Thanks for checking out the video! If you want the best resource for creating coloring books, check out Creative Fabrica for fonts, templates, images and more: www.creativefabrica.com/ref/2717942/ If you want the best software for making your books, check out Adobe: www.adobe.com/?sdid=49F59KY6
I assume that's self assessment for tax? Is that as a sole trader? been trying to find solid info before I start but finding it a little difficult seems to be so little on the admin side out there. I take it creative fabrica is instead of canva and a better product?
@@Al_Does_Stuff Yes, exactly r.e. self assessment as sole trader. Perhaps I can do a video on that if that's helpful? Creative Fabrica has fonts, illustrations, templates, etc that you can use for your books. It's a bit like Canva, but more focused on being the best stock site possible for book publishing. It also allows you to download things and take them into other programs to create books (also gives copyright unlike some issues that have happened recently with Canva getting KDP books banned!)
Very good video! I don't know if you have already been asked in a comment, but I have read that Amazon will control a lot of the work done with AI, do you know how this can be managed so as not to be negatively affected?
@@siratlas9005it's more of a realistic what to expect if you don't do a lot of good niche research before hand and just pump out books without a good marketing strategy :)
Alot of people think KDP is just an overnight thing - I appreciate you being totally honest about things. I am an Illustrator and Tattooist with experience in multiple different creative backgrounds, also including book illustration. I am currently working on a set of 12 colouring books which are all hand illustrated and themed, consistent with each other! I'm so very excited to have physical things of my personal style out in the world, not only to possibly earn a bit of passive income, but also to create possible traffic to my day-to-day tattoo work and other possible creative streams.
Thanks for your comment Sarah and good luck with the coloring books :). Make sure to check out some of my other videos, especially on my book launch strategy with ads. Consider adding them all to a series as well, as that'll help repeat purchase. Keep us updated!
@@sarah8592-t1b Best of luck! I have a similar goal, and similar experience (spot illustration, tattoo flash), but have cause for pause, because I can make more on one pair of earrings knocked out in 15 minutes, than I can with a book I've slaved over...but they aren't passive income, or a higher goal, so I have some decisions to make. Cheers!
I've sold more than 60k books on KDP (in an adult coloring books niche). Here is my take: 1) It's important to constatly put out books (1 or 2 a month if possible) 2) You need great cover to really stand out in the crowd (I think all covers shown in the video can be improved. It's mostly a matter of picking the right colors). 3) Since 2016 (when the adult coloring "boom" happened) customer are much more experienced. AI book are easily spotted and in less demand than original books. So, be original. 4) I never paid for a cent of ad. You really need a free distribution channel that put you in touch with your target customers. Back in the day, I had coloring book groups on Facebook. Nowadays, it's all about other social networks and building a newsletter. 5) Keep learning (both the art and the market) and it will pay off.
Great feedback. I dont share my current books on this channel due to copycats, but yes agreed on covers and quality 100%. I still think there's an important place for ads and marketing but great to know that you can do well without them!
The KDP route is the first ‘side hustle’ I’ve thought is actually worth doing. I’m treating it as a no money upfront hobby, doing something I enjoy anyway as it’s related to my proper job. If i make a bit extra cash then great, if not, then so be it. A good honest video ensuring the viewer goes into this with their eyes wide open. 👍
That's a great mentality. It's how I started as well and as you can see from this video it does take time, patience and it's a great hobby to chip away at. Watch my 100 books video for a more inspiring update (more sales!!)
What a refreshing change from all of those ads UA-cam attacks us with, where some spotty kid claims to be be making 100k a month self publishing! Thanks for such an honest appraisal of your work to date.
That has to be so discouraging! But I guess you have to take the long view and thinking you put in the work first, and then the revenue starts rolling in. Best wishes for you future coloring book empire!
That has to be so discouraging! But I guess you have to take the long view and thinking you put in the work first, and then the revenue starts rolling in. Best wishes for you future coloring book empire! It seems to me that the real key is selling them, and not so much making new ones. So, in order to make £1000 a month you need to sell 300 a month, right? If you got a national chain of craft stores to purchase 3,600 copies of Dinosaurs in Space, you’d reach your goal for the year, right?
Here is a guy in complete harmony with himself, and I even think for whom money does not have that much value, I am very happy that I met a person like that even only virtually. in France, no one has dared to do this, everyone hides everything and only shows the little, which obviously doesn't help us at all for us who are just starting out, I would like to thank you for your frankness and above all stay like you will certainly live a very long time in peace. Thank you sir
Thank you for being honest. Finally someone honest. I'm so tired of these leaches in the Make Money Online UA-cam space duping unsuspecting followers into thinking making mass amounts of money doing all these MMO businesses is easy and viable. Especially the ones that haven't even done what they're pitching or are really making money selling courses to get people to try these ideas. A huge thank you again.
Thanks Nich, yeah if I get my book sales up to a level where it's bringing in a good amount regularly each month it's going to be through hard work, volume, quality, good niche research and ad strategy... all of which I'll share my results with you along the way to see what's worked and what hasn't! It's definitely not a get rich quick side hustle, but it can be a lot of fun and give SOME extra money on the side.
It is greatly appreciated that you give us realistic numbers and that your advice is about what one can really expect after paying all the extras (adds, taxes) that generating this type of content implies. Many other videos give you very large income numbers and not based on the sales of someone who is starting out in this buisness, so your video and tips that you give us are greatly appreciated.
So nice to see and hear an honest, down-to-earth report. One fellow I follow says to start each book at an extremely low price just to get reviews, then raise the price. I'm gonna follow that advice. Considering that our only hope is long-term passive income, it may be cheaper than advertising!
Definitely a good strategy! I start them lower and increase them after a month but I’ve not tried extremely low before… i might have to do a case study video trying it ;-)
Hi Craig! It takes guts and a certain level of confidence to make an honest video like this, which I think is great! Although I don't do AI content in my own books, I appreciate the thought you put into each book.
Thanks Mariel, I do make sure that I'm not just sticking AI images in to a book, that I am adding extra like retouching, copy/etc to try and stand out :). Looking forward to watching your video now!
Thank you so much for this really honest review, especially considering all the expenses! I am tired of these videos saying "It's so easy to make money with KDP" or "All you need to use is Midjourney" or "I made 10,000 with my coloring book". No, KDP is definitely hard work and you never know if you will be successful or not! In my case (I do not only coloring books, but also guidebooks and storybooks), considering all the expenses for ghostwriters, designers, etc. I am still in the red, even though I made a net profit of about $800 last month.
Cheers Marc and thanks for sharing your experience too. I'm definitely seeing improvements as my books and marketing are both improving... but like you say, you need to treat it as a longer term building (ie a business), rather than a get rich quick scheme! My most recent income report shows more success.
Great video! I admire how you've managed to come up with ideas for such uniquely themed books. Colouring and activity books are something I am trying out this year.
This is the only legit and honest video about the reality of KDP publishing I've seen so far. Good luck getting to 10,000 books as quickly as possible to hopefully replace your income.
thank you man! you are the only honest UA-cam till now, the others trollers are still claiming to make 5000$/month with colouring books and various journals
I think if you can create a "unicorn" of a coloring book, everything in perfection and harmony, and it blows up in December you could. It's like panning for gold. A very tiny few actually strike it rich. The dream keeps the rest of us going.
