Self-Publish on Amazon KDP

Shelf Research Scorecard

Companion to the lesson "Research the shelf before you write the book"

One row per candidate search term. Ten minutes per row. By the weekend you should have three candidates strong enough to argue for and one you would bet on. Your sheet is a hypothesis; the launch is the experiment.

1. Is money moving? Proof-of-concept rule taught by coaches: at least three comparable books in the niche with a strong sales rank, under roughly 500 on Amazon's best-seller rank, meaning visibly selling daily. Treat the threshold as folklore with a purpose, not physics.

2. Is there a gap? Demand proven, execution weak: old books, amateur covers, generic titles, an angle nobody has taken.

3. Can you be credible? If the shelf demands real expertise or firsthand experience and you lack it, pick another shelf.

Research Sheet

Search term	Top-3 competitors (titles)	Review counts	Publish dates	Cover at thumbnail (beat / match / lose)	Gap idea	Gift-keyword variant ("gifts for ...")	3-book proof of concept (3 rank-under-500 comparables?)
							☐ Yes ☐ No
							☐ Yes ☐ No
							☐ Yes ☐ No
							☐ Yes ☐ No
							☐ Yes ☐ No
							☐ Yes ☐ No

Note four things per visible book on the first two pages of results: title and how specific it is, review count, publication date, cover quality at thumbnail size.

Sub-Niche Pass (crowded shelf to open shelf)

Broad term	Sub-niche candidate ("for nurses", "for shift workers", "for apartment living")	Do incumbents thin while buyers remain?
		☐ Yes ☐ No
		☐ Yes ☐ No

Narrowing

Visible sales?	Weak incumbents?	My credibility?	Chosen?
☐	☐	☐	☐
☐	☐	☐	☐
☐	☐	☐	☐

Gate for the chosen one: say the search phrase, point to three books demonstrably selling, explain in one sentence the gap your book fills. Final choice: