How Much I Made In My First Year of Amazon KDP Publishing Mid-Content Puzzle Books (Income Report)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ธ.ค. 2023
- Hey people! What up. Hope this gives you an idea of what to expect in your first year of Amazon KDP. Is it worth it? How much can you make? What is realistic? I can't say for sure, but I can share my story to help you out. But enough talking, enjoy the video!
Toby.
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Hiring VAs Advice (per request of the homie @danielm5386)
First, watch this video: • How To Hire Freelancer...
Second, these are my notes from the video:
1. Invite freelancers to your job - find the best looking freelancers and invite them to join. They may not, but at least you can make them aware of the work and hopefully hire them.
2. Create a Minimum Viable Assignment - a task with the least amount of work necessary to test somebody’s skill. It is a really cheap way to vet the field and to save oodles of time, money, and headaches. Do fixed cost assignments in order to do this.
3. If your project is more complicated, hire 2 or 3 people at once. For the 1st week, give them all similar tasks and see how they do. Then cut people who are not bringing in the bread.
Third, just try it.
I highly recommend just hiring SOMEONE. Even for a stupid test, like writing an email to the president or researching bowling alleys near you and putting them in a spreadsheet with pros and cons from google reviews. Whatever - the main thing is to get experience at a low financial cost. Make it a $5-10 job to start. So get on Fiverr or UpWork and try it. Fail fast - there's always more to learn than we think. Have fun with it!
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA GF D1 | Summer | แข่งที่ไทย ต้องใส่ให้สุด](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jkuf7nCS7jI/mqdefault.jpg)
Totally would have watched part 2 if it existed!! 😂 great video I’m very familiar with that cycle of optimism and starting over!
Working on pt 2! Thanks for the encouragement, and yes, that cycle can be a vicious one. Keep going, you rock bro!
@@toby.demoss Lol is part 2 not out yet? My guy, you cant do this to me xD my heart.
Same!
This is probably one of THE BEST and most helpful videos I've seen. Thank you for sharing, you're doing a great service for those who are just starting out!
Wow, thank you! So glad it was helpful. Cheers
This was lovely to watch and informative. Looking forward to part 2.
Glad you enjoyed it! Pt. 2 being edited now :)
I really like your teaching style, you come across as really honest and sincere. I think this is why the cliffhanger ending had me literally laughing out loud instead of getting annoyed XD Good luck with the channel, I'm looking forward to your future videos!
Digicat! Love your name and I appreciate the encouragement :)
Thanks for your candid honesty. Looking forward to part two.
Thanks homie! Pt. 2 in the works. See u soon!
@@toby.demoss This was 3 months ago...C'mon Man!
I love how real you are in your tone, vulnerability, and desire for others to learn.
Thanks, Parker! You rock
I was scammed for $4000 by amazon KDP. They refuse to give their corporate address. Everyone they gave me was false.
Very honest and helped me not give up. I am the creative with out the rest too but learning. I am waiting on that Part 2!
You got this! Thanks for sharing your story, keeps me motivated to keep making videos. Happy to help in any way I can!
Hey Toby, just stumbled across your channel and so much of what you're saying rings true from about 6 months ago for me. Keep at it! I went from pretty much 0 profit for the whole of last year, to $6k in December alone this year! Your books look like good quality from the covers, so it's all about plugging away and launching sucessfully with ads, rather than on-going ad spend. Subbed to keep up to date with your journey :)
Hey can you teach me how you do that too. I'm very new at this and i really need money for my studies. I do know some graphic design work if you would like I can do some free work for you if you teach me.
Hey thanks for the insights, homie! Eager to keep growing, and stoked for you and those numbers! Keep it up!
Congratulations, you're onto it! Best of luck moving forward
Thanks bro! Grateful for you
This was awesome! Thanks. Haha waiting for part 2
Coming soon! Thanks for your patience homie ;)
Great video and transparency. Need more like this in the KDP space. Keep going. 😊
Thank you, brother! I use the SPT extension regularly, you guys are terrific and you do great work. Honored to have you comment on my video, makes me feel like a celebrity haha. Blessings, and lets keep going together!