Great honest video .. I am very new to this but of course have watched all the click bait videos about earning $$$ a month. Reality is one of my books has seen 10 sales in a month , the rest not a single sale. I am also in it for the long term and believe that if with each release i improve then it is a worthwhile journey ;-). The main point is I enjoy the process and am learning everyday.
Thanks a lot for this honest video. Right now, I am researching this whole field around Amazon KDP and this really is one of the first videos that shows a personal, complete honest view on it.
Currently, I have four coloring books for sale, and I plan to publish at least twenty more by the end of the year. I've already created the covers premade, and all my coloring books are part of a series. I've got a few other series planned to go along with several Webnovels we have published. I haven't made any more yet as I have not put any money into ads, but I plan to. Thank you for making this video; it was very informative and helpful. It will help us build our brand.
I agree with you. Just through repetition, your ad spending will get more refined, your subject choice will get better and better. And your covers will keep improving. Plus you got the passive revenue from your first books when you started. Your profits from the past year might seem disappointing, but I really think you've got something to build on.
Thanks for your honesty! I used your gross income & came up with these numbers in USD minus the 20% tax for small businesses for an approximate monthly profit. $213 for 100 books $1,065 for 500 books $2,130 for 1,000 books You need a lot of books!
This shows what you can expect when you first start out I think. SInce this video I've created better books and done more niche research and income has grown because of that :)
I saw this video by chance and I want to say that I am surprised by the amount of honesty and transparency that is lacking in this business. I just subscribed to your channel because you deserve that. Keep going Brother wish u all the best .
KDP works very well for people who already have a large audience who are looking for extra content to buy into. But with a small or no audience, I believe you're better off trying to build an audience first - maybe low thousands of followers/subscribers. In whatever medium your into, be it toys, DIY, crafting, cookery etc etc build that first using socials, UA-cam, local markets and your own online presence. And then, once you believe you have enough of a crowd who are hungry for your 'stuff', create a book or two on the subject, launch it and then tell your followers. You'll get much better results in a shorter time frame. Build it and they will come is great in theory, one in a million chnace of success in practice.
I have never watched a really honest review like this, much appreciated! I like the mentality does it does not matter if the earnings are not that much now but overtime once your followers and books multiply,the profit would grow overtime. thank you sir!
an honest and realistic experience. Thank you :) A fresh of breath air compared to all the other "I made 60K per month with A.I." Thank you, and I hope you do well in your jounrney.
Thanks :). I think if you get lucky and/or get a book to rank well in a profitable niche there's potental to make good money, but it'll take a good amount of ad spend along the way.
@@toxicGumballz I used to work in entertainment licensing. I think your chances are slim to none. First off, the licensor will only license a set amount of categories. (eg activity books) per licensed property, and will 100% require you to follow their 'style bibles', which means def no AI, and definitely the employment of a professional artist who understands licenced property guidelines. Every single image will have to be approved by the licensor (via their agent), which can take ages, and almost ALWAYS requires some kind of amendments (ie more money to spend for you). And then you have the financial aspect of the deal. ALL licensed property owners will require you to enter a guaranteed royalty agreement. This is where you will guarantee a minimum amount of royalties the property owner will earn over the license agreement (typically 2/3 yrs). Not only that, you will have to pay a large percentage of that guarantee royalty up front. This causes a big issue for small operators, as they will often agree to a HIGH ROYALTY, and OVER ESTIMATE the earnings. and then end up paying a HUGE advance on that guarantee, and NEVER actually make it back. PLUS under contract, you are obliged to pay the licensor the minimum of the TOTAL royalties you guaranteed in your agreement. And to top all this off, if you make one tiny mistake, and do not follow their license guidelines, they will terminate your license (after all they have a very profitable brand to protect). If after all that you are interested, then the licensing agent for Scooby Doo is www.warnerbros.com/company/divisions/consumer-products and you can find the licensing agents for many other characters at www.licenseglobal.com/
Thanks for your honesty. It's so helpful to see a realistic presentation of this type of 'side hustle', including a breakdown of the associated costs. I wish you much success in the future!
Thanks for being honest and breaking things down like this. I’m currently learning about publishing Low Content books with KDP and this helps me to manage my expectations moving forward. I used to do Sales for a Digital Marketing Agency and I know how valuable keywords are. Instead of publishing 300 Colouring books, invest the time into learning how to pick the most profitable keywords and make sure the quality of the book cover is the best it can be and stands out from the others.
Thank you for your honest, transparent, and thorough explanation. Unlike most other videos that make it sound like you're gonna make millions overnight, this is a great reality check that explains all the work that goes into this. Thanks again for the great video.
Glad you liked it. If you watch my follow up videos you can see with hard work, better books, and better research it is possible to make money - but it's not as easy as others might have you believe.
Thanks for sharing honest insights on KDP. So REFRESHING as there’re disproportionate volumes of YT channels showcasing mega accomplishments of 6-7 figures with a message “I could do it so can you, just follow these steps or me”. Every time watching those, it raises some self doubts. Anyway I still believe in it - KDP, will keep at it while learning to perfect my craft along the journey to improve the ROI. Thanks again mate!
Thanks John, and that's exactly what I've found so far. Keep improving the books, researching better niches, making better covers and using ad spend better etc and it all helps improve earnings.
Thank you for your honesty, this makes me more confident to publish book myself. Im confident you can make decent amount from this video. Good luck sir.
I appreciate your honesty about your expenses on Ads, all the people who make good money, pay for ads. Not all admit it, but there are a few who do and they all come to the same kind of conclusion. I'm sure in this moment you are already harvesting the fruits of this initial effort. Thanks a lot for sharing this. Good luck with all you do!
I’ve had very, very similar results as you. 13 books, created and published over 8 months or so. I haven’t spent as much on ad spend and when you take that cost out of my total revenue I have actually lost about $50… Onward and upward…
If I wasn't creating my covers and intreriors myself (ie no additional hard costs), I'd be losing money on the books too! I'm hoping that volume and a bigger back catalogue will help in the future.
Good job on being honest about it. I am a professional book designer and children's book author and have been considering trying out some coloring book ideas. I know it's not easy to just generate a good amount of passive income by doing this, but it is a decent way to build something up as long as you can keep the good ideas coming. Thanks for the video.
Huge thanks from a fellow Brit. It's great to see some honest numbers and I admire your mindset of building an online library of books that bring income each month. Wishing you great success.😊
I'm surprised by some of your books that did not sell well. The aliens one looks terrific.I wonder what your keyword search was for the beard one -- it must have been freaking hilarious! Thank you for your transparency. I'm just at 10 books since march 2023.
Thanks for being so upfront and transparent about the numbers and shairng your experience with generating colouring books, as I am currently considering about simliar journey as a side hustle. Very insightful, which is needed considering how many videos I have seen across Ig/other social media about making thousands per week let alone per month. Much thanks for sharing with us!
You are so welcome! If you create good covers and good books in niches that aren't too saturated but have interest you can still make money... But it's extra money for the most not a full time income (until a good amount of work is put in for perhaps a few years)
Hello from a fellow Brit :) Thanks for being honest - this is a more valuable and interesting video than the countless "get rich quick" videos I've seen so far. I'm contemplating KDP (although in a completely different genre to the colouring books, notepads, etc...) so it's handy to see what I may realistically get if I go ahead with it. Your spending on adverts is really interesting and something I clearly need to look into more. All the best. Cheers!
