I'm starting an honest-to-God publishing company this year. I'm working on some educational books and children's picture books (with no AI-I'm lucky, I can draw), and my husband and I have been making a Christian humor comic together. Wish me luck. Your videos help me believe I can help with household expenses without flipping burgers. (I'm not above flipping burgers, but I have little ones, and working from home is the better way to go.)
@@selfpublishingempire Our first few books only went to family and friend, so I understand. I'm blessed not to be counting on this money yet. but if I get it rolling it can help with things like dance lessons. 🙂
Thank you, I'm just learning to publish using a free Canva account and no ads yet. Once I have a reasonable book that I'm happy with I will investigate ads. Thanks for your encouraging video. 👍
Good luck! Make sure if you're using Canva free that you make sure to not get in trouble for using Canva elements. Have a search on TH-cam for issues with Canva, especially if you're making things like coloring books using Canva designs.
Thanks for your video. Always interesting and useful. Hoping to start with kdp this month, been doing as much research as possible in January...time to start.
After watching a lot of your videos, I published 2 books in KDP during January. I've managed to get 5 orders in the last weekend which is great, but the ACOS is through the roof. Struggling to get that down.
Love your videos, thank you So informative and i will hopefully use this sound advice to launch my first books this month. Could i ask.. With any/all sales, are you taxed on every sale, or do you have to state all sales monthly etc then pay tax on them. ie are your profits started before or after your tax? Thank you
Good luck! I am not taxed on my sales (you will find this out when you enter your bank information and do your tax interview with Amazon). I then have to declare my earnings to the government who send me a tax bill (self assessment). That will vary by country :).
Your profit on Amazon KDP looks insane! One german guy I follow had a fantastic year in 2023, but 2024 reduced his profit by 50%. And in January he made like $3600, but after 80% of Amazon Ads only $600 remained in profit. Is it really possible to have such a low ACOS like you? Without spending an equivalent on Facebook ads? You look to honest to hide...
This is my honest results and I don't run any other advertising. Others out there are doing even better than me. So yes it's possible, but it is hard work!
Would you recommend for beginners low and medium content going forward in 2025? I dont understand, you write fully fledged novels or non fiction books yourself?
As in the video I've found the more competitive niches to be difficult to break into. I tend to try to find lesser populated niches on Amazon where possible. Like you say maybe around 1000.
hey man! love your videos, watching your videos inspired me to start my own journey on this but im facing an issue on getting my identity verified for my profile, "We couldn't verify your identity. Please try again." this is the message i keep getting . What do you suggest i do?
Thank you! Which country are you in? That might have a little bit to do with it unfortunately... Have a Google search around to how to do this for your country. that will help you more than I can!
@@selfpublishingempire Hey! thank you for your quick response, I'm from India btw and i have done some research and found out there are people facing similar issues here but not exactly sure why? i'll keep looking into it, but if you could find something to help me out with it I'd much appreciate it. Thank you again and keep doing what you do!
Your video content is amazing! Are your new books AI-generated? If I trace all my AI-generated images in Adobe Illustrator and clean them up, do you think it would help prevent my account from being terminated for using AI-generated images? I've read many stories from people saying their accounts were shut down for using AI-generated content. What's your take on this? A detailed video on this topic could be extremely helpful for your audience!
That would definitely help if you have the skills to do so. AI itself is not an issue on amazon kdp, it's poor quality ai (leading to bad customer experiences), or infringement on copyright/trademark. I do a mix with my books, but like you suggested, I don't like to publish ai generated content as is, I prefer to tidy it, add human elements, etc.
I was making good money from kdp. Suddenly my account got terminated without any reason and I lost all my earnings. This is so hard but it is what it is . I am going to recreate everything from zero. If any body has advice pls tell me. You support is appreciated. Also if any idea of how to get my account back pls tell me.
That is so horrible and a risk with Amazon kdp. If you Google and TH-cam search for Amazon kdp laywer for account restoration, there are a couple of people out there that specialise in this. If you havent broken copyright/trademarks they might be able to help you get it back.
Mostly... publishing in less competitive niches (CPC lower), having more books out there (can turn bad ads off and give up on books with high ACOS'), and creating better books (higher conversion rate).
I'm starting an honest-to-God publishing company this year. I'm working on some educational books and children's picture books (with no AI-I'm lucky, I can draw), and my husband and I have been making a Christian humor comic together. Wish me luck. Your videos help me believe I can help with household expenses without flipping burgers. (I'm not above flipping burgers, but I have little ones, and working from home is the better way to go.)
Good luck that sounds like a fantastic idea :). I didn't make any money really from my first 20 books so focus on it as a medium term plan!
@@selfpublishingempire Our first few books only went to family and friend, so I understand. I'm blessed not to be counting on this money yet. but if I get it rolling it can help with things like dance lessons. 🙂
Love these videos! Thanks for doing these.
