I am in my 11th year of full-time (32-40 hours per week, about 10 months of the year) creating and uploading my books to Amazon KDP (used to be CreateSpace, btw), and there has been a slow but steady growth in sales for me, from a few book sales per day to dozens (sometimes over a hundred). Though I have over a thousand books online, I didn't get rich (though I had dreams of exponential growth). I am merely at a stage where my royalties pay my bills, all of them, plus whatever else I want to do (within limits). The reality is that I am competing with other people, some with better resources and larger teams and larger pockets of money for advertising and promoting. I never wanted to sell myself, but merely wanted to create the products and move on to something else of interest, and the result is smaller sales (some books sell 1-2 copies a year and others sell thousands of copies). If you don't have a plan to market your stuff, you will make few if any sales. That's reality. But, finding a niche that 1) you enjoy, 2) you are good at, 3) there are lots of buyers interested in it, and 4) that isn't overloaded with products already...is the key. Good luck. Realize that for every query, the top-listed items are those that people paid to promote their product and those that already have thousands of reviews (and likely hundreds of thousands of sales), so you may not be anywhere near the top. Eeks!

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

Marketing is the most important aspect of making sales. You could try out a marketing strategy with high conversion rate and come to an agreement with the marketer on the pay. Do you have high content books printed?

@lawrencegleason4666

Жыл бұрын

A thousand books online?

@Kristinapedia

Жыл бұрын

@@lawrencegleason4666 Rachel Harrison-Sund did an interview with someone who has about 700 books. His name is Keith or Kevin.. I forget. Not sure how much he makes tho. He has many books where he makes a $4 profit so that's pretty darn good from what I've been learning.

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

@@lawrencegleason4666 Yeah, the ROI is pretty good but it takes a lot to get that much books out there. I personally prefer having just a few books out there doing really well. How many books do you have published?

@dummenepiuspoomi8841

Жыл бұрын

Do I need to write a book before I can start selling books?

Thanks for this. A newbie like me really needed this...Better to know the real side of the story & not just the hypes, as that's the only way one can be mentally prepared for the journey ahead.

@wonderfullymade9903

2 жыл бұрын

Same take.

Thank you for this video. I literally started this week and needed to hear this. It is not a deterrent, but a realization that it will take hard work and dedication.

So excited I found you. I felt inspired to create children's books. Mostly I keep coming up with stories that HAVE to be told, and didn't seem to come up with a game plan of what to do with those ideas! The whole thing just felt too big for me!!! You are giving me the information I need, and the courage to move forward with my dream. Thank you!

Thank you so much for talking about this! Guilty of hitting that refresh button, too!

I'm glad I came across your video.. I am about to start and no one told me all that. It's definitely good to know what you're going to face..

Thank you! Now I know what to expect. You explained everything clearly and it was really helpful.

Good video advice. Too bad it's not mandatory watching before people jump in thinking they'll be making $10K a month on lined journals. I feel bad for people that don't realize how much work is actually involved and 'assume' the $$$ will just flow with no effort.

@ehabnaoum6399

2 жыл бұрын

It really needs serious work. My best wishes.

@joycedavis7364

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Sithi. I like your comment because I realize how valuable my dear friends who has books published on Amazon are. Because of them my expectation about selling my book is low for now but like you say, if I am willing to learn and thanks to these wonderful FREE videos that our fellow authors are making. This way, we will not go broke paying for every bit of knowledge we need. As I learn, I want to make FREE video as well so that I can pay it forward as I obtain knowledge.

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

@@joycedavis7364 Hi Joyce Davis, it all trails back to marketing. What marketing strategies do you implement to sell your book?

@joycedavis7364

Жыл бұрын

@@thefamilyguy9 Hi Caleb. I am really focusing on Amazon KDP University rather than marketing at this time. I am forced to learn because a friend did everything for me for my first book. But she went to work., "How To Recover From Unwanted Habits Or Addictions." Thanks for your interest.

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

@@joycedavis7364 I checked out your book and it's intriguing how you developed an entire curricular to help people out of addictions. It's definitely life changing and it would be great if the opportunity to get your book is offered to a target audience. However, this can only be done by creating visibility and awareness about your book. What do you think?