Cheers Gareth. If you're doing a different area you might find success a little quicker. With my books it tends to be the more difficult they are to make, the better they sell (likely because of less competition). Good luck :)
Hi Craig, thanks so much for the wonderful transparency of this video, it's great to see actual books. I would just like to say, that as an adult colorist, the coloring community (not specifically me, I've remained fairly neutral), have come down big time on AI produced coloring books. As a community, we tend to be very loyal to the artists that hand create the books, so that could also be why your sales have not done so well. The colorists are getting more savvy regarding what is original art and what is AI and are actively returning AI books, or just not purchasing. I have a video on my channel about creating them, and I was shot down in flames! I thought you may find this interesting.
100% agree with you Liz. AI is a dirty word within the adult colouring niche. Not all of my books are AI generated (most of the colouring books are, but not all), and the ones that are AI generated I retouch to remove imperfections and then edit them further to make good pages... but I know a lot of the reason is the ethical side as well, which can be a grey area. I'm all about innovation and advances in productivity, but I'm also a believer of people getting paid for their work and IP, so hopefully with more consideration going into AI we will see new legislations in place to help artists choose whether or not their work can be utilised for AI and hopefully get the artists paid as well.
First off loving the transparency here. KDP is not an overnight success and I cringe when I see the videos that lie and state that you can make “1000 notebooks” and get rich. Pfffft yea right. Its hard work and is all about researching niches, finding what works and doubling down on that. Best of luck for Q4 though.
I like the honest and explanatory approach, it makes more clear on the whole subject. Do you have any video on analyzing ads and how to place bid click amounts ? Thanks.
Bear these two things in mind. 1) They are assets with reoccurring, passive potential. There are so many tools available out there. 2) As a parent, my boy is obsessed with boy dinosaurs and space. Some of your books have a very narrow catchment, designed for a specific demographic. Thank you for your advice and help. Trial and error is never a failure. Keep strong.
Very good points! One thing to mention for yourself and others is that as I continued researching and creating the books are much better quality, and as you mentioned in better niche as well - this has led to more sales :).
This was refreshingly honest and helpful. So many of the other channels, only show other people's books and they speculate about how much money they made, when the truth is you don't know how much money they spent on ads or other overheads.
Your honesty is a breath of fresh air. And you've confirmed my suspicions about KDP. If my calculations are correct you made (cash in hand) 42.11 GBP per month or 6.01 GBP per week. You'd make more money sitting outside a supermarket with a tin can and a sign around your neck, or busking on the tube (underground). (but then again you wouldn't be able to do your day job.) My guess is you're making more money on youtube as well. Anyway thanks again.
Appreciate the maths and your positive feedback :). One thing i will say however is it’s also about building a larger back catalogue, which i now have. Im currently making around £1,000 a month through kdp with approx 100 books. Whereas when I made this video I was making like you say, maybe £50 a month. The hope is as i continue to build, the money will keep increasing as well. And you are correct, it also allows me to do things like this youtube channel :)
I've published 3 coloring books and 3 puzzle books in the last 3 months. The content is good and the covers are professionally made. I've watched 200+ videos on Amazon Ads…spend around $500 on ads in 2 months and my revenue for 3 months was around $130………I did publish in the mid-popular range…average cost per click was $0.80……..I'll continue publishing but note that this is not a "get rich quick" scheme
It definitely isn't. I'd advise you to watch my Amazon ads video next as that should help with some thinking on ad strategy :). 80c sounds too expensive for an average CPC to start!
It’s now another 7 months on and I’m hoping you’ve made a lot more money by now! My journey starts today! I released 3 puzzle books on KDP. They are my own invention called ‘Clueless Snakeword’. So far I have 1 sale… to myself 😂. Keep the faith mate, this time next year we’ll be millionaires!
Doing lots better thank you, make sure you check out my newer income report videos. Still not a millionaire yet though! Haha. Love your goal and the new type of book. Here’s a tip for you, make books of these in different areas and use keywords and ads to rank for things like puzzle book, word search etc. so like do a dog one, a cat one, a sports on, an easter one, etc etc. make like 20 of them and have them all in a series and then i think you’ll have a great start
TY for your honesty, it has helped me alot. Young man, you might try voice overs or reading books. My mom has low vision and listens to books almost all day. Believe me, your voice is very soothing, easy to understand (and I'm an American), and sounds trustworthy. I hope this helps.
Finally someone keeping it real. Way too many just do this and make $1,000 a day videos/ideas this is appreciated not as a discouragement but so that people are realistic before they jump in thinking that it's super easy to create a few prompts, upload and they can retire
I have been giving coloring books quite some thoughts. So seriously thank you for your honest and frank video. You don't even take into consideration the amount of time you spent on creating the images and then the books. Even the lowest paid job would have gotten you more. So I do hope you will benefit from your effort in the long run!
I really enjoy making the books though, it's a creative outlet. Some books will just completely make zero money, whilst I've found some can make sales (in this example it was the dinosaurs in space one)... so it's all about learning about what works well, replicating that and improving upon it, and then the results will hopefully come!
Love this. Thank you for sharing your experience and the realistic outcome. Didn't know much about KDP. The large income in some vidz seemed too good to be true.
Very brave of this man to be transparent and post all of his book concepts. I've seen so many UA-camrs who hide that info. All the best in your Amazon journey.
Great honest video! I have made 5 colouring books to sell on Amazon KPDP and 6 months later, I only made ..$50! Not sure about the validity of those who claim $5-10k month income!
A lot of those videos are where they find a book that ranks number 1 for a very competitive keyword and they show that book and say 'hey look, this book makes thousands a month! And you could too!'... yes you could, but reality is definitely a bit closer to it being a hard graft which will pay off over time :)
Thanks Catherine. I have had a couple of books perform a bit better than these - and some others perform worse! But I hope the honest overview helps :)
thanks for making the video - very informative. I also appreciate the full transparency and the lack of hyperbole. You provided a very reasonable justification and a great presentation. As a follow-up, you might want to show the creation of a single book from GPT to outline to Midjourney to editing to publishing/advertising. I think it would be really interesting.
I actually think that these are pretty good earnings. I was thinking about getting into kdp a couple of years ago but life got in the way. From watching earnings videos (that I trusted) at that time I worked out that you needed at least 100 decent books (mid to high earners) to make an average £1k profit per month. Sales are very seasonal and I think starting at the time you did and going heavy on the ads from the off will have really helped you here.
You're pretty bang on there. I just hit 100 books and make about $1500 profit a month. Some months slightly less and obviously Q4 will be a huge increase again hopefully
Very honest video. Like some people mentioned here there is a lot of hype around leaving 9 to 5 job. Dont fall for it. But in saying that i have been looking into all these i have gained a lot of knowledge in general which in itself was a big bonus.
Definitely a learning curve. But good luck on the rest of your endeavors. Thanks so much for your honesty. Most content creators don't tell you the truth.
Realistic point of view. As a french seller, I am currently asking myself if all this deserve my time. For now, I have only 2 coloring books and 1 low content book. The Amazon ads suck almost all my profits. When you have to pay the taxes on the full income, before reducing the fees from ads and midjourney, it just show that I lose money in fact. I decided to stop others country ads except USA after I read the little lines telling that KDP won't pay you before the 100$ balance, but they take you money every months for the ads. Basicly, it makes us poor before having a chance to get ritch. I think I wil keep trying until the last semester to have a whider look but for now it looks pretty bad. When you see all those UA-camrs and TikTok guys that sell this business as a easy job, they are lying just to sell formations. This is a pretty sad world we are living in. Anyway, thanks for your job my friend. If you want to have a look on my work, just look for Pixelia coloring books on Amazon FR or USA ;). See ya
Good luck. What I would suggest is look into French niches. Most of my best sales have actually come from English niches, and perhaps French language books would be a good way in for you.
