KDP categories · Top KDP authors
Academic & Commercial: Amazon KDP category data
Amazon Kindle eBooks Best Sellers data for Academic & Commercial, updated Nov 2, 2026: median price $8.69, median 126 reviews, average rating 4.5 and a KDPTop opportunity score of 26/100 (highly competitive).
| Price range (middle 50%) | $2.99 – $11.99 |
|---|---|
| Average rating | 4.5 |
| New releases (90 days) | 8% |
| Books on the list | 100 |
| Store | Kindle eBooks |
What stands out
- Its median reviews are 43% of the parent category Writing, Research & Publishing Guides (289), one of the easier corners under it.
- Prices spread wide: the middle half runs from $2.99 to $11.99, so budget editions and premium or boxed sets sell side by side.
Top 10 Academic & Commercial best sellers
-
How to Read a Book
by Charles Van Doren
- List rank#1
- Price$16.99
- Rating4.5
- Reviews8,140
-
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need
- List rank#2
- Price$9.99
- Rating4.8
- Reviews6,641
-
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
by George Saunders
- List rank#3
- Price$9.99
- Rating4.7
- Reviews4,415
-
Wordslut: A Hilarious and Informative Exploration of Gendered Language and Its Impact on Women
- List rank#4
- Price$14.99
- Rating4.5
- Reviews1,540
-
A Dictionary of Symbols: Revised and Expanded Edition (New York Review Books Classics)
by Juan Eduardo Cirlot
- List rank#5
- Price$17.99
- Rating4.6
- Reviews138
-
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
- List rank#6
- Price$0.99
- Rating4.4
- Reviews3,389
-
The Infographic Guide to Grammar: A Visual Reference for Everything You Need to Know (Infographic Guide Series)
by Jara Kern
- List rank#7
- Price$12.99
- Rating4.6
- Reviews636
-
The Art of Subtle Suggestion Examples: Proven Language for Common Challenging, Difficult, and Uncomfortable Conversations (The Art of Subtle Suggestion Collection)
by Steven Nathenson
- List rank#8
- Price$2.99
- Rating4.6
- Reviews9
-
A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry
by Mary Oliver
- List rank#9
- Price$8.49
- Rating4.6
- Reviews2,139
-
How to Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them
by Sol Stein
- List rank#10
- Price$10.55
- Rating4.4
- Reviews203
FAQ
Is Academic & Commercial a good niche for Amazon KDP?
Its KDPTop opportunity score is 26/100, which makes it highly competitive. The median best seller has 126 reviews and sells for $8.69.
How many reviews do you need to rank in Academic & Commercial?
The median best seller has 126 reviews, and 45% of them have fewer than 100.
What do Academic & Commercial best sellers cost?
The median price is $8.69; half of the best sellers are priced between $2.99 and $11.99.
Can new books break into Academic & Commercial?
8% of the current best sellers were released in the last 90 days.
About this data
Data comes from KDPTop's daily crawl of Amazon's public Best Sellers pages; medians use the latest list. The opportunity score (0–100, higher is easier to enter) combines the review barrier, the share of low-review books, list turnover, new-release share and price.