Thanks for this video! I'd love to know your favorite ways to market your low-content books. Love your videos. Keep up the great work!

I love this. Thank you. I started this the other day. I loved doing it. But I love journals ect. But knowing these things is so important. I’m taking it slow to move up to other things.

Thank you so much for your help and honesty!

Thank you very much, so happy I found your channel! 🧡

Thank You for this. I really appreciate this information.

Caroline, I just stumbled upon your channel and it's been super helpful for someone who is just looking to get started on KDP. Thanks for these vids!

Many thanks and appreciate the time you have taken to deliver the content. Am just about to publish a book. Wish you good health from Lismore NSW Australia

Wooow this is very informative thank you.l just published my first book ,A world-class mindset.No sales ,no reviews.Was almost giving up but this has encouraged me

Thank you for keeping it real...super helpful!

Thank you dear for your help. Great video as usual.👍👍

In my opinion, one of your most valuable videos. Thanks

Thanks for the video. I am new to KDP and just started to learn, fingers crossed!

Thank you for this! It's so helpful

Great insights on overall business expectations. Thank you.

Thank you for keeping it REAL!

Thank you for teaching this! I haven't even started yet.

Thank you so much--very helpful!

Thank you for the information Maam, It helps me a lot, I just started today...

So what in your opinion is the best ways to market your low content books especially of you are creating in a country different to your primary market?

Your video is very helpful. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and what we authors need to be aware of “out there” 😀👍

@MyFreedomEmpire

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Great points. Thank you for sharing them.

thank you very much. this has been very informative.

Thank you for this. I uploaded my first kdp book yesterday. When I saw that the per book commission was about 50c (It’s a 30 day gratitude journal) I realized very quickly that this was going to take a long time. I’m working up to kids workbooks as early learning is a passion of mine. I like you how said to just keep trying and improving your work. I think looking at this as a learning process is a good attitude to have.

@DanEzeka

Жыл бұрын

I just started yesterday. I suggest investing in canva pro($12.99/month). They have numerous templates for any kind of journal/planner/shapes etc. It can even help you with mass publish so you can get your book numbers up. Best wishes

You talked about promoting your KDP book. Can you make a video on how to make the best out of marketing? Thank you

Great info, I thought about doing this on the side to make little extra cash monthly, but decided not worth it. I actually have very good paying job and excellent benefits so I will just put in few extra days of overtime per month and I know that I will see that extra $1000 per month on paycheck.

Complètement d'accord avec toi, pour la partie sur le rafraîchissement du rapport de vente 😉 merci pour la vidéo Caroline. Salut

Extremely Helpful. Thank You

Thank you for the helpful info.

You got yourself one more subscriber. Thank you for this video.

Precise & clearly explained.

I went what? Aussie girl talking about Amazon KDP books! How refreshing. Not that other other international sites aren't relevant, just wasn't expecting the accent. Then I thought Kiwi? no. definitely from the land down under. Just started publishing and dabbling in low content books in the last few weeks and yes, must start to promote. Thanks for your informative sessions.

I am guilty of refreshing my dashboard waaaaay too often! haha... I really appreciate your honesty, its truly refreshing, thank you.

@KnightsandCastles

2 жыл бұрын

I do this all the time. Like that rat in the experiment =\

@Bloom2Grow

2 жыл бұрын

Are you making any sales?

@KnightsandCastles

2 жыл бұрын

@@Bloom2Grow well, yes, technically. But no more tham $60 per month. And i don't know how to break through...

@Bloom2Grow

2 жыл бұрын

@@KnightsandCastles when did you start?

@KnightsandCastles

2 жыл бұрын

@@Bloom2Grow Last November

Great. A clean and honest take. A deviation from what most have talked about on KZread.. I'm longing to put out my Therapeutic Massage Writings, in eBooks. Going through a lot of KZread takes, on Amazon KDP. Really hope I'd not get rejected. He-y, what's your take about Payoneer? Can't imagine why I'd have to make 100 dollars first.

It is best to get amazon to pay your royalties straight into your bank account, rather than having them send you a paper cheque. Straight into your bank account there's no threshold and you get paid within two months for every book you sell, no matter how many you sell.