Kdp won't pay before the 100 dollar month? I have about 10 books on kdp for several years. I get 2 and 3 dollar payments all the time. But I have direct deposit so maybe that's why.
I have just published my first colouring book and I found this video perfect for me. I will have very low expectations now and will not ge disappointed if I do not get any sales. I love my colouring book though and enjoyed making it. Thanks for you video.
That's great to hear, I'm so glad this was useful and what I can say is that my next 10 coloring books following these are doing better! I think people tend to get better and better with their products, keywords, advertising, etc as they keep going. So my advice... keep going :)
@@selfpublishingempire I have other two books published within the last week and got no sales yet. I think I'll have to use ads on them. Can you talk about when do you normally decide to go for ads?
@@palermodpr Sure - check out my video on ads which is a great starting point and should help! For me normally what I try to do is 4 weeks straight away after going live - set a budget for the book and spend that. And then dial them back to almost nothing.
I’m loving this! This told Me exactly what I needed to know in the behind the scenes stuff. I think I’m going to try like 5-10 to start with and then see where it goes, on the understanding that it might not go anywhere 😂 brilliant video!
Really appreciate your honest take on this mate. As someone who is currently trying different ‘side hustle’ ideas I get very frustrated and deflated at how some of these ‘influencers’ make it look compared to what’s actually involved and what money can really be made. I don’t think I have the longevity in me to maintain something like this. I appreciate your insight though 👍🏻 I’ve had to unfollow a bunch of UA-camrs who keep telling me I can make thousands of pounds a day but need to use their affiliate link to get started 😅
Haha fair! If you're interested I've learnt a lot since this video and I post monthly income videos which is a lot more promising... BUT Amazon kdp does take a lot of work to get it up and running (as you saw in this video :))
@@selfpublishingempire I will check your videos out if they are posted to UA-cam. I actually have a self published title on Amazon with wait for it………….ZERO sales 🤣 I tried the ad campaigns and let’s just say I never spent close to what you showed in this video and here I was scratching my head wondering why it wasn’t working 🤷🏻♂️ silly me!
Thanks for your honest report on this. One thing I did want to mention, you have the word 'gift' in your subtitle for the Dinosaur book and a few others, that's one of the words you cannot put in your subtitle on kdp. I know that they sometimes let books slip through the cracks but I have had books with words that go against the TOS in my titles/subtitles before (sometimes things you wouldnt even think are an issue) and have had Amazon ban my books. Books that were selling very well with very low BSRs. And once you republish, you can't keep your reviews or ranking. So just wanted to give you and your viewers a heads up so you don't do it on your other books.
@@selfpublishingempire It would be fantastic if there was a video that explains when to start with KDP . I'm interested in learning more about the right time to begin using KDP for publishing books.
Thank you so much for this video. I follow a lot of KDP publishing channels and I believe yours has got to be one of my favorites. I also work a full-time job. I'm a truck driver so finding time at the end of my driving day in my truck to make my coloring book has been a arduous process. I just got my first book finally published a couple weeks ago. I was disappointed to have met zero sales so far. I will admit that I started this journey looking at those channels that claim you're going to make millions of dollars or maybe thousands. My head is obviously much more put together because I figured it was going to be a percentage of that honestly though I didn't realize it was such a small percentage. Still my first book was fun although it took a long time and I know if I keep chipping at the old block I'll get several more books done. I look forward to having more of your content and I commend you for keeping everything realistic.
Those channels are good for inspiration, but dangerous because they set false and unrealistic expectations. KDP is a slog, but it can be fruitful, and when you find a book that starts to sell it feels amazing. Keep chipping away, that's how I started!
It takes only one book sold to make you millionaire Craig. That’s the book you need to pursue. Practice is essential though. Just that right, golden book 😊
Thanks for checking out the video!
If you want the best resource for creating coloring books, check out Creative Fabrica for fonts, templates, images and more: www.creativefabrica.com/ref/2717942/
If you want the best software for making your books, check out Adobe: www.adobe.com/?sdid=49F59KY6
I assume that's self assessment for tax? Is that as a sole trader? been trying to find solid info before I start but finding it a little difficult seems to be so little on the admin side out there.
I take it creative fabrica is instead of canva and a better product?
@@Al_Does_Stuff Yes, exactly r.e. self assessment as sole trader. Perhaps I can do a video on that if that's helpful?
Creative Fabrica has fonts, illustrations, templates, etc that you can use for your books. It's a bit like Canva, but more focused on being the best stock site possible for book publishing. It also allows you to download things and take them into other programs to create books (also gives copyright unlike some issues that have happened recently with Canva getting KDP books banned!)
Very good video! I don't know if you have already been asked in a comment, but I have read that Amazon will control a lot of the work done with AI, do you know how this can be managed so as not to be negatively affected?
@@selfpublishingempire thank you for your transparency & honesty ! Health Wealth & Success to you for the rest of 2024 !
Can we get an update on the progress?
I really appreciate your honesty! I get so tired of people telling me I can make $5,000 a day sitting on a beach doing nothing.
Ha! I hate those videos... "you can make $10,000 from these notebooks" :D
😂😂😂😂
Damn this is kinda depressing eh?
@@siratlas9005it's more of a realistic what to expect if you don't do a lot of good niche research before hand and just pump out books without a good marketing strategy :)
who is Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk?
Alot of people think KDP is just an overnight thing - I appreciate you being totally honest about things. I am an Illustrator and Tattooist with experience in multiple different creative backgrounds, also including book illustration. I am currently working on a set of 12 colouring books which are all hand illustrated and themed, consistent with each other! I'm so very excited to have physical things of my personal style out in the world, not only to possibly earn a bit of passive income, but also to create possible traffic to my day-to-day tattoo work and other possible creative streams.
Thanks for your comment Sarah and good luck with the coloring books :). Make sure to check out some of my other videos, especially on my book launch strategy with ads. Consider adding them all to a series as well, as that'll help repeat purchase. Keep us updated!
Lets assume that you are a talented artist. Make some You Tube videos of your tattoo work. Link them to your books. Make a tattoo book too.
If I have abstract forms i drew on paper , how can i transfer them to soft copy ? Any app or tool. Kindly let me know
@@sarah8592-t1b Best of luck! I have a similar goal, and similar experience (spot illustration, tattoo flash), but have cause for pause, because I can make more on one pair of earrings knocked out in 15 minutes, than I can with a book I've slaved over...but they aren't passive income, or a higher goal, so I have some decisions to make. Cheers!
I've sold more than 60k books on KDP (in an adult coloring books niche). Here is my take:
1) It's important to constatly put out books (1 or 2 a month if possible)
2) You need great cover to really stand out in the crowd (I think all covers shown in the video can be improved. It's mostly a matter of picking the right colors).
3) Since 2016 (when the adult coloring "boom" happened) customer are much more experienced. AI book are easily spotted and in less demand than original books. So, be original.
4) I never paid for a cent of ad. You really need a free distribution channel that put you in touch with your target customers. Back in the day, I had coloring book groups on Facebook. Nowadays, it's all about other social networks and building a newsletter.
5) Keep learning (both the art and the market) and it will pay off.
