This post is a bit of an opinion, rather than a proven fact. Over time, I have published several books under many different categories just to test the waters. While some of them have failed me miserably (or should I say, I failed them) other topics have turned out to be real winners. From my personal experience, these are the hottest categories the Amazon Kindle has to offer:

Recipes: Nowadays, the internet is full of recipe websites. Whether you go to AllRecipes.com or MyRecipes.com, you will surely find exactly what you’re looking for to prepare a delicious meal. So why does this niche sell so well on Amazon? Countless authors around the Web can readily tell you that recipes are always a winning market. I also published two recipe books a few months ago and have witnessed some decent sales. Nothing spectacular, but they have consistently brought in some dough despite being over four months old. It seems that people much rather have a recipe in hand while being active in the kitchen, which is something an e-Reader easily provides. It makes perfect sense, as people wouldn’t want to run back and forth from the kitchen to the computer in case they forgot an ingredient. Nor do they want to write everything down. Why should they?

Advice & How-to, AKA Self-Help: This niche will forever remain king in everyone’s eyes. Remember eHow’s monumental success around 2007? It wasn’t merely thanks to the WCP program (man, I miss that) but rather due to the vast amount of easy answers to tough questions. People will always need answers; new technologies will emerge, new products, new discoveries, you name it. Likewise, it’s safe to say that many of us also need advice and self-help in one way or another. This may include motivational strategies, inspirational thoughts and everything in between. While users can simply browse the Web for it, many people prefer to pay in an effort to obtain it from an authoritative and trusted source.

Parenting: What can I say, most people love having kids! Many pregnant women get anxious to be the best mom they can be, which leads them to purchase one or several pregnancy books. I was exploring this niche around October 2011 and noticed many related books are very highly ranked in the Amazon store. On the other hand, for those who already have children, they often seek professional help on how to improve their behavior, education or other personality factors. The possibilities are endless here, which is why parenting-related books never fail to impress.

Health, Fitness & Dieting: Need I say more? America is turning into a fat, fat country. Hell, the whole world is turning into a fat mess. Right, Snooki? This is why fitness-related entries are always on high demand. Granted, this category is certainly a bit saturated, but saturation hardly exists when it comes to ebooks. At least that’s my personal opinion, anyway. Most Kindle categories have no less than 30,000 entries at the time of this writing, and yet I continuously make a decent living along with hundreds of thousands of indie authors out there. And trust me, I entered the Kindle game a bit late– and i’m still somewhat succeeding. So go ahead, publish a book or two in this wonderful category; people just can’t get enough.

Romance: Romance is synonym for ever-green; there will always be successful movies and novels written around this subject. Need I say more?

Lifestyle & Home: This category is a winner thanks to a constant change in style and trends. People living in ordinary homes are looking to improve it under a limited budget– why not spend $4.99 on a trusted book and go from there? This niche often explains how to improve your home and your surroundings, whether you make a decent living or not. As implied earlier, the secret here relies on the fact that this subject is evergreen. There will always be a hungry audience here. Always.

There you have it. The key here is to remain up-to-date and know exactly what people want. Get into their minds and research the current market. Write a great book or have a trusted writer do that for you. I hope everyone jumps into any of these niches and finds a never-ending flow of success.

On a somewhat related note: I typically use Write or Die 2 to write all my short books in record speed. Check out my full review in this article.

Do you know of any other categories you consider successful? Share it here!