@CarlosRodriguez-cj8oo

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the information! It's great to know!!

Caroline, as usual, your information was spot on and to the point! I am going on 2 years (can't believe it!) in my KDP journey and while I feel I make quality books, getting that product in front of people can be a challenge. I think folks need to become "one" with the idea that at some point they will want to do some form of advertising. BUT, do it as wisely as possible. My goal is to get certain books out there to get some purchase history. This is not cheap, especially if you do Amazon Ads, but oddly, it truly pays off. I would not recommend this for someone just starting out though. Get good and get confident in the process and your skills before sinking any funds into advertising at all. Who knows, you may not need it after all! It is really important to remember, this is a PROCESS not a get-rich-quick scheme. Thank you! I love your videos, they have helped me a LOT! 🙂❣

Thank you so much for this video. I recently started and I have already discovered for myself it is not as quick and easy as people make it sound. But I am willing to push through because I really enjoy being creative with my designs. I will still try out both KDP and Lulu for myself, but I will also be advertising on my on Facebook page and group.

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

Hi Dawn, how are you doing? I also make passive income with publishing low content books, maybe we can share some helpful ideas of you don't mind. When did you get started with publishing your low content books?

@thewendychi

Жыл бұрын

@@thefamilyguy9 Hi, I'm interested In knowing how you were able to make sales with your low Content books

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

@@thewendychi Hi Adum, is there a social media platform you're mostly active on where we can connect better?

@thewendychi

Жыл бұрын

@@thefamilyguy9 yes, Instagram and WhatsApp

@thefamilyguy9

Жыл бұрын

@@thewendychi Oh okay, can I get your WhatsApp number?

thank you! your info is practical and enlightening!! i have a question: are graphic novels and comics considered low content?

Well done 👍🏾

Very helpful and encouraging thank you. The whole idea of marketing seems like going to the dentist. I wonder if you are seeing bad reviews on print quality if its better to just remove that book. I'm not sure if Amazon's algorithm counts these hits on one book as strikes against all your titles. In early days I used to get books from Amazon that had really poor print quality and Kindle was even worse, but now at least in the US quality seems really improved.

I get through a few journals each year. When I type in 'Journal' I get the absolute best affordable journals recommended to me. And these are exceptional quality (vegan leather covers; presentation boxes etc). Good luck competing with that from KDP publishing. The above journal I described was less than £15.

🌷interesting 🤔 video thanks for the helpful educational advice 👍 😊🌹

Hello, thank you for taking the time to post this. I'm just now looking at Anazon to publish. I have written a daily message just to try to help my friends start their day on a positive thought. Ppl started telling me that I should write a book. Asking me if I minded if they shared it with their family and/or friends. So after asking around I was advised to use Amazon KDP. In reality I'm not looking to get rich. I just want to help ppl start their day off with a good thought, that will hopefully stick with them. But I have actually stopped writing for the time being. I'm not sure what course of action to take from here. Other than I know I have to start writing again. It's just been somewhat tiring writing. & then sending the message manually to as many as several hundred ppl every day. So any advice you might have would be appreciated.

Excellent content thank you. I was about to by a teaching program so expensive. Can you do a program on that?

Thank you for the education. This video is what got me to subscribe to your channel. I am not leaving you until I make my first dollar.

Well explained

I have to disagree with the design software, you don't really need illustrator unless your trying to manipulate shapes and lines, I would say illustrator is good for editing vector images but I think canva can honestly do pretty much everything you need to design covers.

@abdulibraheem1787

Жыл бұрын

I totally agree. I am a professional designer and I can tell you that Canva is as good as the so called illustrator. You can literally do everything on Canva.