Great feedback. I dont share my current books on this channel due to copycats, but yes agreed on covers and quality 100%. I still think there's an important place for ads and marketing but great to know that you can do well without them!
Are you a graphic designer?
@@simonelavigne8618 I only draw coloring pages, so, for that matter, yes.
how many books do you have?
@@croftslucy-w2n 18 in one pen name, two in this new one
The KDP route is the first ‘side hustle’ I’ve thought is actually worth doing. I’m treating it as a no money upfront hobby, doing something I enjoy anyway as it’s related to my proper job. If i make a bit extra cash then great, if not, then so be it. A good honest video ensuring the viewer goes into this with their eyes wide open. 👍
That's a great mentality. It's how I started as well and as you can see from this video it does take time, patience and it's a great hobby to chip away at. Watch my 100 books video for a more inspiring update (more sales!!)
How is it going three months down the line from you comment? Made much?
What a refreshing change from all of those ads UA-cam attacks us with, where some spotty kid claims to be be making 100k a month self publishing!
Thanks for such an honest appraisal of your work to date.
Thanks Steve, much appreciated.
That has to be so discouraging! But I guess you have to take the long view and thinking you put in the work first, and then the revenue starts rolling in. Best wishes for you future coloring book empire!
That has to be so discouraging! But I guess you have to take the long view and thinking you put in the work first, and then the revenue starts rolling in. Best wishes for you future coloring book empire! It seems to me that the real key is selling them, and not so much making new ones. So, in order to make £1000 a month you need to sell 300 a month, right? If you got a national chain of craft stores to purchase 3,600 copies of Dinosaurs in Space, you’d reach your goal for the year, right?
Thank you for being up front and honest about making money on KDP. So many YT videos click bait one into watching them by saying making megabucks.
I subscribed when I saw the low profits, so rare to see genuine results.
Yup you’re absolutely right, as soon as i smell a lie i never go back to that channel.
Here is a guy in complete harmony with himself, and I even think for whom money does not have that much value, I am very happy that I met a person like that even only virtually.
in France, no one has dared to do this, everyone hides everything and only shows the little, which obviously doesn't help us at all for us who are just starting out, I would like to thank you for your frankness and above all stay like you will certainly live a very long time in peace. Thank you sir
Hello Maya, je suis français également. :) Je partage ton avis / I share your opinion.
Thank you for being honest. Finally someone honest. I'm so tired of these leaches in the Make Money Online UA-cam space duping unsuspecting followers into thinking making mass amounts of money doing all these MMO businesses is easy and viable. Especially the ones that haven't even done what they're pitching or are really making money selling courses to get people to try these ideas. A huge thank you again.
Thanks Nich, yeah if I get my book sales up to a level where it's bringing in a good amount regularly each month it's going to be through hard work, volume, quality, good niche research and ad strategy... all of which I'll share my results with you along the way to see what's worked and what hasn't! It's definitely not a get rich quick side hustle, but it can be a lot of fun and give SOME extra money on the side.
@@selfpublishingempire Thank you. I'll keep watching your updates and all the best in the success of your business.
It is greatly appreciated that you give us realistic numbers and that your advice is about what one can really expect after paying all the extras (adds, taxes) that generating this type of content implies. Many other videos give you very large income numbers and not based on the sales of someone who is starting out in this buisness, so your video and tips that you give us are greatly appreciated.
So nice to see and hear an honest, down-to-earth report. One fellow I follow says to start each book at an extremely low price just to get reviews, then raise the price. I'm gonna follow that advice. Considering that our only hope is long-term passive income, it may be cheaper than advertising!
Definitely a good strategy! I start them lower and increase them after a month but I’ve not tried extremely low before… i might have to do a case study video trying it ;-)
Too cheap of a price tells the consumer it is not a quality book.
Hi Craig! It takes guts and a certain level of confidence to make an honest video like this, which I think is great! Although I don't do AI content in my own books, I appreciate the thought you put into each book.
Thanks Mariel, I do make sure that I'm not just sticking AI images in to a book, that I am adding extra like retouching, copy/etc to try and stand out :). Looking forward to watching your video now!
This video has been NEXT LEVEL in terms of transparency. Much appreciated, thank you!
My pleasure! Glad it was helpful
Thank you so much for this really honest review, especially considering all the expenses! I am tired of these videos saying "It's so easy to make money with KDP" or "All you need to use is Midjourney" or "I made 10,000 with my coloring book". No, KDP is definitely hard work and you never know if you will be successful or not! In my case (I do not only coloring books, but also guidebooks and storybooks), considering all the expenses for ghostwriters, designers, etc. I am still in the red, even though I made a net profit of about $800 last month.
Cheers Marc and thanks for sharing your experience too. I'm definitely seeing improvements as my books and marketing are both improving... but like you say, you need to treat it as a longer term building (ie a business), rather than a get rich quick scheme! My most recent income report shows more success.
Great video! I admire how you've managed to come up with ideas for such uniquely themed books. Colouring and activity books are something I am trying out this year.
This is the only legit and honest video about the reality of KDP publishing I've seen so far.
Good luck getting to 10,000 books as quickly as possible to hopefully replace your income.
thank you man! you are the only honest UA-cam till now, the others trollers are still claiming to make 5000$/month with colouring books and various journals
Thank you, and thank you so much for the donation 🥳
I think if you can create a "unicorn" of a coloring book, everything in perfection and harmony, and it blows up in December you could. It's like panning for gold. A very tiny few actually strike it rich. The dream keeps the rest of us going.
Thank you for your candor. Far too many people promise that AI publishing is an absolute goldmine with no limits.
I see these videos EVERYWHERE and it's just not the case.
@@selfpublishingempire I would suggest doing a quality check on those AI generated pages. I see some funny mistakes like dinos with five or more legs!
Great honest video .. I am very new to this but of course have watched all the click bait videos about earning $$$ a month. Reality is one of my books has seen 10 sales in a month , the rest not a single sale. I am also in it for the long term and believe that if with each release i improve then it is a worthwhile journey ;-). The main point is I enjoy the process and am learning everyday.
Thanks a lot for this honest video. Right now, I am researching this whole field around Amazon KDP and this really is one of the first videos that shows a personal, complete honest view on it.
Glad it was helpful!
Currently, I have four coloring books for sale, and I plan to publish at least twenty more by the end of the year. I've already created the covers premade, and all my coloring books are part of a series. I've got a few other series planned to go along with several Webnovels we have published. I haven't made any more yet as I have not put any money into ads, but I plan to. Thank you for making this video; it was very informative and helpful. It will help us build our brand.
Thanks for all of the detail you went into and makes it very real, I appreciate your honesty and transparency.
I agree with you. Just through repetition, your ad spending will get more refined, your subject choice will get better and better. And your covers will keep improving. Plus you got the passive revenue from your first books when you started. Your profits from the past year might seem disappointing, but I really think you've got something to build on.
Agreed. When I do my August review and end of 2023 review we will see how more books, and better books, have continued the build
Thanks for your honesty! I used your gross income & came up with these numbers in USD minus the 20% tax for small businesses for an approximate monthly profit.
$213 for 100 books
$1,065 for 500 books
$2,130 for 1,000 books
You need a lot of books!
This shows what you can expect when you first start out I think. SInce this video I've created better books and done more niche research and income has grown because of that :)
I saw this video by chance and I want to say that I am surprised by the amount of honesty and transparency that is lacking in this business. I just subscribed to your channel because you deserve that. Keep going Brother wish u all the best .
