My $0-$100K Amazon KDP Plan
Edition 3
Welcome to the 3rd edition of Royalties on Demand Pro- A Deeper Insight Into Amazon KDP
In This Week’s Newsletter You will find:
My $0-$100K Amazon KDP Plan
KDP Keyword Homework
My $0-$100K Amazon KDP Plan
Photo by CardMapr.nl on Unsplash
It took me nearly 4 years to reach $100,000 with Amazon KDP.
However, I should have done it in half that time with what I now know.
I summed this up into 5 key areas that will help you reach your KDP goals faster.
Mindset
Your mindset will cause you to either succeed or fail with self-publishing.
This is an easy business to start but very few succeed long term as they don’t cut corners and they have a long-term plan.
Think 3-5 years into the future and create books that consistently sell yearly. With the mindset, your book royalties will keep compounding.
Your first few books won’t be great and some books that you take time to create will fail.
But if you let your ego get in the way, you will give up like most other self-publishers.
Don’t pressure yourself to start making thousands every month in your first year, especially if you have never designed anything before.
Q4 is a blessing and a curse as you will earn higher royalties during this period but the other parts of the year will be far lower.
Once you understand that there are seasons where your royalties will be far lower this will ease your mind.
Just focus on improving 1% each day and setting aside some time for your KDP business. I started with 1 hour in the morning and you will be surprised after a year of consistent work.
Consider how many books you can publish every month. I focus on 1-2 high-quality medium content books every month as I’ve already built up brands.
Have a plan of what you can do and stick with it.
Research
I have always said without research your books will fail.
There needs to be demand for the books you want to create.
Many people create what they like or what they think the customer wants instead of spending time searching for the right keywords that customers are typing in and studying the best-selling covers and interiors.
You need to target keywords and niches with high demand and low competition.
Creating a successful book on Amazon starts with data, not guesses.
With millions of customers visiting Amazon every day, it's important to choose the right niche because there are also thousands of other sellers competing for attention.
To make sure my book stands out, I look for niches with fewer than 2,000–3,000 search results.
This means less competition, making it easier for my book to appear on the first few pages, as most people don't look past the second page.
I also focus on keywords for books with several Best Sellers Rank (BSR) under 100,000 and one book with a BSR under 10,000.
This shows there is a high demand for the type of book I want to create.
I also like to see recent books selling, as this shows there are opportunities for new sellers in the market.
This approach helps to build a solid foundation with each book I create.
Knowing what not to target saves time and resources.
In the beginning, I struggled with KDP because I didn't have a clear process to research and validate every book I created but once I began following the criteria mentioned my royalties began to compound.
Read this article further about keyword research.
Design
Customers will always judge a book by it’s cover.
If your cover does not look appealing, customers will not buy it.
If your interior content is disappointing customers and does not match customers expectations you will get negative reviews.
You need to be creating the best book you possibly can.
You will not reach $100k royalties without knowing your strengths and weaknesses.
I’m not a great cover designer so I hire professionals through websites like Fiverr and Upwork.
This has had the biggest impact on my KDP business.
You can hire a cover designer for $10-$30 with several years of experience rather than creating average covers.
AI tools have also rapidly improved and you can use Ideogram to also create appealing covers.
If there is any area of the design process you struggle with there are freelancers or tools you can use to support you.
Don’t put in hours of hard work and publish your book only let it down with a poor cover or interior.
7 Tools That Made Me Over Six Figures With Amazon KDP
Marketing
You are wasting your time if you think that you can upload a book to Amazon and it will start selling.
You need a launch strategy.
Amazon's algorithm gives new books a bit of a boost in visibility during the first 30 days, so it's important to make the most of this time and get sales for Amazon to give you a more favourable ranking on the first or second page.
I create A+ content and start several targeted ad campaigns at different price levels to get more people to see my book.
I launch an auto ad, a manual keyword ad and a product ad campaign.
At first, my main goal is not to be profitable in the first month but to get noticed and make sales.
This does not mean that you should overspend. Have a budget and stick with it.
By watching and adjusting the ads over time, I can make the ads more profitable, turning that first big effort into long-term success.
TikTok is also another great option for free promotion but be patient with this as most of your videos won’t go viral.
The goal of marketing is to ensure your book is seen by your target audience.
Here are 3 low-cost ways that you can advertise your books.
Updating
Even with my best-selling books I continue to improve and update them.
There is always new competition daily on Amazon and you need to keep increasing the gap between you and the others.
I like to change my cover and add content to the interior every year to develop my best-selling books.
Most people think their books will continue to sell forever but this is not the case.
Customers interests and demands can change like the wind so you need to keep studying the most in-demand keywords with your books. I run a new auto ad on my book every year to help me find new keywords that customers are using the find my books.
I increase the price of my best books with many reviews going into busy periods such as Q4. Whereas during low demand periods of the year Q1 and Q2, I slightly lower the price of some books to offer a more attractive price.
There is always work to do even with best-selling books.
Don’t be complacent.
Final Thoughts
Following these exact steps helped me earn over $100 with Amazon KDP.
You need to be persistent with this business.
Don’t give up after creating 10-20 books, you will have many failed attempts in this business but those who don’t give up will and follow to steps I’ve outlined will eventually succeed.
KDP Keyword Homework
To help you get started a build the right foundations with your KDP business. I want to set you some KDP homework for next week’s group session.
For those willing to undertake this task, all it involves is making a list of keywords that you want target. Send me a list of 10-20 keywords for example Sea Lion Coloring Book, Golden Retriever Activity Book and I will validate them for you and send you a response to each keyword.
You can email: dannyondemand@gmail.com
This is only for paid subscribers.
Our first group session will be held next week on Wednesday.
You will receive the link in next week’s newsletter.
Need Help?
With Royalties on Demand Pro, I offer various services tailored to aspiring authors and self-publishers looking to make a mark in the industry.
Free KDP Templates coming soon., including the Ultimate Q4 keywords list.
Free KDP Course Content coming soon.
My one-to-one coaching for your KDP personalized plan (Use code RODPRO for 15% off).
Once again, thank you for joining me on this exciting journey.
Have an awesome week ahead and I look forward to catching up with you next week.
Danny