@@toby.demoss oh that's awesome you use my tools. And haha.
Great Video. Can't wait for part 2!
Coming soon!
Great vid! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching, Brandon!
This was great! I’m gonna need that part 2 ASAP 👀
Workin on it! Thanks for watching, grateful for your kindness
love the video thank you so much for sharing your experiences so many channels just show people making money like crazy but there gotta be a lot of people who don't
You are so welcome! Yeah, the money can come but the journey is often long, right? Thanks for the encouragement and hopeful to help you more down the road as we grow together :)
Great video, i appreciate the honesty, I'm preparing to launch my first book. Very helpful and detailed, looking forward to part 2! BTW I'd like a peek at the SOP's👀
What up Daniel! Stoked to hear you're launching your first. And maybe I can get into SOPs in the future - in the meantime I just added something useful to the video's description. It's what I always tell people getting started with VAs - there's a link and some notes. The video was massively helpful saving time and headache. I've worked with well over 20 VAs and the video is well worth the quick watch if you want to skip the pain too :) Grateful to have you around homie! And best of luck with your launch!
Hey there Toby! First off... I've seen your books on AMZ and you did a great job with them so kudos to you on those. Secondly, I think now you just need to learn how to optimize your ads (which takes a bit of time) and launching strategies when you are getting books out of the gate and you will be good. I am still learning things to this day and have a long ways to go....but its great to see what you've done here. Keep up the great work!
Hey thanks so much for the encouragement! Hoping the best for both of us, and great work for sticking with it. You can do it my friend.
Really informative and interesting video. You could easily do a series of videos on the steps you follow to make KDP work. It’s helpful to learn about the impediments you’ve encountered and what you’ll be doing to overcome them. I’m looking forward to the next part of this video. Thanks for doing this.
Hey Bill, thanks for the encouragement and insight. When you say a series on how I make KDP work, what do you envision? Like what 3 videos would you put together if you were me? Would love to understand your idea more! Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and comment, very kind of you.
Hi Toby - Your video caught my eye because you have very good presentation skills and are good at explaining things in a way that’s easy to assimilate. Plus, in addition to facts and figures, you have the ability to take in the big picture (thinking strategically).
I think you have the ability and opportunity to create a set of videos about KDP in your own style and to have TH-cam become a money-maker in addition to whatever else you do (such as KDP or other Internet ventures). The challenge is to create something unique - that will pull viewers to you as opposed to the many other, quite competent, TH-cam creators who inhabit the KDP space, I don’t think that would be all that hard to do because I think your personal style (clear and articulate speaking, content-full presentation, and big-picture thinking) do help to distinguish you.
There is one fellow online whom you may already have run across - Miles Beckler - who might be a model of sorts for you. His niche is basically email marketing of affiliate and self-created digital products, but what makes him special is that he is prolific, and very honest and above board. I think that the fact that he is honest (no hype) leads to people being willing and interested in hearing what he has to say. Of course, he always has good content, too.
So, in terms of your producing additional videos about KDP, I think the sky is the limit if you talk about activities you’ve engaged in (and the extent to which they were successes or duds). Even the duds count because that’s informing viewers about what they might want to avoid.
Some specific ideas:
Amazon Ads. What’s involved in doing Amazon ads? What decisions do you have to make at various points? What are good/bad strategies? (I’ve heard people say that advertising during the first month - even if you just break even or take a loss - is a good thing to do for long-term benefit). What are the various types of ads? How do you write them up? What do you include/exclude? What are the measurements of effectiveness (people talk about ACOS). Tracking performance in general. Should you keep running ads (how do you do the profit calculation?). Use of ads with series of books (maybe advertise the first book in the series in the hopes that you hook people, and they will later buy other books in the series). And so on. If you talk about your experiences, then you move it from an abstract discussion to what you’ve personally experienced and that makes the video more interesting, I think.