Thank you 🙏
KDP works very well for people who already have a large audience who are looking for extra content to buy into. But with a small or no audience, I believe you're better off trying to build an audience first - maybe low thousands of followers/subscribers. In whatever medium your into, be it toys, DIY, crafting, cookery etc etc build that first using socials, UA-cam, local markets and your own online presence. And then, once you believe you have enough of a crowd who are hungry for your 'stuff', create a book or two on the subject, launch it and then tell your followers. You'll get much better results in a shorter time frame. Build it and they will come is great in theory, one in a million chnace of success in practice.
I have never watched a really honest review like this, much appreciated! I like the mentality does it does not matter if the earnings are not that much now but overtime once your followers and books multiply,the profit would grow overtime. thank you sir!
One more thing..your KDP journey might be slower as expected, but the speed your youtube chanel grows is really impressive 👍
Thanks Tom!
an honest and realistic experience. Thank you :)
A fresh of breath air compared to all the other "I made 60K per month with A.I."
Thank you, and I hope you do well in your jounrney.
Thanks :). I think if you get lucky and/or get a book to rank well in a profitable niche there's potental to make good money, but it'll take a good amount of ad spend along the way.
@selfpublishingempire one thing I'd like to do (as would many people) is get the colouring book rights to an I.P like Spongebob or Scooby Doo.
@@toxicGumballz If you know anyone, let me know :D
@@toxicGumballz I used to work in entertainment licensing. I think your chances are slim to none. First off, the licensor will only license a set amount of categories. (eg activity books) per licensed property, and will 100% require you to follow their 'style bibles', which means def no AI, and definitely the employment of a professional artist who understands licenced property guidelines. Every single image will have to be approved by the licensor (via their agent), which can take ages, and almost ALWAYS requires some kind of amendments (ie more money to spend for you). And then you have the financial aspect of the deal. ALL licensed property owners will require you to enter a guaranteed royalty agreement. This is where you will guarantee a minimum amount of royalties the property owner will earn over the license agreement (typically 2/3 yrs). Not only that, you will have to pay a large percentage of that guarantee royalty up front. This causes a big issue for small operators, as they will often agree to a HIGH ROYALTY, and OVER ESTIMATE the earnings. and then end up paying a HUGE advance on that guarantee, and NEVER actually make it back. PLUS under contract, you are obliged to pay the licensor the minimum of the TOTAL royalties you guaranteed in your agreement. And to top all this off, if you make one tiny mistake, and do not follow their license guidelines, they will terminate your license (after all they have a very profitable brand to protect). If after all that you are interested, then the licensing agent for Scooby Doo is www.warnerbros.com/company/divisions/consumer-products and you can find the licensing agents for many other characters at www.licenseglobal.com/
@@RJMCTVNice breakdown of the facts. Cheers.
Thanks for your honesty. It's so helpful to see a realistic presentation of this type of 'side hustle', including a breakdown of the associated costs. I wish you much success in the future!
Thanks for being honest and breaking things down like this. I’m currently learning about publishing Low Content books with KDP and this helps me to manage my expectations moving forward.
I used to do Sales for a Digital Marketing Agency and I know how valuable keywords are.
Instead of publishing 300 Colouring books, invest the time into learning how to pick the most profitable keywords and make sure the quality of the book cover is the best it can be and stands out from the others.
Thank you for your honest, transparent, and thorough explanation. Unlike most other videos that make it sound like you're gonna make millions overnight, this is a great reality check that explains all the work that goes into this. Thanks again for the great video.
Glad you liked it. If you watch my follow up videos you can see with hard work, better books, and better research it is possible to make money - but it's not as easy as others might have you believe.
Great video thanks for being so transparent it's so good to hear an honest account of what to expect.
Thank you so much
Thanks Shane!
Thank you for sharing a proper HONEST walkthrough of your experience with actual real world figures. I wish you every success!
Thanks for sharing honest insights on KDP. So REFRESHING as there’re disproportionate volumes of YT channels showcasing mega accomplishments of 6-7 figures with a message “I could do it so can you, just follow these steps or me”. Every time watching those, it raises some self doubts. Anyway I still believe in it - KDP, will keep at it while learning to perfect my craft along the journey to improve the ROI. Thanks again mate!
Thanks John, and that's exactly what I've found so far. Keep improving the books, researching better niches, making better covers and using ad spend better etc and it all helps improve earnings.
Thank you for making this video. I appreciate your honesty and transparency.
Thank you for your honesty, this makes me more confident to publish book myself. Im confident you can make decent amount from this video. Good luck sir.
I appreciate your honesty about your expenses on Ads, all the people who make good money, pay for ads. Not all admit it, but there are a few who do and they all come to the same kind of conclusion. I'm sure in this moment you are already harvesting the fruits of this initial effort. Thanks a lot for sharing this. Good luck with all you do!
Thank you :)
Thank you for being honest about what you're profit was. Keep going.
Thank you
It is good seeing things shared with transparency. And see that to make it work it will need a lot of market research and in eat on ads.
I’ve had very, very similar results as you. 13 books, created and published over 8 months or so. I haven’t spent as much on ad spend and when you take that cost out of my total revenue I have actually lost about $50… Onward and upward…
If I wasn't creating my covers and intreriors myself (ie no additional hard costs), I'd be losing money on the books too! I'm hoping that volume and a bigger back catalogue will help in the future.
You learned a lot through producing and publishing these books and i guess you also helped some people to have more fun in their lives
Good job on being honest about it. I am a professional book designer and children's book author and have been considering trying out some coloring book ideas. I know it's not easy to just generate a good amount of passive income by doing this, but it is a decent way to build something up as long as you can keep the good ideas coming. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for this video. I appreciate your honesty and transparency. Keep it up with the videos. I learn a lot from them. 😊
Ah thank you so much for the support :), I love watching your videos and learn from them as well!
@@selfpublishingempire 😊
Thank you for being so honest and sharing your sales. Wishing you the best for Q4.
Thank you, and you!
Thank you for your honest breakdown. It's eye-opening.
Huge thanks from a fellow Brit. It's great to see some honest numbers and I admire your mindset of building an online library of books that bring income each month. Wishing you great success.😊
Much appreciated! 👍
I'm surprised by some of your books that did not sell well. The aliens one looks terrific.I wonder what your keyword search was for the beard one -- it must have been freaking hilarious! Thank you for your transparency. I'm just at 10 books since march 2023.
Thanks for being so upfront and transparent about the numbers and shairng your experience with generating colouring books, as I am currently considering about simliar journey as a side hustle. Very insightful, which is needed considering how many videos I have seen across Ig/other social media about making thousands per week let alone per month. Much thanks for sharing with us!
You are so welcome! If you create good covers and good books in niches that aren't too saturated but have interest you can still make money... But it's extra money for the most not a full time income (until a good amount of work is put in for perhaps a few years)
As everyone else has said, thank you for making this video. Wish you all the best in success for the future
Hello from a fellow Brit :) Thanks for being honest - this is a more valuable and interesting video than the countless "get rich quick" videos I've seen so far. I'm contemplating KDP (although in a completely different genre to the colouring books, notepads, etc...) so it's handy to see what I may realistically get if I go ahead with it. Your spending on adverts is really interesting and something I clearly need to look into more. All the best. Cheers!
