SWOT Analysis | Katharyne Shelton

// description

SWOT analysis evaluates a business or project by examining four quadrants: internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and external Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are factors the organisation controls (brand, skills, resources, processes), while opportunities and threats arise from the external environment (market trends, competition, regulation). The framework's value is in forcing a structured, honest assessment that balances internal capability with external reality.

// history

The origin of SWOT is debated, but it is most commonly attributed to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s and 1970s studying why corporate planning failed. The resulting framework was originally called SOFT analysis (Satisfactory, Opportunity, Fault, Threat) before evolving into its current form. By the 1980s, SWOT had become one of the most widely taught strategic planning tools in business education worldwide.

// example

A KDP author runs a SWOT before entering a new coloring book niche. Strengths: distinctive Midjourney style, fast production pace, strong existing reviews on similar titles. Weaknesses: limited social media following, no email list in this specific niche. Opportunities: growing adult coloring market, underserved nature-themed coloring niche with strong search volume. Threats: AI-generated coloring books from larger publishers entering the market, Amazon algorithm changes affecting discoverability. The analysis shows the expansion is viable but requires immediately building a Pinterest presence to diversify traffic sources before the opportunity closes.

// katharyne's take

Before you enter any KDP niche, do a SWOT on yourself as a creator — not just the market. Your Strengths might be your Midjourney style; your Weakness might be slow production speed; your Opportunity might be an underserved seasonal niche; your Threat might be other creators with bigger audiences. Knowing this shapes how you position your books, not just whether to enter the niche. The most useful quadrant is usually Weaknesses — the honest ones, not the ones you're comfortable admitting to.

// creative uses

Run a SWOT on a single Etsy listing before you build it out into a full product line — Midjourney generations are cheap, your time is not.
Use the Threats quadrant to audit which of your current bestsellers are vulnerable to AI flooding, then build your differentiation plan before sales drop.
Apply SWOT to a competitor's shop you admire: map their visible strengths and weaknesses from the outside, then find the gap where your strengths are their weakness.

// quick actions

Open a blank Notion page, draw a 2x2 table, and fill in all four quadrants for your current top-selling KDP title right now — before you touch anything else today.
List three honest Weaknesses in your creator business, then pick the one that, if fixed, would most improve your revenue — that's your next 90-day focus.
Set a quarterly calendar reminder to redo your SWOT; markets move fast enough that a six-month-old SWOT can steer you wrong.

// prompt ideas

Run a SWOT analysis with me on my [KDP publishing business / Etsy shop / digital course]. My strengths include [list 2–3]. My main concerns are [list 1–2]. Fill in the full four quadrants with specific, honest observations, then give me one strategic action that uses a Strength to capture an Opportunity, and one that addresses a Weakness before a Threat arrives.

I'm considering entering the [describe niche — e.g. botanical colouring books / affirmation journals / Canva planner templates] market. Based on what you know about this space, generate a SWOT for a solo creator entering it in [current year]. Focus the Threats quadrant especially on AI saturation and platform risk, and the Opportunities quadrant on underserved angles.

Here is a SWOT I've started for my creator business: [paste your SWOT]. Challenge my Strengths — are they actually differentiating or just table stakes? Push back on my Weaknesses — are any of them fixable with a simple system or tool? And add 2 Threats I may have missed based on current trends in the [KDP / Etsy / digital product] space.