There’s something highly convenient about having a pocket-sized planner that you can carry with you everywhere you go. Much like the name suggests, these planners are small in size and can fit into one’s pocket or handbag.

And based on the top five sellers in this niche, we see a whopping 1,375 total sales in just 30 days. This is definitely a niche worth exploring and that’s exactly what we’ll do below.

How big is the market for pocket-sized planners?

With the help of Book Bolt’s Product Search module, we narrowed down our search to the “planners” category and used the keyword “pocket.”

The results came in swiftly, revealing that the average best-seller’s rank (BSR) in this niche is relatively low at 1,647,678. Furthermore, the top seller holds a BSR of 18,070, showing potential for quite a bit of sales if the correct strategies are applied.

Keywords and search volume

On the buyer-side of this niche, we first explore some of the top keywords customers are looking for. With nearly 50 longtail keywords in our preliminary research, we extracted only those that are relevant to the niche.

These are the following:

• “Pocket”: search volume – 38,778
• “In pocket organizer”: search volume – 9,740
• “In pocket”: search volume – 4,880

The combined search volume for the most relevant keywords is over 50,000 and even though we don’t see words like “planner” included in many of the searches, we do know that these books are making sales.

So, what keywords are sellers using to get in front of an audience? We explore this question in more detail below.

Keyword saturation

In terms of keyword saturation, or the seller-side of the niche, we now look at some of the keywords that authors use in their titles to rank high and earn sales.

Here’s a brief breakdown:

• Type of book: planner (136), organizer (50), schedule (26), notebook (26), book (20), tracker (12), log (5)
• Daily, monthly, or yearly: monthly (72), year (41), December (36), months (35), January (34), years (15), day (11), month (10), 2year (7), July (6), daily (6), weekly (4)
• Size: pocket (114), small (51), size (41)
• Usage: purse (55), bag (4)
• Occasion: holidays (23)
• Purpose: appointment (20), agenda (16), bill (15), plan (14) budget (10), planning (8), financial (7), expense (6), payment (5), management (5)
• Cover description: cat (9), floral (8), live (8), dreams (8), flowers (6), pattern (5), watercolor (5), flower (4)
• Audience: women (4)

We can deduce quite a few things based on this layout. The first of which is that sellers are offering not just planners, but other formats, too. Based on demand, sellers list all kinds of items, including organizers, notebooks, trackers, and logs, to fulfill the same purpose of keeping track of one’s appointments and plans.

Secondly, we notice that the highest keyword usage is for monthly planners, followed by yearly ones. Although there are items that cater to more than one year or to specific months, the most widespread listings are monthly planners that divide the year in months and then graph out each month in a grid that features dates and days of the week.

Next up, we look at the size of the books. Sellers are using words like “small”, “pocket”, and “size” to describe their miniature nature. They are also mentioning that these books are meant for usage in purses or handbags, which confirms another observation – that these planners are mainly aimed at a female audience. This comes to light with the cover description, which mainly contains descriptions of floral patterns.

And finally, from the above we can deduce that these planners are used for a broad range of purposes including to schedule appointments, to keep track of bills, to budget, plan, and manage one’s time and finances.

Pricing

With all the above in mind, our discussion would not be complete without studying the prices that these pocket-sized planners go for.

With the help of Book Bolt, we determined that the lowest, highest, and average prices in this niche are as follows:

• Lowest: $3.91
• Highest: $15.59
• Average: $6.77

What are some of the best-selling merchants doing right?

To ensure that you’re equipped with the right tools and knowledge about this niche, we must also examine some of the bestsellers on the market.

Here are two of them, whose strategies we’ll discuss in detail.

Seller 1:

• Title: “Pocket Planner 2023-2024: Small 2-Year Monthly Agenda for Purse – Sunflower Cover”
• Authors: Miki Kidera
• Price: $5.99
• BSR: 26,371
• Sales: 322

Seller 2:

• Title: “Pocket Planner 2023-2024: Small 2-Year Monthly Agenda for Purse – Vintage Butterfly & Floral Cover”
• Authors: Maggie Kane
• Price: $5.99
• BSR: 18,070
• Sales: 346

Despite the fact that both sellers have been selling these books on the Amazon KDP marketplace for less than a year, they are doing exceptionally well. Here are a few reasons why.

Keyword usage

Right off the bat, we need to point out that both sellers are fiercely competing with each other based on the fact that their titles are almost identical. The only difference lies in their cover description, one being sunflowers and the other being butterfly and floral.

Pricing

The same can be noted with regard to pricing. Both sellers have priced their products at $5.99, which is slightly below the average. This indicates strong competition as neither seller is willing to lose their pricing advantage. Admittedly, seller two is earning slightly more sales.

Cover design

As for the cover design, these are drastically different. One uses sunflowers as the main motif, while the other employs a floral pattern with butterflies. This makes the cover the only differentiating factor between these two listings, with everything else being equal.

What is the profitability within this niche?

So, are these top sellers making profit from this vast number of sales? Let’s find out below using the royalties calculator provided by Amazon.

• Seller 1: $415.38
• Seller 2: $446.34

As previously discussed, these two sellers are offering almost identical products with the same trim size, interior, and page count, resulting in royalties of $1.29 per sale. Combined, these sales are earning each author in excess of $400 per month, which is a significant amount considering that it’s only one listing.

Our recommendations

Wondering how to get involved in this niche as successfully as the two sellers mentioned above?

Here are our recommendations:

1. Keywords: cater your product to women who can fit the planner in their bags. These planners should also be titled appropriately. Mentioning whether your item is created as a monthly or yearly one is crucial in your title. In addition, you want to explain and preview the cover of your book. It’s worth mentioning things like the type of motif or pattern on offer. Of course, mentioning the words “pocket” or “small” is critical in this niche.
2. Pricing: in terms of pricing, both sellers have priced at the $6-mark, even though the average is $6.71. This has not stopped either seller from earning upwards of $400. In fact, it has contributed to it. That’s why we always recommend that you price around the average to ensure that you don’t alienate your audience with a price that’s too high while still being able to earn enough from each sale.
3. Design: the cover design is crucial in this niche because women are discerning buyers. While the flower and butterfly motif is huge, you can always opt for creating something even better. Make sure you appeal to women’s tastes and create something stunning.

Final remarks

As we wrap up, we can’t overemphasize how critical Book Bolt was for our research process.

Finding longtail keywords, keyword saturation, average BSRs, and calculating average prices was a breeze.

And at only $9.99 per month, it’s a worthwhile investment for your long-term success on Amazon KDP.