Understanding the ReaderRadar Score
The proprietary ReaderRadar score signals demand divided by competition. High demand with few strong competing titles produces a higher score. High demand spread across many competing titles produces a lower score.
It’s based on three things:
- Comparable titles you add (books readers are already buying - a long established principle of publishing)
- Estimated sales activity drawn from public marketplace signals (BSR)
- Competition density within your comp titles
ReaderRadar doesn’t guess how good your book will be. It shows whether readers are already buying books like yours, and how crowded that space is.
The score is relative, not absolute. It changes on a daily basis (in the same way that book rankings change daily). It’s designed to help you compare ideas, titles, keywords, and niches before you invest time writing or advertising.
All figures are estimates based on publicly available data and comp title analysis. Publishing outcomes depend on many factors beyond topic demand, including execution, positioning, and marketing.
If your ReaderRadar score is low, it doesn’t mean your idea is bad. It means this particular angle has unfavourable demand-to-competition. Try related angles and variations until you find a stronger balance.
NOTES:
- Estimates reflect the format selected for each listing (eBook, paperback)
- Formats behave like separate markets. In many non-fiction categories, paperback is where most readers buy, while fiction often performs more strongly on eBook. This is why rankings for the same book can look different depending on the format selected.
- eBook BSR rankings are influenced by both sales and page reads. We take this into account when producing estimated sales ranges.
- Ranges. You will notice we will have used ranges for estimated sales rather than exact figures. This is because - in consultation with bestselling authors - we have found that any tool which tries to predict exact sales is unreliable.
- ReaderRadar analyses Amazon.com, the world’s largest book marketplace, giving you access to the deepest and most reliable reader-demand signals available.
- ReaderRadar appears on standard book listings. Occasionally sponsored recommendation units on search pages don’t expose full book data, so the extension intentionally doesn’t activate on those.