Are you looking to get into the ebook market in 2023? Check out some of the best-selling ebook topics to get your creative juices flowing to write something your audience will love!
Since Amazon is the largest ebook marketplace, we will base this list around the categories and popularity of ebooks being sold on Amazon. I’ve reviewed the top 100 best-selling ebooks lists for fiction and non-fiction books and separated them into the most popular categories.
With each of the most popular ebook categories, I’ve also included some observations about the types of books that are killing it right now.
Without further ado, these are the best-selling ebook topics on Amazon for 2023, separated by fiction and non-fiction titles.
Best-Selling Non-Fiction Topics
Non-fiction books are any books that are written about real-life events or written to address real issues in the life of the reader. While they can be stories, a broad range of topics under this umbrella gives space for many different types of ebooks.
1. Biographies & Memoirs
Biographies consistently top the non-fiction ebooks section. Everyone loves a good life story! With this category, you need to have one or two things for it to be successful:
- Name recognition OR
- Eye-catching life experience
If you have either of these things, or you can write about someone else who does, this category can be a good fit for you! It’s pretty competitive, but a compelling story that gives a unique perspective can still stand out. For example, some of the best-sellers in 2023 have been from Prince Harry and a war reporter.
2. Business & Money
What could be better than giving real, actionable advice on how to make money? The second most popular non-fiction category is all about doing better in business, investing well, and changing the way you think about money.
In the business section, you’ll find a lot of books guiding the reader through challenging situations in the office, starting a business, or leading others in the workplace. Authors in this section give advice from their own personal experience, research, or a combination of both.
Money books cover everything from investing in turbulent markets to saving for retirement or thinking about money in a new light. If you’ve got the knowledge or can create a good argument for your viewpoint, business books tend to do well.
3. History
History books are the third most popular category of ebooks. These aren’t broad, textbook-type history books. Instead, they’re deep dives into specific historical events. The author could be giving more context to a well-known event, telling a little-known story, or following the journey of a historical person or family.
One distinct trend in history ebooks in 2023 is a focus on women’s roles throughout history, especially in areas where they received little or no recognition. These true stories are captivating and give the reader an insight into incredible stories from the past.
With enough time to research and either a story about an unknown past figure or a fresh look at a more famous person from history, authors can find a willing audience in the history section.
4. Health, Fitness & Dieting
Like the business and money category, topics in this category focus on giving the reader actionable information they can use to change their life in a specific way. In this case, it’s by taking control of some aspect of their physical or mental health.
Most popular books in this category take a systematic approach to their solution. They start by showing the benefits the reader can expect from their approach, and then they give instructions on how the reader can get those benefits for themselves.
If you have some life-changing advice tucked away or a story about how you turned your life around, or if you can tap into the wisdom of someone you know, this category offers a lot of opportunity. However, it’s pretty competitive, so you may want to focus on a small niche or unique solution that’s not over-represented already.
5. [TIE] Children’s ebooks + Politics & Social Sciences
Surprisingly, there was a tie for fifth place in the top 100 best-selling ebooks list. There were an equal number of children’s ebooks and ebooks in the politics & social sciences categories.
Political & social sciences ebooks broadly fall into two sub-categories:
- Books written by politicians
- Books diagnosing political systems or issues
Unless you’re a politician or know one who wants you to write a book for them, you’ll probably be shooting for the second sub-category. Writing about political topics can be a great way to grow an audience if your niche is adjacent to politics.
Children’s ebooks are the surprising entry on the list. Most of these books are simple, educational books about nature and animals. They have a lot of pictures with text that’s simple enough for children to read and understand.
Children’s ebooks are an exciting genre. While many newer authors try to break into the storybook market for kids’ books, educational ebooks might be worth a second look, especially if you can make a series out of them!
Best-Selling Fiction Topics
In fiction ebooks, the same broad categories that have been on top for years remain in place. However, the specific sub-categories vary the most, with different genres going in and out of fashion with readers.
Here are the trends in fiction ebook topics for 2023.
Romance
In 2023, the best-selling ebook romance sub-categories are:
- Contemporary romance
- Billionaire romance
- Romantic comedy
- Romance suspense
- Sports romance
- Multicultural & interracial romance
- Adult & college romance
The first thing that jumps out from this list is the popularity of contemporary romance books today. While historical romance, period romance, and time travel romance ebooks had their time, contemporary is now the overwhelming preference.
Secondly, two significant trends that flow through most of these sub-categories are stories involving enemies-to-lovers or romancing the best friend of a brother or sister. While these are common themes in romance books, they’re both strongly present in best-selling romance ebooks right now, whether the main characters are athletes, college students, or people from different races/cultures.
As trends change, one thing has remained constant: everyone loves a story about romancing a billionaire. This romance sub-category has been around for a while and never gets old!
Mystery
In the mystery category, these are the most popular sub-categories for 2023:
- Psychological fiction/thrillers
- Suspense/suspense thrillers
- Women sleuths
- Domestic thrillers
Suspense has always been a big hit in the mystery category, but this year, psychological thriller stories are strong contenders. And although there’s no shortage of mystery stories with a female protagonist, women sleuths and detective stories are very popular in ebooks right now.
The current trend in mystery stories is shifting from traditional murder mysteries into a more diverse range of mysteries. These are more story-based and tend to revolve around personal relationships rather than the case of characters solving a murder case.
What readers are looking for in the mystery category is a unique story. They want to read a story that’s new and different or at least presents the characters in a unique way. As long as you can bring the drama and suspense front and center, mystery stories are popular with fiction readers who are always hungry for new books.
Literary Fiction
As an ebook genre, literary fiction is somewhat unpredictable. These are character-driven stories rather than plot-driven stories, meaning they focus more on the characters who are in the stories rather than what’s happening in the book. The story itself is less important than what’s happening with the characters and the growth or changes in their life.
These books tend to follow real life more closely than other fiction books. They follow people in realistic situations, often involving a slice-of-life story. Literary fiction can be a cozy, intense, or deeply moving read, depending on who the character is and their involvement.
Within this category, the most popular sub-categories in 2023 are:
- Historical
- Women’s friendship
- Women’s literary fiction
- Contemporary women’s fiction
As is evident, the main target for a lot of literary fiction ebooks is a female audience. If you’re writing in this category, developing strong characters and thinking about how they relate to each other is essential. The plot is less important than the characters themselves and builds a compelling story around them and their lives.
Fantasy
Last but not least are the fantasy ebooks. Although these don’t appear as much throughout the top 100 best-selling list as in previous years, they still have a strong presence. A big difference with fantasy ebooks in 2023 is that sub-categories are very scattered.
Some of the most popular sub-categories are:
- Fairy tale fantasy
- Mythology
- Dark fantasy & fantasy horror
- Folklore
- Dystopian fiction
There are no dominant themes for fantasy books in the 2023 best-selling ebooks list. Readers are not tied to any particular series or author. This means readers may be willing to give new writers a chance as long as the hook is good enough to attract some attention.
Which ebook category appeals to you the most? Where do you think you could add the most value? Let us know in the comments below!
