Amazon Book KDP Categories: Choose Your Best-Fit Genre

okay so categories are literally where most people mess up their entire launch

I was watching this true crime thing on Netflix last week and had three clients email me the same question about categories and I realized… nobody actually gets how this works. They think it’s like picking tags on Instagram or something.

So here’s the deal – Amazon gives you two categories when you upload your book. TWO. That’s it through the dashboard. But here’s where it gets interesting and honestly kinda broken… you can email KDP support and get up to 10 total categories. I do this for literally every single book now.

the categories you see aren’t all the categories that exist

This is gonna sound weird but Amazon has like… hidden categories? Not hidden exactly but you can’t select them from the dropdown menu when you’re uploading. You gotta know the BISAC codes or the exact category path to request them.

For example, I published this journal about gratitude last year and in the dropdown I could only pick like “Self-Help > Journal Writing” but there’s actually way more specific categories like “Self-Help > Journal Writing > Gratitude” that only show up if you know to ask for them or if you browse the actual Amazon store.

What I do – and this takes maybe 20 minutes but saves you so much hassle later – is I go to Amazon and search for books similar to mine. Not just any books, but ones that are ranking well. Like bestseller rank under 50k in the paid store. Then I click on them and scroll down to “Product Details” and look at their categories listed there.

write down the FULL category path

You need the whole thing. Not just “Crafts & Hobbies” but “Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Papercrafts, Stamping & Stenciling > Book Making & Binding” – yeah it’s long and annoying but you need every single part of that path.

I keep a Google Doc now with like 40+ category paths I’ve collected for different niches. My cat walked across my keyboard last month and deleted half of it which was… fun. But I rebuilt it.

how to actually choose which categories

Okay so you’ve got your list of potential categories from competitor research. Now you gotta be strategic because even though you can get 10, you want the RIGHT 10.

Look for categories where:

• The #1 bestseller has a rank that’s not insanely good (like if the top book is ranked #500 overall, that category is too competitive)
• You can actually see yourself breaking into the top 20 with some marketing push
• The books ranking well are similar quality to yours – don’t put your basic notebook in a category full of 300-page illustrated workbooks
• The BSR (bestseller rank) of the #10 or #20 book is achievable

I aim for categories where the #10 book has a bestseller rank of like 100k-300k depending on the niche. That’s usually doable with a small launch push.

wait I forgot to mention the bestseller ribbon thing

So Amazon puts those orange “bestseller” flags on books that hit #1 in any category. ANY category. Even super obscure ones. This is why categories matter so much – that orange flag increases your conversion rate like crazy.

I tested this last year with two identical coloring books, same marketing budget, everything. One I put in competitive categories, one I put in easier categories. The one in easier categories got the bestseller ribbon within 48 hours and ended up selling 3x more over the next month even though I stopped actively promoting both of them.

People see that ribbon and their brain just goes “oh this must be good” even if it’s bestseller in like “Books > Crafts > Knitting > Socks > Wool Socks > Norwegian Patterns” or whatever.

the actual process of getting more categories

Alright so you’ve published your book, you picked your initial 2 categories from the dropdown (pick your best two). Now you’re gonna email KDP support.

Go to your KDP dashboard, click Help, then Contact Us. Select “Publishing Your Book” and then you can email them. Here’s basically what I write every time:

Hello, I would like to add additional categories to my book [BOOK TITLE] (ASIN: [YOUR ASIN]). Please add the following categories: [then I list out the full category paths, one per line]

They usually respond within 24-48 hours and just… do it. Sometimes they say a category doesn’t exist or isn’t appropriate and you can push back or suggest alternatives.

oh and another thing – categories change

Amazon shuffles categories around sometimes. I had a book that was doing great in a category and they just… merged it with another category one day. Killed my rankings. So every few months I check my books and make sure the categories still make sense and still exist.

keyword vs category confusion

People mix these up constantly. Keywords are the 7 keyword phrases you enter in your backend metadata. Categories are the browsable shelves your book sits on.

BUT – and this is important – your keywords can sometimes push your book into additional categories automatically. Like if you use “meditation journal” as a keyword phrase, Amazon might auto-categorize you into meditation categories even if you didn’t request them.

My strategy is to use keywords that complement my categories. So if I’m targeting gratitude journal categories, my keywords focus on related terms that might trigger other relevant auto-categories.

this is gonna sound weird but don’t ignore tiny categories

I’ve got a book in this super specific category about travel journals for RV trips or something equally niche. There’s maybe 200 books in that category total. I’m permanently ranked in the top 5 there and it sends me consistent sales every single week.

Everyone wants to be in the big categories – Self-Help, Business, Fiction bestsellers. But those are brutal. The tiny categories add up. I’d rather have 6 bestseller ribbons in small categories than struggle to rank top 100 in one massive category.

checking your actual performance in categories

Your book page shows your bestseller ranks in each category. You gotta scroll down to Product Details and you’ll see something like “#5 in Books > Self-Help > Journaling” and “#42 in Books > Self-Help > Personal Transformation”

Check this weekly at first, then monthly. If you’re not ranking well in a category after 30 days, swap it out. Email KDP support again and ask them to replace Category X with Category Y.

I do category optimization like… three times in a book’s first 90 days usually. First set based on research, second set after I see initial data, third set once I understand where the book actually performs.

my client canceled last week so I spent like three hours comparing category performance across my catalog

Found out that my books in “Education & Reference” categories consistently underperform compared to “Self-Help” categories even when the content is basically the same. People browsing education categories want different things or have different buying behaviors I guess.

Same with “Humor” categories – I had some funny journals in humor categories and they did terrible. Moved them to “Writing > Journals” type categories and sales picked up. Sometimes the obvious category isn’t the performing category.

the BISAC code shortcut

Okay so if you’re publishing through like Draft2Digital or IngramSpark or other distributors, they use BISAC codes which are basically industry-standard category codes. You can look these up on the BISAC website.

But for KDP, honestly? Just use the full category path from Amazon’s actual site. It’s more accurate and KDP support knows exactly what you mean. I tried using BISAC codes once and the support person was confused.

Save yourself the headache – browse Amazon like a customer would, find your categories on actual book pages, copy the exact paths.

subcategories are your friend

The deeper you go in categories, generally the less competition. “Books > Business” has millions of books. “Books > Business > Organizational Learning > Knowledge Capital” has like… hundreds maybe?

As long as it’s legitimately relevant to your book, go deep. Don’t mis-categorize just to game the system because Amazon will move you or readers will leave bad reviews saying “this isn’t what I expected from this category”

But if your book honestly fits multiple deep subcategories? Use em all.

I gotta say, categories are probably the most under-utilized tool in KDP because people just don’t wanna do the research. They pick two random categories at upload and forget about it. Meanwhile I’m over here with my 10 carefully researched categories getting bestseller ribbons and way better visibility. It’s not even hard, it’s just tedious? But tedious makes you money in this business.