Cheers Gareth. If you're doing a different area you might find success a little quicker. With my books it tends to be the more difficult they are to make, the better they sell (likely because of less competition). Good luck :)
Thanks for being legit and transparent. No hype is appreciated... liked and subbed. 👍
Hi Craig, thanks so much for the wonderful transparency of this video, it's great to see actual books. I would just like to say, that as an adult colorist, the coloring community (not specifically me, I've remained fairly neutral), have come down big time on AI produced coloring books. As a community, we tend to be very loyal to the artists that hand create the books, so that could also be why your sales have not done so well. The colorists are getting more savvy regarding what is original art and what is AI and are actively returning AI books, or just not purchasing. I have a video on my channel about creating them, and I was shot down in flames! I thought you may find this interesting.
100% agree with you Liz. AI is a dirty word within the adult colouring niche. Not all of my books are AI generated (most of the colouring books are, but not all), and the ones that are AI generated I retouch to remove imperfections and then edit them further to make good pages... but I know a lot of the reason is the ethical side as well, which can be a grey area. I'm all about innovation and advances in productivity, but I'm also a believer of people getting paid for their work and IP, so hopefully with more consideration going into AI we will see new legislations in place to help artists choose whether or not their work can be utilised for AI and hopefully get the artists paid as well.
And I'll check out your video Liz :) Thanks for commenting!
First off loving the transparency here. KDP is not an overnight success and I cringe when I see the videos that lie and state that you can make “1000 notebooks” and get rich. Pfffft yea right. Its hard work and is all about researching niches, finding what works and doubling down on that. Best of luck for Q4 though.
Thanks for checking out the channel :), and agreed! I try to see it as a business and in the grand scheme of things, I'm still towards the beginning.
@@selfpublishingempire you are doing a great job with taking action....keep it up and you will eventually find what works.
You have no idea how valuable this video is! Thank you so much, thank you!
Thanks for your honesty man, tired of the BS. You won yourself a new sub.
I like the honest and explanatory approach, it makes more clear on the whole subject. Do you have any video on analyzing ads and how to place bid click amounts ? Thanks.
Check out my Amazon Ads playlist, which should answer any questions you have!
@@selfpublishingempire OH, thanks , I'll do
Thank you for sharing your experience and your numbers !
Great video. Good to hear straight-talking about sales and expenses.
Bear these two things in mind. 1) They are assets with reoccurring, passive potential. There are so many tools available out there.
2) As a parent, my boy is obsessed with boy dinosaurs and space. Some of your books have a very narrow catchment, designed for a specific demographic.
Thank you for your advice and help. Trial and error is never a failure. Keep strong.
Very good points! One thing to mention for yourself and others is that as I continued researching and creating the books are much better quality, and as you mentioned in better niche as well - this has led to more sales :).
This was refreshingly honest and helpful. So many of the other channels, only show other people's books and they speculate about how much money they made, when the truth is you don't know how much money they spent on ads or other overheads.
Thanks Sue, I'm really happy you thought it was useful!
Appreciate the honest look. All the best!
I wish more UA-camrs would be this honest on these things... Great video, shared it in my group.
Much appreciated! Thank you for sharing :). Please check out my recent one now I've reached 100 books as well.
Your honesty is a breath of fresh air. And you've confirmed my suspicions about KDP. If my calculations are correct you made (cash in hand) 42.11 GBP per month or 6.01 GBP per week. You'd make more money sitting outside a supermarket with a tin can and a sign around your neck, or busking on the tube (underground). (but then again you wouldn't be able to do your day job.) My guess is you're making more money on youtube as well. Anyway thanks again.
Appreciate the maths and your positive feedback :). One thing i will say however is it’s also about building a larger back catalogue, which i now have. Im currently making around £1,000 a month through kdp with approx 100 books. Whereas when I made this video I was making like you say, maybe £50 a month. The hope is as i continue to build, the money will keep increasing as well. And you are correct, it also allows me to do things like this youtube channel :)
I've published 3 coloring books and 3 puzzle books in the last 3 months. The content is good and the covers are professionally made. I've watched 200+ videos on Amazon Ads…spend around $500 on ads in 2 months and my revenue for 3 months was around $130………I did publish in the mid-popular range…average cost per click was $0.80……..I'll continue publishing but note that this is not a "get rich quick" scheme
Thanks for the info- are you publishing to “get rich” or to get your art out to the public?
It definitely isn't. I'd advise you to watch my Amazon ads video next as that should help with some thinking on ad strategy :). 80c sounds too expensive for an average CPC to start!
You're doing something wrong for sure.
It’s now another 7 months on and I’m hoping you’ve made a lot more money by now! My journey starts today! I released 3 puzzle books on KDP. They are my own invention called ‘Clueless Snakeword’. So far I have 1 sale… to myself 😂. Keep the faith mate, this time next year we’ll be millionaires!
Doing lots better thank you, make sure you check out my newer income report videos. Still not a millionaire yet though! Haha. Love your goal and the new type of book. Here’s a tip for you, make books of these in different areas and use keywords and ads to rank for things like puzzle book, word search etc. so like do a dog one, a cat one, a sports on, an easter one, etc etc. make like 20 of them and have them all in a series and then i think you’ll have a great start
@@selfpublishingempire thanks so much for the tips. I’m on it! Well done on your success!
TY for your honesty, it has helped me alot. Young man, you might try voice overs or reading books. My mom has low vision and listens to books almost all day. Believe me, your voice is very soothing, easy to understand (and I'm an American), and sounds trustworthy. I hope this helps.
You're too kind, thank you!
Finally someone keeping it real. Way too many just do this and make $1,000 a day videos/ideas this is appreciated not as a discouragement but so that people are realistic before they jump in thinking that it's super easy to create a few prompts, upload and they can retire
I have been giving coloring books quite some thoughts. So seriously thank you for your honest and frank video.
You don't even take into consideration the amount of time you spent on creating the images and then the books. Even the lowest paid job would have gotten you more. So I do hope you will benefit from your effort in the long run!
I really enjoy making the books though, it's a creative outlet. Some books will just completely make zero money, whilst I've found some can make sales (in this example it was the dinosaurs in space one)... so it's all about learning about what works well, replicating that and improving upon it, and then the results will hopefully come!
This is a great breakdown of your efforts and paints a realistic expectation of creating these coloring books. Thank you for sharing!
Glad it was helpful!
Love this. Thank you for sharing your experience and the realistic outcome. Didn't know much about KDP. The large income in some vidz seemed too good to be true.
Very brave of this man to be transparent and post all of his book concepts. I've seen so many UA-camrs who hide that info. All the best in your Amazon journey.
Thank you!
It’s great to get the transparency. I noticed that there is no ‘Brand’ across your titles, perhaps that would help
My newer ones are, which I agree will hopefully help with coming back for more purchases!
Great honest video! I have made 5 colouring books to sell on Amazon KPDP and 6 months later, I only made ..$50! Not sure about the validity of those who claim $5-10k month income!
A lot of those videos are where they find a book that ranks number 1 for a very competitive keyword and they show that book and say 'hey look, this book makes thousands a month! And you could too!'... yes you could, but reality is definitely a bit closer to it being a hard graft which will pay off over time :)
I watched the whole thing but god bless whoever created the 'most replayed' timeline
Thank you for sharing! This is a very realistic experience for starting on Amazon KDP!
Thanks Catherine. I have had a couple of books perform a bit better than these - and some others perform worse! But I hope the honest overview helps :)
You deserve the views for honesty!
thanks for making the video - very informative. I also appreciate the full transparency and the lack of hyperbole. You provided a very reasonable justification and a great presentation.
