This is a follow up to my Research your eBook Competition on Amazon article, where I shared a step-by-step method for conducting your competitive research manually, using Amazon’s search functions.

In this article I’m sharing the prompts that will help you assess each element of your competitive research:

• Book Title
• Cover Image
• Look Inside Feature
• Author Credentials
• Book Description
• Number of Reviews and Average Review Rating
• Publication Versions and Price Point
• Number of Pages
• Publication Date
• Publisher
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank
• Category and Ranking
• Positive and Negative Reviews
• Personal Impressions

Book Title

• Is it a generalist guide or does it include a theme or angle in the description?
• How is the title structured?
• Does the book description adequately reflect the book’s content? (You can use the book description and Look Inside feature to assess this.)
• Are the theme and angle evident from the title or do you have to delve deeper?
• What keywords does the title include?

Cover Image

• Does the book’s cover look professionally created or does it scream “self-published”?
• What do you like and dislike about the cover?

Look Inside Feature

• Does the sample section provide additional information about the theme, angle, or target audience?
• Is there an introduction that explains how the content is being approached?
• Does the book’s internal formatting look professionally created or does it scream “self-published”
• What do you like and dislike about the internal formatting?
• Are there images in the Look Inside feature?
• Has the author included a link to join their mailing list?

Author Credentials

Not all authors create an Amazon Author page (which is a lost opportunity, especially since it’s free—but more about this topic in Book 4).

• If they have an author page, have they written other books on the same topic? (If they don’t have an author page you’ll be taken to a page listing their books, but it will also include books by other authors.)
• Could they be considered a subject-matter expert for the destination? (For example, have they published a series of related books?)
• What unique credentials or training do they have that relates to their topic? (Check their author bio on their author page.)

Book Description

• Are the theme and angle evident from the book description?
• Does the description include a table of contents or summary of what’s included in the guide (or what’s not included)?
• Does the author establish their expertise in the description?
• What elements of their description do you like and dislike?

Number of Reviews and Average Rating

A low quantity of reviews could indicate that it’s a new publication, not very good, or that the author hasn’t actively promoted their book.

• How many reviews does the book have?
• What is the book’s average rating?

Publication Versions

• Is the book only available as an e-book, or is it also available in print and audio?

Price Point

When you set your book’s price, you’ll need to do some additional pricing research, but capturing this information now helps you with your price point decisions.

• What is the list price for the different book formats?
• Is it enrolled in KDP Select? (You’ll see Kindle Unlimited noted under the Kindle version.)

Number of Pages

The number of pages is one of the elements you can use to differentiate yourself from other books covering the same topic. It also has an impact on setting a realistic price point.

Depending on the number of pages, it could be considered a short read and appear in the short read Amazon category. If it’s a long book, it could indicate the author has done an in-depth review of the destination, or that they have included a lot of irrelevant filler information.

• How many pages does the book have? (For e-books this is based on an Amazon calculation.)

Publication Date

Travel guides need to be frequently updated (if not annually, at least every two years) because the information becomes out of date. So by checking the publication date you’ll get an idea of how current the guide is.

• What is the publication date?

Publisher

This is an important marketing element that comes into play when you’re positioning your travel guide in the marketplace.

• Is the travel guide published by a major travel publisher, a small press, or an indie author?

Amazon Best Sellers Rank

Seller ranking changes constantly, so this piece of information is just a point-in-time gauge to see how popular a title currently is based on sales or free downloads.

• What is the book ranking?
• Is the ranking in the Free or Paid rankings?

Category and Ranking

Up to three categories will be listed, along with the ranking within that category. If you want to compete against this title then it’s important to know which categories it appears in. By default, Amazon chooses which categories you appear in based on your book’s information and the keywords you choose. If authors have chosen their keywords badly, they could end up in an inappropriate category.

• Which categories is the book in?
• Are the categories relevant to the book’s core content?

Positive and Negative Reviews

Filter the reviews by star rating and start with the 2, 3, and 4-star reviews. These will be the most useful. The 5-star reviews are usually all positive, and the 1-star reviews are usually all negative, but the other reviews usually point out the positive and negative elements of the book.

This type of qualitative review is a goldmine because it’s coming from your target audience. You may spot a recurring theme about what is missing from the book, how the content is organized, or the author’s expertise.

• Are there any positive and negative comments within the 2, 3, and 4-star reviews?
• Is there a recurring theme in the reviews?

Personal Impressions

As you review your competition, you’ll get a feel for the positive and negative elements of the book’s content and Amazon listing. It’s good to capture these first impressions during the competitive review process to help you with the positioning and launch of your travel guide.

• Are there any elements of this book that stand out as excellent, or that you had a strong negative reaction to?
• Are there any elements that you want to make sure you use in your Amazon listing?

Tip: It’s a good idea to make a note of the ASIN number or URL so you can easily find the book in the future to refer back to.

Repeat this competitive analysis for each of the books you’ve identified as your competition.

Worksheet: Researching Your Competition

This competitive analysis is an important step, so don’t skip it, or you may end up writing a book that has so much competition that you won’t sell a single copy. After you’ve finished your competitive research, you’ll have a well-rounded impression of your book’s competition, and will have honed your book’s theme and angle.

You started this chapter with a short list of 3 to 5 book concept ideas, and by now some of them should have fallen by the wayside.

I don’t recommend moving on to the next phase of planning your travel guide until you’ve reduced your short list down to a maximum of three ideas. If you can whittle it down to one strong idea that’s even better.

If the thought of doing all of this Amazon research manually is overwhelming, you have a couple of other options to streamline the process.

1. Use Kindle Research software to automate part of the process.
2. Hire a freelance professional to conduct research on your behalf.

If you have any questions about either of these options, leave me a comment below.

Read more articles in my How to Write a Travel Guide Series

I’m putting the finishing touches on my How to Write and Self-Publish a Travel Guide Series, which details a step by step approach for writing and producing your own travel guide. It’s part of a four-part series aimed at helping travel bloggers achieve passive income based on their passions and existing content.

Each month I host a monthly free prize draw and give away a travel writing e-book to the lucky winner. Sign up to join my mailing list to participate.