Why Authors MUST Understand Their Book's Amazon Ranking

In 2018 Amazon had 43% of the US sales of books (Bloomberg Study, 2019).  In 2021, it could be 50% or more.  If you are an author, you must pay attention to Amazon and understand how it works for your book to be successful.  

The first thing to understand is the Amazon ranking.  If you look at any book there is an Amazon best sellers rank, category rankings, and potentially a chart ranking.

Before we dive into the meaning of each ranking it’s imperative that you understand this one thing: the rankings are fluid and are not specifically correlated with a set number of book sales.  The ranking is based on how many books are sold in comparison to the millions of other book sales on Amazon.  This can change hourly depending on your ranking. 

 Let’s dive in.  

Amazon Best Sellers Ranking

Located in the Product Details on the book page this number tells how well the book ranks, via sales, compared to all the books on Amazon.  In the example below, the Amazon Best Sellers rank is #67 for this specific book which means that out of the millions of books for sale on Amazon this book sells enough copies to be #67.  This is where all authors want to be, in the top 100 of all the books.

In this example, the book is ranked in three specific categories:  Popular Social Psychology & Interactions, Business Processes & Infrastructure, and Personal Transformation Self-Help.  In each category and subcategories, Amazon displays the Top 100 Best Sellers in that category.  Remember, this is different from the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.  Keep in mind that this #67 ranking can change hourly.  It may go lower to let’s say  #55 (which actually is higher in the rankings) or may rise to #81for example (which actually means to drop in the rankings).  Amazon’s algorithms calculate in near real-time.  

Why watch this ranking? This is the best indicator to know what is happening in real-time each day with a book.  It’s especially important if marketing campaigns are active and authors want to measure their ROI. 

A word of caution.  Watching this ranking is highly addictive.  It can change hourly so it can be a huge time waster if the ranking is constantly being checked.  

Amazon Category Rankings

Why is Category Ranking important to understand?  First, if you want to claim the title of being an Amazon #1 best-selling author you need to know which category and sub-categories your book will fall. This allows you to estimate how many books you need to sell in a day’s time to reach the #1 spot.  When your book reaches the #1 rank in one of the book’s categories Amazon will add a nice badge to the book listing page that says #1 Best Seller (see the example below of the Flour Water Salt Yeast book). The badge is right below the stars.

Category rankings are also located in the Product Details of the book listing.  This ranking is based on categories and sub-categories of the book.  These categories start at really broad genres and become really granular.  A general topic is Science Fiction and Fantasy.  A very specific topic would be Time Management (Books > Self-Help > Time-Management).  You can explore all of the categories on Amazon’s website here.  

In the example above the book is ranked in three specific categories.  Popular Social Psychology & Interactions, Business Processes & Infrastructure, and Personal Transformation Self-Help.  In each category and subcategories, Amazon displays the Top 100 Best Sellers in that category.  Remember This is different from the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.  In the example below the book is #67 on the Amazon Best Seller but is #2 in the Business Processes & Infrastructure category. (I know it’s confusing) 

As with the Amazon Best Sellers Rank, the rankings in these categories are fluid.  They can change each hour based on how well all the books in those categories are selling.  

Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, the next time you hear of someone who claims to be an #1 Amazon Best Seller you can ask them in which category. 

Amazon Charts

The last item to cover is Amazon charts.  Each week Amazon will display the Top 20 Most Sold & Most Read Books of the week in Fiction and Nonfiction.  The most-read category only relates to Kindle eBooks and audiobooks because Amazon can track how many pages a customer has read or listened to. The Most Sold chart factors in print books, ebooks, audiobooks, and digital subscription program.  

If you have a book that is selling well, and it’s available in a variety of formats you could make the Top 20 list.  If you make it Amazon will provide you with an Amazon Charts badge on your book listing.  See the example below. 

Amazon is a complicated machine and new features, marketing tools, algorithm updates, and book listing updates are constantly being refined and updated.  It’s in your best interest as an author to understand how they work.  

Amazon is on track to own half the market on book sales so understanding how they work is essential to your success as an author.