always give you more ideas about what to purchase, including books recommended you've recently viewed and books they recommend for you. However, the two categories mentioned in the subhead are full of people who are invested in the genre of the book you're viewing, either through cash or algorithm. Study their books and their strategies and you'll come up with ideas about how to grow your own author career.