KDP A Year LAter

We started our journey into Amazon KDP 13 months ago.  Since then, mistakes were made, lessons learned, dreams crushed, money wasted, and more.

However, we haven't given up, merely brought our expectations down to reality.

Everyone is making coloring books and notebooks, churning out 1000s of new releases every month.  The pie is not getting any bigger.  No one is advocating or going online promoting coloring. Everyone is simply trying to cash in.

There are those who put out 10-15 books in their first month, dreaming of working full time at this rather than their day job. The quality of these books is often lacking, and that dilutes the confidence in the market at KDP even further.

The reality of how much you actually make, and how to make it, sets in. 

• There are no more niche's to be had.  The best you can do is have about 300 -400 other books to compete with.
• There are some niches, but they dont have customers.  For example, there is a gold miner's notebook niche with less than 50 searches a month and last count 15 books.
• The profit margin is very low.  You will make $1 or so on books unless they take off, which is extremely unlikely.
• You essentially have to pay to advertise your book.  If you don't use Amazon Ads, your book wont be in the first 50 listings in most cases, especially for new people who are delving into this for the first time.
• Be honest, when was the last time you went to page 4 of items you were looking for on Amazon?
• More common niches like Dragons, Dinosaurs, animals, and other kids coloring books have tens of thousands of books that you compete with.
• There are tons of people who will tell you otherwise.  They have products to sell, so of course, they can't tell you the truth about KDP.  It's dead.
• Put yourself in their shoes - If you could design a coloring book in 20 minutes, and make $50 a month for the rest of your life, would you go out and start telling people how to do that? Or, would you make more coloring books yourself?

We have had an absolute blast making these, working on social media, posting, coloring, and making connections.  Once you move away from KDP is going to make you a millionaire, your perspective changes and it becomes fun.  You'll be lucky to be a thousandaire, and that's fine.  :-) 

Make sure you join KDP for the right reasons. Quitting your day job after churning out 15 books in a month and hoping they will sell like hotcakes is not one of them.