Best KDP Niches in 2026: 12 Profitable Categories Worth Pursuing

Every year, KDP authors ask the same question: what niches are actually making money right now? The landscape shifts constantly. Niches that printed money in 2024 might be oversaturated in 2026, and categories nobody was talking about two years ago could be goldmines today.

We analyzed thousands of Amazon listings, cross-referenced Google Trends data, and dug through Reddit communities to find the niches that are working right now. Here are 12 categories worth your attention in 2026.

How We Picked These Niches

Before diving in, here's what qualified a niche for this list:

• •Top books have BSRs between 5,000 and 50,000 (consistent daily sales without brutal competition)
• •Google Trends shows stable or growing interest over the past 12 months
• •Competition is manageable (top books have fewer than 500 reviews on average)
• •Price points support real royalties ($9.99+ for paperback, $4.99+ for Kindle)

If you're new to BSR, check out our complete BSR breakdown first.

1. Anxiety Workbooks for Specific Demographics

The mental health space is massive, but the broad "anxiety self-help" category is brutal. What's working: anxiety workbooks targeted at specific groups. Think "anxiety workbook for teen girls," "anxiety journal for new mothers," or "CBT workbook for men over 40."

Why it works: The broad keyword has enormous demand, and the specific sub-niches have far less competition. People searching for "anxiety workbook for teen girls" know exactly what they want and will buy when they find it.

BSR snapshot: Top books in demographic-specific anxiety niches sit between 8,000 and 35,000. Review counts are often under 200.

2. AI Skills and Prompt Engineering

This one is hot and getting hotter. Books teaching people how to use AI tools for business, writing, art, or productivity are selling well. The category is still relatively new, so competition hasn't caught up to demand yet.

Why it works: AI adoption is accelerating across industries. Professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs want practical guides, not theory.

Watch out for: This niche moves fast. A book about "ChatGPT prompts" from early 2024 is already outdated. Focus on principles and frameworks rather than specific tool versions.

3. Budget Cooking and Meal Prep

Inflation pushed this niche into overdrive in 2023-2024, and it hasn't slowed down. Budget meal prep books, air fryer cookbooks for families, and "feed your family for $50 a week" type content consistently sell.

Why it works: Everyone eats, and everyone wants to spend less doing it. The keyword variations are endless: budget meals for college students, meal prep for weight loss, air fryer recipes for beginners.

BSR snapshot: Air fryer niches are competitive (top books under BSR 3,000), but "budget meal prep for [specific audience]" sub-niches have room.

4. Guided Journals for Life Transitions

Journals with prompts for specific life events: retirement, divorce recovery, becoming a parent, grief processing, career changes. These combine the journal/planner trend with genuine emotional utility.

Why it works: People going through major transitions actively seek guidance. A journal with thoughtful prompts feels more personal than a generic self-help book. Production costs are low since content is mostly prompts and writing space.

Pro tip: Pair the journal with a companion Kindle book for maximum visibility. The Kindle version drives discovery, the paperback drives revenue.

5. Small Business Finance and Tax Guides

"LLC taxes explained" and "small business bookkeeping for beginners" are perennial sellers, but the niche refreshes every year because tax laws change. Publishing an updated guide each year gives you a natural reason to re-launch.

Why it works: Small business owners need this information and prefer a book they can reference over a blog post. The annual update cycle means you can re-release with minimal new content.

BSR snapshot: Top books in this space hover around BSR 10,000-30,000 with moderate review counts (200-600).

6. Homeschool Curriculum Supplements

The homeschooling population grew significantly during COVID and hasn't shrunk back. Parents are buying workbooks, activity books, and curriculum supplements for every subject and age group.

Why it works: Homeschool parents buy multiple books per subject per year. The repeat purchase potential is enormous. And unlike traditional education publishers, indie authors can target very specific curriculum gaps.

Best sub-niches: Science experiments for elementary, creative writing prompts for middle school, math practice for specific grade levels.

7. Retirement Planning and Lifestyle

Baby boomers are retiring in record numbers and they're buying books about it. Not just financial planning, but "what do I do with my time now?" lifestyle content. Travel planning for retirees, hobbies for retirement, finding purpose after work.

Why it works: Retirees have disposable income and time to read. The demographic is massive and the emotional component (identity after work) makes these more than just information products.

8. Plant-Based and Special Diet Cookbooks

Vegan, keto, carnivore, Mediterranean, anti-inflammatory. Diet-specific cookbooks continue to sell, especially when combined with a specific angle: "plant-based meal prep for athletes," "keto for women over 50," "anti-inflammatory recipes for autoimmune conditions."

Why it works: Diet communities are passionate and actively search for recipes. The cross-section of diet type + demographic creates hundreds of low-competition sub-niches.

9. Productivity Systems and Digital Minimalism

Books about reducing screen time, building focused work habits, and designing intentional productivity systems are growing. The backlash against constant connectivity and app overload is real and accelerating.

Why it works: This resonates with knowledge workers who feel overwhelmed. It's aspirational (people buy these books wanting to change) and evergreen (the problem isn't going away).

10. Dog Training for Specific Breeds

General dog training books are saturated. Breed-specific training guides are not. "Training your Australian Shepherd," "Doodle puppy guide," or "Reactive dog rehabilitation" are all sub-niches with strong demand and manageable competition.

Why it works: Dog owners are obsessively devoted to their specific breed. They'll buy a breed-specific guide over a generic one every time. And there are hundreds of breeds to target.

BSR snapshot: Breed-specific training books often sit between BSR 15,000 and 60,000 with under 100 reviews. Very approachable.

11. Children's Activity Books by Age Group

Coloring books get the attention, but the real money is in activity books: mazes, word searches, dot-to-dot, scissors practice, and learning activities. Target by specific age (not "kids" but "4-year-olds" or "kindergarten prep").

Why it works: Parents buy these constantly, especially for screen-free entertainment and early learning. Age-specific targeting reduces competition and increases relevance in search results.

12. Personal Finance for Young Adults

"Money management for 20-somethings," "investing for beginners in your 20s," "budgeting for your first apartment." The young adult personal finance space is active and the audience is digitally native, meaning they discover books through social media and search.

Why it works: Student debt, rising costs, and financial anxiety are driving young adults to seek financial education. The language and examples need to feel relevant to their experience, which older personal finance books often miss.

How to Evaluate Any Niche Yourself

These 12 categories are starting points, not a cheat sheet. The real skill is learning to evaluate niches on your own. Here's the quick version:

1. 1.Search Amazon. Check BSR and review counts for the top 10 books.
2. 2.Check Google Trends. Stable or growing? Seasonal patterns you can plan around?
3. 3.Browse Reddit. Are people actively discussing this topic? What questions keep coming up?
4. 4.Find the intersection. Combine keywords to find the specific sub-niche where demand meets low competition.
5. 5.Calculate the economics. Can you price the book high enough to make meaningful royalties?

Avoid the five biggest mistakes beginners make and validate everything with data before you write a single word.

The Tool That Does This For You

Manually running through this process for every niche idea takes hours. BSR lookups, Google Trends checks, Reddit searches, cross-referencing keywords. It adds up fast.

NicheCatch automates the entire process. Enter your keywords, and it pulls Amazon BSR data, Google Trends, and Reddit community signals into one analysis. Then it goes a step further: it tells you the specific sub-niche to pursue and the exact book concept to write.

Not just data. The answer.