Guide · 6 min read

Choosing a niche and an audience

Who buys activity and coloring books, what each group wants, and how to pick a first book that has a real audience.

A book "for everyone" is hard to find and easy to skip. A book that says exactly who it's for, like Dinosaur Mazes for Kids Ages 5–8 or Large Print Word Search: Gardening, turns up in the right searches and tells the buyer straight away that it's meant for them. Pick the reader first, then the puzzles.

The main groups of buyers

Young children (3–5)

Parents are buying, not children. They want big, simple pages: wide maze paths, bold coloring outlines, very short words. Books get used up fast, so prices are lower, but parents come back for more. Animals, vehicles, shapes, letters and numbers all work.

Children (6–8 and 9–12)

Easy to medium puzzles with a theme: space, dinosaurs, oceans, sports, seasons. Teachers and homeschooling parents buy these too, and pay more when a book clearly teaches something, such as spelling words or science terms. Older children like to feel the puzzles are "grown up".

Adults who want to relax

Coloring books with detailed art, calm themes and quotes, and puzzle books for winding down. They'll pay a little more because they see it as time for themselves. Say so on the cover and in the description.

Puzzle fans

People who finish a book a month. They want harder puzzles, a lot of them, and clear difficulty levels. They follow series, so a good first book can turn into Volume 2, 3 and 4.

Large-print readers

Often older readers, or people buying for a parent or grandparent. Clear, big print matters more than anything else. Use words like "large print" or "easy to read" rather than "for seniors". Familiar puzzle types (word search, sudoku, crosswords) and nostalgic themes do well.

Hobby and interest groups

Knitters, gardeners, fishers, nurses, dog owners. These buyers want a book that knows their world: real plant names, real knitting terms, real dog breeds. A thin, generic word list won't impress them, but a detailed one can sell at a higher price.

Gift buyers

A big share of activity books are gifts: birthdays, holidays, hospital visits, travel. Gift buyers judge by the cover and the title, so make both clear and cheerful, and say the age or audience plainly.

How to pick your first book

1. Start with something you know or like. Your word lists and themes will be better, and you'll enjoy making it.
2. Search Amazon the way a buyer would. Type your idea, for example "dog word search large print". Look at the first page of results. If there are books with sales but few that do exactly what you plan, that's a good sign.
3. Read the low-star reviews of similar books. They tell you what buyers missed: print too small, puzzles too easy, mistakes in the solutions. Fix those in yours.
4. Make the audience obvious. Put the age or audience in the title or subtitle, and use the builder's "Who is this book for?" setting so the puzzles match.
5. Plan a series. If the book works, a second volume or a new theme for the same readers is the quickest next step.

Things to avoid

• Characters, brands and team names you don't own. Cartoon characters, film titles, sports teams and toy brands are protected. Books that use them get removed, and repeated problems can close your account.
• Copying another book's look or title. Make your own.
• Quotes still under copyright in cryptograms and quote pages. Use proverbs, or quotes from authors who died long ago.

Seasonal books

Holiday and back-to-school books sell in short bursts. Publish them about two months early so they've been reviewed and indexed before buyers start looking, and keep a few all-year books in your catalog alongside them.