For self-published authors, success on Amazon requires more than just excellent writing — it demands strategic insight and market intelligence. Whether you’re launching your first book or managing an established catalogue, choosing the right research and marketing tools can significantly impact your publishing success.
In this guide, we’ll examine the leading Amazon research tools available to self-published authors. We’ll compare their core features, analyse their cost-effectiveness, and help you make an informed decision about which platform might serve you best.
Let’s explore how these tools can help you:
- Uncover profitable niches and keywords
- Analyse competitor strategies
- Optimise your book’s visibility
- Track sales performance
- Make data-driven pricing decisions
Each platform brings unique strengths to the table, from keyword analysis to competitive research, so read on to understand which tool best fits your needs. And, good news, some of these tools are free.
Publisher Rocket: the market leader
Publisher Rocket is a powerful software designed to help you optimise your book marketing efforts on Amazon. It provides valuable data on keywords, categories, and competition, enabling you to make informed decisions about how to position your books for maximum visibility.
Amazon keyword and category research
One of the most useful features of Publisher Rocket is its keyword research tool. Amazon operates as a search engine for books, and the right keywords can significantly impact how easily readers discover a book. With Publisher Rocket, authors can identify high-traffic, low-competition keywords that potential buyers are actively searching for. This helps in optimising a book’s title, subtitle, and backend keywords, increasing its chances of appearing in relevant searches.
Amazon allows authors to choose up to three book categories when publishing, but many categories are highly competitive. Publisher Rocket helps authors find niche categories with less competition, improving the book’s chances of ranking higher and achieving bestseller status in its category.
Competition analysis
Understanding your book’s competition is crucial. Publisher Rocket provides insights into competing books, including their rankings, estimated sales, and the keywords they target. This information can help you refine your marketing strategy and identify gaps in the market.
Amazon advertising insights
For authors using Amazon Ads, Publisher Rocket simplifies the process of finding relevant keywords to target. Instead of guessing, authors can use the tool to generate keyword lists based on real search data, increasing the effectiveness of your Amazon ad campaigns.
Is it worth it?
Publisher Rocket is particularly valuable for authors who want to take a data-driven approach to book marketing. It saves time, eliminates guesswork, and provides actionable insights that can improve a book’s discoverability and sales performance.
The drawback? At USD $199 + VAT ($238.80 inc VAT) one-time fee, it represents a significant investment.
Fortunately, there are several free and affordable alternatives, which we’ll look at next.
Alternatives to Publisher Rocket
Free tools
Yes, there are free options available. As you might expect, they don’t provide all the features of Publisher Rocket, but you can gain a lot of value and insights if you put in the time to learn.
- Kindle Ranker helps authors track book rankings and keyword performance over time, allowing them to monitor your book’s visibility and adjust marketing strategies accordingly. Enter any theme, subject, keyword, or sentence and you get a full assessment of that idea’s potential, including competition, profitability, and difficulty.
- Shiny Words offers a comprehensive suite of free tools tailored for self-publishing authors on Amazon’s KDP platform, including calculators for revenue projection, tools for estimating book sales based on Amazon rankings. Also included is a category finder and niche research database to help you position your books effectively on Amazon.
- Amazon Suggestion Expander. This free Chrome extension enhances Amazon’s search bar by showing extended keyword suggestions. While not as comprehensive as Publisher Rocket, it can help authors discover new keyword ideas quickly.
- BKLNK helps analyse Amazon book categories, revealing hidden opportunities to position your books more effectively.
Low-content book tools
Authors creating low-content books — e.g. journals, planners, and colouring books — have these specialised options:
- Book Bolt (£89.99/year) offers comprehensive research, cover design, and trend analysis for low-content publishing.
- Self Publishing Titans offers a Chrome extension for category and keyword research as well as tools for low-content books.
Fully-featured options
These options are more fully featured, similar to Publisher Rocket (though the feature list is different for each).
- KDSpy Pro ($79 one-time payment) offers category research and competitor analysis via a browser extension. It allows authors to research profitable categories and keywords, find out what books are selling on Amazon, and analyse keyword trends directly from Amazon’s Kindle Store.
- BookBeam BookBeam provides in-depth keyword and category research, similar to Publisher Rocket. It offers keyword search volume, competition analysis, and estimated earnings for books in specific niches. It’s a premium choice for authors looking for an alternative to Publisher Rocket with a similar feature set for research with additional AI-powered creation tools. It is a more expensive option, starting at $47/month and up to $119/month for the pro option (discounts available when paying annually).
Specialist tracking of sales and ad spend
- Publisher Champ is primarily a sales tracking tool for self-published authors, but it also offers keyword tracking and analysis. It has automated import of your data from all your publishing platforms to monitor sales performance, plus your ad spending from Amazon and Facebook.
- KDP Wizard does something a little different – it improves the KDP dashboard experience, making it easier to manage multiple books and track performance. They say: “KDP Wizard completely automates the process of creating a spreadsheet that contains all of your Kindle Direct Publishing products, and their associated data, in one place. It works by integrating your KDP listings with Airtable — an incredibly powerful yet super easy-to-use database application.” There’s a free basic plan and paid plans with extra features are $14.99 + VAT per month (or $149.99 + VAT per year when paid annually).
Making the right choice
The best tool depends on your specific needs:
- New authors might start with free options like Kindle Ranker, Shiny Words, BKLNK or Amazon Suggestion Expander to understand basic keyword and category research.
- Low-content creators (e.g. colouring books) should consider Book Bolt for tailored design and publishing tools.
- Authors seeking in-depth research might invest in Publisher Rocket, KDSpy Pro, or BookBeam for advanced keyword and category insights.
The table below shows the features and prices of each software tool we’ve discussed.
Comparison table
| Tool | Keyword Research | Category Research | Competition Analysis | Amazon Ads Support | Sales Tracking | Pricing |
| Publisher Rocket | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | $199 + VAT one-time fee |
| Kindle Ranker | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Free |
| Amazon Suggestion Expander | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Free |
| BKLNK | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Free |
| Shiny Words | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | From free |
| KDP Wizard | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | Paid plan is $14.99
/month |
| Book Bolt | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | From $9.99 per month |
| KDSpy Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | $79 one-time payment |
| Self Publishing Titans | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | From $14 per month |
| BookBeam | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | From $47/month and up to $119/month for the pro plan (discounts available when paying annually) |
| Publisher Champ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | From £13.99/month ($16.99/month) |
Note: The prices listed here were correct at the time of publishing, but check the respective websites for up-to-date prices.
Note to software developers – did we miss something? Let us know about new features.
Wrapping up
You may wish to start with the free options to understand your specific needs, then consider scaling up to premium solutions as your income grows. These tools are investments in your author platform, and the right choice can help you reach more readers and achieve sustainable success on Amazon. Whichever tools you choose, you’ll need to spend time with them to learn how they work and revisit them to make changes.
Ultimately, success in self-publishing requires a balanced approach to data and creativity. Whilst these tools offer valuable insights, they should complement, rather than replace, your judgment and other marketing activities.
Our recommendation: Get started and see what works for you.