@Dr_Eazy_E

Жыл бұрын

@@abdulibraheem1787 I'm in the graphic biz and Abdul, I must disagree - YES, you can do a lot, and much more graphic on Canva (I use it myself often) but AI is top tier for designing... not just vector or simple design, but serious layering and multi-facet graphics - I even draw my own designs then final edit it on AI. It's a superior and powerful program. Just saying, don't minimalize it - AND if you want to do proper graphics: Hire A Good Designer! Canva is great for simple, quick, let's go tyoe of art... think about South Park ;)

@fjmugwump

Жыл бұрын

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR IS MY FAVORITE DESIGN TOOL! I LEARNED TO DIG IN UNDER THE COVER AND WAS FINALLY ABLE TO TURN ON OR OFF A SINGLE PIXEL, VARY ITS INTENSITY AND COLOR, AND STEER IT ANYWHERE ON THE PAGE. TOO MUCH? YES, BUT SO SATISFYING FOR A DESIGNER. NO OTHER DESIGN TOOL IS SO SOPHISTICATED.

Thank you!

hi ! love your video very informative.. which warehouse do you normally ship from ? and which market do you normally sell to? i'm based in Australia and thinking of selling it to AUS only

Thanks for sharing. So the long and short of it is it takes time and money to build this business just like any other new business. Anything that leads people to believe otherwise is a scam...

Thank you 😊

I don’t even know what to say,cos this is just the background truth,I’m tired but won’t give up,thanks

Regarding software, Adobe uses the subscription model, you don't own the software. If you're just starting out that might not make sense if you aren't making enough in sales to justify it. Or if you simply would rather own your tools rather than rent them. Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher are reasonably inexpensive, $54.99, and a good alternative to Adobe products.

Thank you for being so honest and inspiring.

Thank you- it would be good to understand how you address income att he end of financial year as taxable etc?

Are the royalties you get, after the cost to print the book is subtracted from the total plus 30% subtracted (given you have priced your book in the range to receive 70%) or is the printing cost included in the 30% Amazon gets? How much is the cost of printing each book?

Great video!! Thank you May I ask a question- you mentioned to advertise the low content books, how do you go about advertisement??

@TheMiig1513

2 жыл бұрын

The cheapest would be dedicating an account to promoting it on every social media platform. Besides that, you could look into paid advertisement, but that is a whole world on it's own, and it works best if you already have established a good and active social media presence, as well as have a website.

How can I increase the sales of my Autobiography please!!

Thanks for sharing. Please is it advisable to allow "borrow kdp books" once you've uploaded your book?

Thank you for this video, I really appreciate it ma'am. Pls, can you make a video of how to make an attractive graphic design so that I'll go there and be designing rubbish.

Do you use a chrome extension to research product sales etc? Is there 1 that works in the uk? Ive been trying to get this answer for a few days from different people with no luck so far. I was considering jungle scout but when i went to download it there was no uk option so i didnt want to waste any money on something that is not compatible

Its my money, and I need it now!!!

Thank you for this video. I have just started running ads, but I find the whole process a bit confusing.

@angelalubiens7586

2 жыл бұрын

Do you have a video about running ads? I very much enjoy your straight forward explanations

Do you market in another way other than KDP ads?

Is there a recommended place to get reviews before I invest in Amazon Ads?

I know this may sound crazy but I’m just starting out and really need to know. Is it okay to use a rock album cover on my low content blank notebooks that I make? Thank you in advance.

Do you have a video showing all the software/programs required and/or useful for this business???

Very comprehensive; especially, that last one about constantly refreshing the sales dashboard. Guilty as charged. lol. Also, that part about ranking is so annoying and I recently realized is true. I just put out a book, following all of the experts' advice about keywords, titles, and search volume and the book still won't show up and there are only 7 pages to search through. Ridiculous.

I guess I don't understand the low content books. When I get a book from the kindle store, it loads onto my kindle so I don't understand how people get printed books. How does that happen? I don't even see that option when purchasing. I was interested because I'd like to publish coloring books but I'm not sure how to offer it also as a printed book.

Thanks

I love the last point - thank you so much. This is a great video.

I want to publish my book on December, 2022 in Amazon. I want to know if it's a very good idea publish or not in Amazon.

Nice video

I’ve signed up to Sophie Howard book publishing and am just disgusted that within two weeks of signing up to a 2500 euro course -I was invited to a goal setting session which I thought was going to be about my approach and which books etc… eh no it was a sales pitch to spend 12k dollars to do it properly..

How do you promote your low content book on KDP besides the obvious keyword and ugly cover thing? If you get better at design and keyword search, how can one advertise the book and follow the KDP rules while doing it?