[A side note - your video seemed to be very information-packed. I think it’s good to not have too much fluff in one’s TH-cam videos. I think TH-cam creators get paid more for the longer viewing times of viewers which, in some cases, make the videos seem artificially long. If you can present a valuable information product without padding or fluff, you’ll establish a reputation for value and watchability - a good thing to have in the long run.]
Building a Brand. What’s involved with this? Picking a name (and avoiding stepping on other brands names and trademarks). How and where does it show up in your books? Why have a brand? Should you have a newsletter for your brand (to capture people who are interested in your books for your email list)? Online generators for brand names? Use of AI to help generate brand names? How a brand expands your reach (e.g., like with a series, people who like one book may buy other books in the brand).
[Another side note: I think your videos could be just long enough to cover a topic. So, if the material lends itself to a 4-minute discussion, then you could just go with that. There may be times when it’s easier to make two short videos than one long one.]
Niche Selection. There are many videos online now about this, but I think it would be fine for you to show your own technique. There are many different ways of doing this sort of research. But, doing one of your own in-depth would interest viewers. And, if over time your method changes, that could be reason to produce another video, updating viewers on what you’re doing differently and why you changed and what the results are.
[Another side note: using ChatGPT or Google Bard is a good way to brainstorm ideas for video topics. You still have to research and fine-tune what AI produces, but AI is good a spewing out tons of ideas, giving you the option to pick and modify the good ones.
I hope this helps. I do think your strong point is your style and comfort in front of a camera. I’ll look forward to viewing the videos you produce in the future, and I hope you have fun doing them and that they bring financial success.
Bill
@@toby.demoss
this is gold! We need part 2 asap
Coming, coming!
'The dark night of the soul' = brilliant comment! Can't wait for Part 2 - I appreciate your honesty and will check back to your channel.
Hehe thanks my friend! Part 2 being edited as we speak :)
Now you must know what you are doing. Came up in my feed for KDP strategies. Your comments about creativity and learning struck a cord, and that's why I continued to watch. Continuing to learn and being informed, as you say is vital. I'm here but need help with implementing an advertising strategy. Hope you share your experience with this side of KDP. Later. Nicely done.
EJ, thank you my friend. I'm all about creative entrepreneurship, so we'll talk a lot more about how to make money as an artist/entrepreneur. Noted on the ads strategy, can't wait to help! Grateful you took the time to watch, more to come.
Thank you for sharing this.
My pleasure, glad it was of use to you!
I don't know why, but i love your clip and also your optimism. Even if it's from a passed moment, but i loved this clip and your happiness. Cheers man! I'll go to find the second one because yt doesn't recommend it now... fq... it! I will search it and will still find it bruh ;-)
Aw thanks homie! Second video on the way. Grateful for you!
I see a lot of comments already. Just wanted to say high and keep it up. A lot of us are struggling at making money online.
Hey bro, yes thank you for the encouragement. Making money is tough! Hopefully it gets easier as we grow together. Peace, and hope to see you in the next video!
Toby, thanks for being transparent & authentic! Can't wait for part 2! I've been researching KDP for months; however, I want to finally go for it in 2024! I too deal w/ several chronic illnesses & I wish you continued blessings & success!! Thx for your time & efforts!
You're amazing my friend. Keep it up, let's grow together! Really glad you commented this - so many of us have limitations and it can feel lonely, or at least it can for me. Proud of you for pushing forward and seeking to make the most of things! Do you have any particular video topics you thing would be worth covering for you? I know you've done a lot of research already.
Toby - great video man!!
Thanks Brian! Grateful for you, thanks for being generous with your time and watching the video :) Hope you picked up some juicy nuggets to help you thrive in your journey haha.
@@toby.demossof course- missed you at the last elite!
This was a great video.. I would watch more if you had them. I subbed so I hope to see more of you in the future…
Hey April, thanks for the vote of confidence! Grateful for you, and I hope to see you in the next video :) Blessings
the Dark Night of the Soul…. I get the reference: )
You got this Toby!
Seth haha you rock. Thanks for watching along!