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Thank you, I'm just learning to publish using a free Canva account and no ads yet. Once I have a reasonable book that I'm happy with I will investigate ads. Thanks for your encouraging video. 👍
Good luck! Make sure if you're using Canva free that you make sure to not get in trouble for using Canva elements. Have a search on TH-cam for issues with Canva, especially if you're making things like coloring books using Canva designs.
Thanks
Thanks for the donation! Much appreciated ☺️
Thanks for your video. Always interesting and useful. Hoping to start with kdp this month, been doing as much research as possible in January...time to start.
Good luck!
After watching a lot of your videos, I published 2 books in KDP during January. I've managed to get 5 orders in the last weekend which is great, but the ACOS is through the roof. Struggling to get that down.
Love your videos, thank you
So informative and i will hopefully use this sound advice to launch my first books this month.
Could i ask..
With any/all sales, are you taxed on every sale, or do you have to state all sales monthly etc then pay tax on them. ie are your profits started before or after your tax?
Thank you
Good luck! I am not taxed on my sales (you will find this out when you enter your bank information and do your tax interview with Amazon). I then have to declare my earnings to the government who send me a tax bill (self assessment). That will vary by country :).
Great video! Thanks! Are you making all the books yourself? And how do you manage it with yourfull-time job?
Yes and this is my full time job 🥳
Hey, great content! Do you publicly share your KDP books, or do you keep them private?
I share some of them from a public facing pen name but keep most of them private now due to past experience 👍
Your profit on Amazon KDP looks insane! One german guy I follow had a fantastic year in 2023, but 2024 reduced his profit by 50%. And in January he made like $3600, but after 80% of Amazon Ads only $600 remained in profit. Is it really possible to have such a low ACOS like you? Without spending an equivalent on Facebook ads? You look to honest to hide...
This is my honest results and I don't run any other advertising. Others out there are doing even better than me. So yes it's possible, but it is hard work!
@@selfpublishingempire you are my hero. 🥰
How much time are you investing in kdp per day?
Nowadays maybe 4-5 hours a day most days of the week.
@ is it possible for a student to build up a portfolio ( Business ) like this and make it a semi passive income? 4-5 hours a day?
Would you recommend for beginners low and medium content going forward in 2025? I dont understand, you write fully fledged novels or non fiction books yourself?
Yes, 100%! Whatever you're able to create, there's still good opportunities. It's about finding niches that aren't TOO overly competitive.
@@selfpublishingempire even low-content ones? Where do you find them?
Low content are definitely harder to find. Basically the lower the barrier to entry, the more competitive it tends to be.
Beg you for your coloring/activity book launch strategy with your ads. Do you choose a popular niche or low competitions like 1000?
As in the video I've found the more competitive niches to be difficult to break into. I tend to try to find lesser populated niches on Amazon where possible. Like you say maybe around 1000.
hey man! love your videos, watching your videos inspired me to start my own journey on this but im facing an issue on getting my identity verified for my profile, "We couldn't verify your identity. Please try again." this is the message i keep getting . What do you suggest i do?
Thank you! Which country are you in? That might have a little bit to do with it unfortunately... Have a Google search around to how to do this for your country. that will help you more than I can!
@@selfpublishingempire Hey! thank you for your quick response, I'm from India btw and i have done some research and found out there are people facing similar issues here but not exactly sure why? i'll keep looking into it, but if you could find something to help me out with it I'd much appreciate it. Thank you again and keep doing what you do!
Your video content is amazing! Are your new books AI-generated?
If I trace all my AI-generated images in Adobe Illustrator and clean them up, do you think it would help prevent my account from being terminated for using AI-generated images? I've read many stories from people saying their accounts were shut down for using AI-generated content.
What's your take on this? A detailed video on this topic could be extremely helpful for your audience!
That would definitely help if you have the skills to do so. AI itself is not an issue on amazon kdp, it's poor quality ai (leading to bad customer experiences), or infringement on copyright/trademark.
I do a mix with my books, but like you suggested, I don't like to publish ai generated content as is, I prefer to tidy it, add human elements, etc.
I was making good money from kdp. Suddenly my account got terminated without any reason and I lost all my earnings. This is so hard but it is what it is . I am going to recreate everything from zero. If any body has advice pls tell me. You support is appreciated. Also if any idea of how to get my account back pls tell me.
That is so horrible and a risk with Amazon kdp. If you Google and TH-cam search for Amazon kdp laywer for account restoration, there are a couple of people out there that specialise in this. If you havent broken copyright/trademarks they might be able to help you get it back.
How have you got your acos so low? The old videos you made for ads, must be different to what you're doing now.
Mostly... publishing in less competitive niches (CPC lower), having more books out there (can turn bad ads off and give up on books with high ACOS'), and creating better books (higher conversion rate).
And also evolving my ad strategies and continuing to learn and grow :)