Hi.. what is your opinion on creating a startup company for self publishing books? On Amazon and other POD services? I meant to recruit professional graphic designers and marketing people to run as a company.. Please share your thoughts.. Thank you.

How do you ensure that your illustrations do not get too dark in print, but as close to the screen version as possible?

Do you need an ISBN number to sell low content books?

I need to learn how to do marketing to make stuff sell like this in Amazon etc how do you promote? Where? It’s just journals I’m wanting to do .

i cant find the link to my book so i can use it on my social media can someone help thx

The best tip is to refresh your reports after one year and when you publish don't expect it to sell even if it's perfect. Remember if something is easy to do and free, then the competition is very hard to compete with unless you spend money on advertising and that is a big gamble when your profit margin is so low. It's a lottery and Amazon is the only winner. If you don't like gambling then don't do KDP. Just think what would your dream car be? then ask yourself will I ever get it ?, umm maybe if you play the lottery every day there's a slight chance.

@colorantics8160

2 жыл бұрын

I sold 10 copies after 3 months lol :/

@thewendychi

Жыл бұрын

@@colorantics8160 Hi, please how did you market your books to make sales

@colorantics8160

Жыл бұрын

@@thewendychi i asked my friends/family to buy and leave a review. I gave free copies to instagram people in the coloring niche to review on amazon and feature on their pages. I am using ads now but they aren't very effective

I just found out about BookBolt and I did just that. I created a bunch of low content journals but I automatically told family and shared it to promote it myself. That’s automatic. Why wouldn’t you?

@iamjanmorris

Жыл бұрын

Hello Ileana, I just googled BookBolt - how's it working out for you?

@taba1208

Жыл бұрын

@@iamjanmorrisit’s horrible, unless you like 1997 technology

OUTSTANDING CONTENT, CAROLINE! EXTREMELY HELPFUL TO NEWBIES AND THE FRUSTRATED. THANKS, TOO, FOR FOR YOUR CLEAR SPEAKING AND CAREFUL PREPARATION BEFORE SPEAKING. BTW, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND YOU HAVE IMMENSE PERSONAL APPEAL 😘 WHEN YOUR VIDEOS POP UP, I IMMEDIATELY CLICK ON THEM AND SAVE THEM BECAUSE I’VE LEARNED THAT YOUR CONTENT IS THE HIGHEST QUALITY 👍 (OK IF YOU BLUSH FROM THESE COMPLIMENTS; THEY ARE WELL-DESERVED) - BIG FAN

Nice

hi Caroline! Thank you for the video. I want to clarify for myself the point: when you say that you need to sell your own books, do you mean paid promotion through Amazon ads?

@MyFreedomEmpire

Жыл бұрын

Hello! Yes, thats one way. Also through social media, email list, having a branded website etc.

Do Amazon deduct the difference between the price of the book and the author's copy price?

@sdube001

2 жыл бұрын

I just uploaded my first 2 recently. Author copies are charged just the printing cost. And from personal experience, I made the interior of the first just a little colorful and unless I redo it, it won't get much profit. The second, same layout, but all the interior was black and white, will earn a much better profit, even by charging a much lower price.

Thank you very helpful.someone told me I have to pay to start

I'm thinking about putting a QR code at the back of my coloring book to try and build an email list, i.e. scan QR code > Landing Page > Sign up to mailing list > Get welcome email with link to dropbox/Drive freebie of 5 free sheets? Is there a way to do this for people without QR scanners or smartphones etc?

@Panikkarson59

2 жыл бұрын

Why not a regular clickable link to your landing page?

@colorantics8160

2 жыл бұрын

@@Panikkarson59 Because they are physical coloring books.

Can someone please explain how to upload my book in KDP? I tried all the initial stages and got them done. But eventually I was unsuccessful...

ADS. You talked about tools but is placing ads also one of them? Do you place ads?

Do you by any chance have an Amazon Ads videos?

@ehabnaoum6399

2 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/mZ-Tp8SQoKnSmrA.html, Best wishes.

Wouldn't less competitive mean "different", "unique", "one of a kind"... or that item that goes viral?

What is the threshold amount?