Waiting for part 2🎉
On the way! You rock bro
Interesting mate! What's the process of publishing these books? You are writing some or what exactly is the part you play getting them from publisher to amazon?
Amazon IS the publisher. You create a book and upload it to KDP in digital format and it's only printed on demand when someone buys it so it's free to do. Amazon will tell you how much it will cost the print the book, so you can sell it for higher and keep the difference as profit.
Yup good questions bro. I have a team who creates the books for me - I make the processes, they follow the training I provide them, and then I do quality assurance to make sure it's an A+ quality book. And yes, like @kittywhiskers99 said, Amazon is the platform we use to publish. So you or I can provide Amazon with a digital manuscript PDF and a cover file. Then they print on demand and ship out the books when orders come in. It's a really cool model, and Kitty Whiskers did a good job of explaining it :) Thanks for the Q and for taking the time to watch the video!
Great explanation, simple and clear. Thanks my friend!
Part 2 if it is existing.. 😜 Thanks for sharing your best experience. 🎉
You got it! On the way!
Awesome video mate. The only thing I will say is that why don't you show your ads dashboard like your income report? We as audience could see your ACOS and other info
Hey bro, great point. If I keep going w these videos I'll be sure to highlight the ads dashboard. Wasn't thinking far enough ahead, that's my bad. Thanks for the advice, helps me know what you guys would benefit from seeing! Any ideas for upcoming videos? Would love to hear what you'd like to see.
@@toby.demoss Income reports tend to do well on TH-cam as well Toby :) I do monthly ones now and my audience likes them.
what did you write? I wrote so much and only one book really sold but it wasn't much in profit at all
Hey John! I showed the brand in the video, feel free to study the brand and see what my books were. Hope that helps! See the 1:40 mark.
You're funny! You will do well if you keep making videos. Appreciate the info!
Haha thanks Micah! Love the encouragement, and glad I could help you in any way :) Blessings
I'm optimistic you'll make part 2 😅
Hey Robin! Part 2 being edited now :) Stay optimistic!
Nice art skills!
Haha thanks bro! Nothing like a good old fashioned paintbrush application
The real mvp 🙌
Laz, means a lot coming from you homie!
Waiting for part 2
On the way! Had some personal things to tend to, but editing is in process now. Thanks for being patience Natali!
That's a sick cliffhanger right there man! It's been a month, where part 2 at ?
Haha thanks bro - part 2 on the way. Didn't expect so much demand and I had health issues to tend to, but it's being edited now. See you in the next one!
@@toby.demoss Hope it's nothing serious. Get well soon ma G. Waiting for part 2 when it's done.
Keep going 💪
Yes sir, but only if you do too ✌😗
Please release p2
It's on the way! Had to break for health reasons, but it's being edited now.
I tired od the errors on KDP! I NEED HELP & I DON'T WHERE TO GO?
Hey Anna! @SeanDollwet has some really useful videos if you are stuck - I would recommend looking there. He has a free beginner's course, and he also has topical videos if you have more specific issues. Keep going, you can do it!
Can you recommend best way to make kdp cover ?
Sure. Are you a professional designer? If not, I typically recommend hiring someone to design your cover and A+ content. Why? Think of your cover like your outfit: if you dress up, smell delicious, and smile with white, shining teeth, people will be eager to meet you. But if you're mumbling to yourself in a corner, smell like the train station, and have rats in your hair, you'll struggle to make friends.
If you want sales, you'll need clicks.
If you want clicks, you need a good cover.
Therefore, if you want to have a book that changes your financial life, you need a good cover.
It's that simple.
I've never met someone who made a lot of money for a long period of time in KDP who did not emphasize this point. A bad cover can win short term if the demand is high enough (starving crowd concept I learned from Alex Hormozi). But in time your book will be overtaken by another one with a better outfit.
NOTE: Just because you hire someone else to design the cover doesn't mean you don't have to be involved. In fact, you should do a lot of work yourself.