As a follow-up, you might want to show the creation of a single book from GPT to outline to Midjourney to editing to publishing/advertising. I think it would be really interesting.
Thank you and great idea!
Thank you very much for telling people the truth, people like you are worth gold and you will for sure got success cause there is carma
Thank you for your candid breakdown and a very detailed break down at that 👍🏾👌🏾👌🏾
I actually think that these are pretty good earnings. I was thinking about getting into kdp a couple of years ago but life got in the way. From watching earnings videos (that I trusted) at that time I worked out that you needed at least 100 decent books (mid to high earners) to make an average £1k profit per month. Sales are very seasonal and I think starting at the time you did and going heavy on the ads from the off will have really helped you here.
You're pretty bang on there. I just hit 100 books and make about $1500 profit a month. Some months slightly less and obviously Q4 will be a huge increase again hopefully
Very honest video. Like some people mentioned here there is a lot of hype around leaving 9 to 5 job. Dont fall for it. But in saying that i have been looking into all these i have gained a lot of knowledge in general which in itself was a big bonus.
Honest and personable. well done.
Definitely a learning curve. But good luck on the rest of your endeavors. Thanks so much for your honesty. Most content creators don't tell you the truth.
Thank you, good luck on your journey too and I'll have a video coming out soon showing the SUCCESS of a coloring book :)
Great video. Nice to hear someone giving a realistic, honest experience. I hope your business keeps growing!!
I appreciate that! Thank you :)
Craig, thank you for a very clear, refreshingly honest and helpful video, great job!
Thank you! I have had other books that have performed better since then, so make sure to check those videos out :)
Realistic point of view. As a french seller, I am currently asking myself if all this deserve my time. For now, I have only 2 coloring books and 1 low content book. The Amazon ads suck almost all my profits. When you have to pay the taxes on the full income, before reducing the fees from ads and midjourney, it just show that I lose money in fact. I decided to stop others country ads except USA after I read the little lines telling that KDP won't pay you before the 100$ balance, but they take you money every months for the ads. Basicly, it makes us poor before having a chance to get ritch. I think I wil keep trying until the last semester to have a whider look but for now it looks pretty bad. When you see all those UA-camrs and TikTok guys that sell this business as a easy job, they are lying just to sell formations. This is a pretty sad world we are living in. Anyway, thanks for your job my friend. If you want to have a look on my work, just look for Pixelia coloring books on Amazon FR or USA ;). See ya
Good luck. What I would suggest is look into French niches. Most of my best sales have actually come from English niches, and perhaps French language books would be a good way in for you.
Kdp won't pay before the 100 dollar month? I have about 10 books on kdp for several years. I get 2 and 3 dollar payments all the time. But I have direct deposit so maybe that's why.
I have just published my first colouring book and I found this video perfect for me. I will have very low expectations now and will not ge disappointed if I do not get any sales. I love my colouring book though and enjoyed making it. Thanks for you video.
That's great to hear, I'm so glad this was useful and what I can say is that my next 10 coloring books following these are doing better! I think people tend to get better and better with their products, keywords, advertising, etc as they keep going. So my advice... keep going :)
I just published my first colouring book yesterday. Let’s hope for the best
@@palermodpr Good luck! Let me know how you get on.
@@selfpublishingempire I have other two books published within the last week and got no sales yet. I think I'll have to use ads on them. Can you talk about when do you normally decide to go for ads?
@@palermodpr Sure - check out my video on ads which is a great starting point and should help! For me normally what I try to do is 4 weeks straight away after going live - set a budget for the book and spend that. And then dial them back to almost nothing.
Thank you for your rare, honest report and the actual earnings details. ❤
Honesty earns my subscription
Thanks for sharing and if you make that you can always go up from there. GREAT job... Love the idea of coloring books for the dinosaurs...
Thanks, I might have to go back and make a new book with better designs!
Clever books sell, like the Monster at the end of the book or Dr. Seuss books.
I’m loving this! This told
Me exactly what I needed to know in the behind the scenes stuff. I think I’m going to try like 5-10 to start with and then see where it goes, on the understanding that it might not go anywhere 😂 brilliant video!
Sounds like a great idea! Good luck, that's kind of how I started too!
Really appreciate your honest take on this mate. As someone who is currently trying different ‘side hustle’ ideas I get very frustrated and deflated at how some of these ‘influencers’ make it look compared to what’s actually involved and what money can really be made. I don’t think I have the longevity in me to maintain something like this. I appreciate your insight though 👍🏻 I’ve had to unfollow a bunch of UA-camrs who keep telling me I can make thousands of pounds a day but need to use their affiliate link to get started 😅
Haha fair! If you're interested I've learnt a lot since this video and I post monthly income videos which is a lot more promising... BUT Amazon kdp does take a lot of work to get it up and running (as you saw in this video :))
@@selfpublishingempire I will check your videos out if they are posted to UA-cam. I actually have a self published title on Amazon with wait for it………….ZERO sales 🤣 I tried the ad campaigns and let’s just say I never spent close to what you showed in this video and here I was scratching my head wondering why it wasn’t working 🤷🏻♂️ silly me!
Thanks for your honest report on this. One thing I did want to mention, you have the word 'gift' in your subtitle for the Dinosaur book and a few others, that's one of the words you cannot put in your subtitle on kdp. I know that they sometimes let books slip through the cracks but I have had books with words that go against the TOS in my titles/subtitles before (sometimes things you wouldnt even think are an issue) and have had Amazon ban my books. Books that were selling very well with very low BSRs. And once you republish, you can't keep your reviews or ranking. So just wanted to give you and your viewers a heads up so you don't do it on your other books.
You're the best thank you. I'll do a review of the TOS and maybe make a video about it.
@@selfpublishingempire It would be fantastic if there was a video that explains when to start with KDP . I'm interested in learning more about the right time to begin using KDP for publishing books.
There's never a better time then now.
@@ChrisB5252 100%. And like with anything, sometimes the best way to improve is to just jump in and get real experience on the job!
Thank you for such a realistic and honest video
Glad it was useful!
Thank you so much for this video. I follow a lot of KDP publishing channels and I believe yours has got to be one of my favorites. I also work a full-time job. I'm a truck driver so finding time at the end of my driving day in my truck to make my coloring book has been a arduous process. I just got my first book finally published a couple weeks ago. I was disappointed to have met zero sales so far. I will admit that I started this journey looking at those channels that claim you're going to make millions of dollars or maybe thousands. My head is obviously much more put together because I figured it was going to be a percentage of that honestly though I didn't realize it was such a small percentage. Still my first book was fun although it took a long time and I know if I keep chipping at the old block I'll get several more books done. I look forward to having more of your content and I commend you for keeping everything realistic.
Those channels are good for inspiration, but dangerous because they set false and unrealistic expectations. KDP is a slog, but it can be fruitful, and when you find a book that starts to sell it feels amazing. Keep chipping away, that's how I started!
It takes only one book sold to make you millionaire Craig. That’s the book you need to pursue. Practice is essential though. Just that right, golden book 😊
Amazon kdp seems to be quite correlated with the amount of books that you have published, the more u publish, the higher your income (Essentially)
Yeah, I think that's the top-level. Create more books, earn more money.
Thanks! Subscribed! Cheers from Nova Scotia!
Sorry to hear about your weather lately (as an Ontarian)
@@goilo888 Thank you so much! The fires are out and now we are flooding. We need lots of good wishes :)