Kindle Spy Review Summary
Kindle Spy, aka KDSpy, is a browser extension that Kindle publishers use to reverse engineer profitable bestseller categories in the Amazon Kindle & paperback marketplace. It helps to discover opportunities in niche markets. KDSpy v5 has helped thousands of Kindle publishers optimize their book title, do proper analysis, and increase their average monthly revenue for their Kindle business.
This Is A One Time Payment Software For Just $47 And Comes With A 60 Day Money Back Guarantee!
Love it or hate it, niche research, book research, competition analysis, keyword analysis, and getting a winning edge are part of the self-publishing business.
In this article, we’ll cover Kindle Spy, its bells & whistles (the word cloud, estimated sales data, the competitor tracking feature, etc.), and the software’s main “money” feature: book category analysis.
Table of Contents
How Most People Use Kindle Spy
Let’s go over the typical ways KDSpy v5 is used, and in the next section, we’ll cover how to choose bestseller categories.
1) Checking Keyword Profitability
Let’s say I want to publish under the seed keyword paleo diet.
I went ahead, and (1) typed this see keyword phrase in the Amazon Kindle store and got my page 1 results. Next, (2) I clicked on the KDSpy browser extension to run Kindle Spy:
Doing this will give me valuable data for the top 20 ranking books, including their:
- the # of books ranked in search results
- the Kindle book title,
- the page count (some find the page numbers column useful when starting a book project),
- book price
- estimated sales for search results,
- the estimated total monthly revenue,
- the number of reviews per book in the top 20 search results,
- and the bestseller ranking (the closest this number is to #1, the more the Kindle is selling).
Also, notice the bottom-right section of the KDSpy browser extension. There’s a traffic light section:
I don’t recommend paying much attention to the traffic light system. The traffic light bubbles are more of a suggestion that KDSpy pulls from it’s Amazon integration.
The Total Monthly Revenue of the top 20 is a rough guesstimate and more of a sales revenue potential metric in my experience.
So, how does this data benefit you?
- You no longer have to check each book’s sales page manually – instead, KDSpy v5 compiles it in rows & columns in its browser extension dashboard,
- you can see how the keyword phrase is being used by the competition at a glance,
- you get a good idea of how profitable your book idea is by checking the average monthly revenue column,
- it displays the number of reviews.
The Word Cloud: A Somewhat Useful Feature…
An extra keyword results feature the Kindle Spy browser extension has is the Word Cloud.
This feature can potentially reveal keyword variations, a new book idea, and niche opportunities that you might’ve missed.
It reveals the most-used keywords that authors use in their titles & subtitles.
2) Author Page Analysis
Another way Kindle publishers use KDSpy v5 is by spying on a competitor’s author page. Analyze anyone’s author’s page!
Let’s examine a self-publisher’s author page: Steve Scott.
Notice that KDSpy v5 filters Steve’s (or any author’s) Kindle books by lowest (best selling) Amazon BestSeller Ranking (ABSR) to highest ABSR (worst selling).
Steve’s self-published books are great. He’s an expert at his craft and marketing efforts. He uses his blog and email list and optimizes Amazon’s search engine to make passive income sales from his books.
His average monthly revenue (Kindle and paperback books) has surpassed six figures in monthly revenue. I recommend checking out his self-publishing course.
You can draw from this KDSpy author analysis the keywords the author uses in his/her book titles & subtitles.
3) Track Your Competitor’s Performance for 30 Days Plus
Another cool feature KDSpy v5 has that no other Kindle software does, is keep track of other author’s book sales ranking.
You do this by simply clicking the “T” while you’re spying on a potential keyword (or author profile):
After you click on the “T,” your KDSpy dashboard will switch to the book tracking feature:
Click on the Green “Track SalesRank” button, and KDSpy will switch to it’s tracking page where you can track your competitor’s book bestseller rank for 30 days.
I find this book tracking feature one of the most valuable tools when using Kindle Spy to give you an idea of potential sales volume.
You know a book is making good monthly revenue when its bestseller rank is below 100,000. It’s even better if it’s consistently 50,000 or below!
Below is the book tracking feature mapping out the daily sales and sales rank for a competitor’s book over a 30 day period (the new version of KDSpy works just the same). I wanted to see how this book would do after a month and KDSpy’s sales tracking feature delivered.
The 30 days sales rank performance of a book in your niche is only part of an equation, but this feature validates the money to be made in said niche.
When you don’t have a Kindle publishing tool like KDSpy v5, you’d have to keep track of how well your competition is doing on a spreadsheet or paper daily…
Now that we’ve covered the 3 main ways authors & publishers use Kindle Spy and the data KDSpy provides, let’s cover categories!
The #1 KDSPy Feature That Helps You Become a Best Seller on Amazon
Why Should You Care About Your Book Categories?