I typically spend at least a couple hours making a document for the designer to use. It consists of visuals of the best selling covers in my niche, with a breakdown of what common themes they share. Basically you want to identify what makes the covers good (what colors do winning covers use? Layout, font choices? How readable is the headline? What is the graphic style - are they using images or illustrations or both? etc).
I then give the designer concepts of what I'd like to do differently than the current winners (for example, if all the covers are red and blue, I will suggest we try a different color scheme (based on an educated guess of what will sell), and give visual examples, in order to stand out from the crowd).
I also write out my target demographic in detail. I write what pain points we are solving for them with this book. And I write anything else I feel the designer should know, including that I trust their professional opinion and they have creative freedom to explore new ideas as they come. I find trust is huge. Give good general instructions and then let them run free with the specifics.
By the time you hire for the book cover, you should basically be ready and able to analyze the designer's finished cover and tell them whether or not it will sell. If you rely on THEM to tell you whether or not it will sell, you'll likely get duped. If you're not sure what will sell, outwork your self doubt. Study the books that DO sell, borrow their ideas, spin it your own way, and reframe them for your book :)
How to find a designer who can do a great cover? No shortcut for digging :) Go on UpWork or Onlinejobs.ph or Fiverr and start digging until you see someone that really inspires you. Nothing worse than a bad cover designer! And remember - if you keep getting bad work from every designer you work with, the issue may be you. It was me for a long time until I got good at giving clearer instructions!
I typically pay $225 for a cover and $100 for A+ content. It's an investment, but if you did the first part of the book well - market and keyword research - then it should pay off big time in the long run.
Hope this helps!
it made me subscribe so I can see part 2
Lol I love that
Me too, but I also subscribed just to help you out!
Waiting all year for pt 2 😆
Lol nice homie. Thanks for being kind enough to watch pt 1!!
Love the accidental cliff hanger! 😂
So is there really a part 2?
Yes! On the way
good cliff hanger. where is part 2 ?
Great question! Not out yet, but it's on my radar :)
21 books you've published, divided by that amount of money? Not as impressed as you seem to be with yourself. I have no quibble with the amount, but do tell people you've got more than 20 books, not just one or two or even five. Still, a very, very excellent report given the time frame. It's just getting that number of books written, produced and marketed that becomes the Herculean task.
Thanks for the feedback! Are you a publisher too? Yep, 21 books seems big but once we got the systems down (after like 3 books we had it), I just did research and marketing - the actual book creation was done by my team. At that point it became wicked repeatable & easy (especially in my mid-content niche.) The hardest part I've found is doing *proper* keyword research and running ads profitably. More videos on these in the future I hope. Thanks for watching, I appreciate your time bro.
Where is the second video?
Being edited right now! Was dealing with some health issues, but it's on the way now.
Part 2 👀
COMIN' SOON!! Thanks for yo patience homie
Lack of part 2 is not making me optimistic!
Oh, you of little faith ;) Being edited now - had some health issues but now it's on the way. See you soon!
Bro where is part 2?
Working on it! The business itself is priority.
Hi Toby, I stumbled across your video today and decided to watch it to the end. (which is rare for me, and I suspect for many others as well) I will not be subscribing and I'll tell you why you lost a potential follower. I will tell you why in my next comment.... *two weeks later* crickets and tumbleweeds
Your video was excellent until your cliffhanger ending. If you're going to do that kind of ending, please make sure you have part 2 ready and uploading as soon as possible. If I had watched this video two weeks ago, I would have long since forgotten about part two and would have moved on to someone else.
Had you told us the most important part of this video at the end, you would have captured my interest and a possible subscriber.
As of today, you have given nothing of value, and after two weeks, I worry I will never know your "secret" to success.
It's kind of a let down, to be honest...
Hey ladybug! Sorry for the delay. I've been dealing with some personal issues that needed my full attention. The video is now being edited! Hope to have it out to you soon, thanks for your patience.
Get well soon
how many books?
21 books
You got it!
Prarinya got it right :) About 21 mid-content books in the first 12 months.
Really appreciate your honesty. In the informed optimism stage right now. Looking forward to part 2
thanks @@PrarinyaK