Best Seller and Category Ranks are based on customer activity of your book relative to the activity of other books. Books can be ranked in up to three best seller category lists, regardless of how many categories the book may feature within. Your book's customer activity influences which three categories the book can be ranked in and will appear on the book’s detail page. For example, a book ranking #1 in Mystery & Thrillers is the book with the most activity in Amazon's Mystery & Thrillers category. A book's Best Sellers Rank in each category shows under the Product Details section on the book’s detail page. Activities that may not be an accurate reflection of customer demand, such as canceled orders, are not counted toward sales rank.

Rankings are updated hourly but may take 24–48 hours to appear. Rankings reflect recent and historical activity, with recent activity weighted more heavily. Rankings are relative, so your sales rank can change even when your book's level of activity stays the same. For example, even if your book's level of activity stays the same, your rank may improve if other books see a decrease in activity, or your rank may drop if other books see an increase in activity.

When we calculate Best Sellers Rank, we consider the entire history of a book's activity. Monitoring your book's Amazon sales rank may be helpful in gaining general insight into the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and other initiatives to drive book activity, but it is not an accurate way to track your book's activity or compare its activity in relation to books in other categories.

The ranking for books with consistent activity histories that have been available on Amazon for a long time may fluctuate less than the ranking of new books, or books whose histories aren't as stable. One sale of a very popular book may not influence its rank much at all, but one sale of a lower volume book may significantly improve that book's rank.

Note: Each available format of your book (eBook, paperback, and hardcover) has its own independent Amazon Best Sellers Rank.

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Free and paid rankings

In the Kindle Store, the Best Sellers Rank is divided into Free and Paid lists. If you enroll in KDP Select, your book will have a ranking in the Free list during its free promotional period. Once the free promotion is over, your book's previous Paid rank will influence its new rank when it enters the Paid categories again.

Learn more about Free Book Promotions.

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Publisher-directed purchasing activity

If we determine that your book's purchasing or borrowing activity originates from accounts that are attempting to manipulate our services, it may result in termination of your account and loss of royalties.