2 words: more exposure.
Exposure is the name of the game when it comes to Kindle Categories, and KDSpy v5 improves your chances of selling more books by increasing your click-through-rate.
An Attractive Orange Badge Next To Your Book
Imagine you’re doing some niche research in a cookbook niche, and you come across some books on the first page of results, and they’re doing well.
2/3 books above clearly stand out more in the image above (put aside the red arrows).
Enter… The attractive orange “Best Seller” badge that yells “Click me!” to prospective buyers.
Best sellers have the Best Seller icon by their book, usually has the upper hand in the rankings.
The simple orange badge leads to higher click through rates for your books and signals to Amazon’s algorithm that your book should be ranked higher.
You can get a Best Seller sticker by being the #1 best seller in your respective ideal book category.
How to Do Book Category Research With Kindle Spy
Step 1 – Figure Out Your Competitors’ Categories
As you can see, the example book above is an Amazon best seller in the category Native American Cooking, Food & Wine, and is also ranking #1 for the keyword Instant Pot Recipes Cookbook (at the time of writing this article).
Going to the book’s page, I can see that the book is a best seller in 3 categories.
Let’s choose the third one on this bestseller list. We can access this category page by clicking the blue hyperlink above.
This example book sits firmly at the #1 spot, out of many books, for this category’s best seller list.
Step 2 – Analyzing Category Pages with KDSpy
KDSpy can analyze the top 20 books and more on any best seller category page – including both Kindle books and physical books (when applicable).
When I click on the KDSpy browser extension, this is what I get for this example:
If you hover over the red “i,” the extension will tell you how many sales are required in 24 hours to be #1 in the category!
Notice that KDSpy compiled the top 17 books in the category and provided important key performance indicators about them.
The Sales Rank column is a good indicator of how profitable a book is. The more books under 100K – the better.
But, things are not as black and white. The higher-performing books there are in a category/niche, the more competitors there are fighting for that #1 spot (typically).
This is why I recommend adding the maximum number of categories in your KDP dashboard settings.
KDSpy also shows you the average sales rank, average monthly revenue, and more:
Notice that the profit potential (Avg. Monthly Rev. and Sales Rank) are much better than the prior category, but the competition is strong. You can tell by the Price column.
The Next Steps are to choose the best categories and add them to your KDP account!
The KDSpy Review Verdict
Pros
- Works On Kindle & Paperback Books & Hardcover Books
- Free Updates (Lifetime Updates)
- Can’t Beat the 1-Time Payment Price
- Makes Book Category Selection Easy
- Rank Tracking for Competitor’s on Amazon & Estimated Monthly Sales
- View Author Pages, Book Rankings, Sales Information, and How the Sales Algorithm Works
Cons
- No Monthly Amazon Search Volume for Keyword Phrases
Related: KDROI is a promotion extension and a KDSpy upsell that submits your book to promo sites. Read our KDROI review for more details.
Final Thoughts on KDSpy
Kindle Spy v5 is just one of the many market research tools in the Kindle Publishing world. It’s not going to break or make your Kindle publishing business – no research tool will.
However, KDSpy can give you an upper hand in the research process (choosing categories & keywords wisely) and in the search results as an indie author, self-publisher, and/or business owner.
Wesley Atkins is the creator of Kindle Spy, and I’ve seen some KDSpy version updates over the years.
These free updates and accepting user feedback give users confidence that this software will be around for a long time, even when Amazon has algorithm changes.
You can’t beat the price for the lifetime access KDSpy browser extension, which is a low $47!
Does KDSpy work with both PC & Mac?
Yes, and it uses very little disk space! It’s easy to install, Mac and PC compatible, and available for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.
If you’re looking for a competitive edge in search results and a much better chance of your book(s) getting the best seller badge, I recommend using KDSpy v5.
Alternative Software to Kindle Spy
Kindle Spy v5 search tool, by Wesley Atkins, has made its mark as one of the best Kindle publishing software applications on the market. Its keyword analysis section is one of the best.
However, you might’ve heard about Publisher Rocket (formerly known as KDP Rocket) created by Kindlepreneur.
Both self-publishing software shares common features but also have features the others can’t do.
For instance, Rocket can’t track a competitor’s book monthly ABSR performance.
On the flip side, Kindle Spy doesn’t provide estimated Amazon Searches Per Month for keywords and search suggestions. Kindle Spy is also not a keyword research tool for AMS ads – these are the few page spying limitations with KDSpy.
Both publishing tools are good for your self-publishing empire and tool belt. Learn more about Rocket in our Publisher Rocket review (example tutorial included). I lightly touch on Kindle Samurai in that article…
I recommend giving both search tools a try if you’re in the book business. Each software tool has a money-back guarantee and costs a one-time payment.