At this point, you're the only channel I follow for kdp content. Always realistic and generous with practical advice and strategy. Applying your tips have greatly improved my kdp account. Thank you!!
As per a lot of comments here it’s really refreshing to finally find a KDP related channel that’s genuine, positive, real and has my best interests in mind when thinking about time, money and resources needed to commit personally into the KDP potential income opportunities and also really confronting the reality of success vs failure in what can feel like a monumental task and investment. This video is about 7 months old so looking forward to going through your videos and learning from the wealth of tried and tested processes you have clearly painstakingly endured and very generously sharing but without the bs as experienced on so many other channels around KDP on the tube. Thanks Chris, have liked and subscribed!
Hi Chris, thanks for another bold & transparent video on publishing! ( 11:00 - "Considering a niche's potential" - was a much needed reality check for me :D) Congratulations on the thoughtfully published amazing book!
You have the best content online how to do this KDP Business, I am so thankful that I found you. Thank you, Chris. There's a lot of gurus out there but you're definitely number one thank you again.
Congratulations in your success story. I also want to thank you to actually hire, and value the work of illustrators. I have been asked many times to create illustrations for coloring books but sadly many people just want to pay barely nothing (Not kidding, once I was asked $50 for 100 illustrations and they keep saying is not coloring its only outlines). I do have successful stories though. This month I decided to try on my own, and as right now I'm finishing two :) I hope your strategy works for my books. Have a great day.
What comes across to me as I went through your video was your stoicism - being true to yourself - having a philosophical outlook on the process within KDP!
Hello Taniayager361 How can I contact or connect with you? I want you to share your knowledge about kdp with me and several other.. Can I get your twitter or WhatsApp handle?
Hi Chris! This and the other videos that I watched on your channel are just so nice to watch. It's like talking with you after sharing all my thoughts about kdp, ranking, ads... lol. Nice! My story: in May I launched 2 coloring books - 2 weeks apart. The first (Book A) was selling OK, but with ads help (US and Canada) - In the US, some organic sales, and in Canada, several organic sales, and not much with ads. Book B, is the same way, but with much fewer sales. I started to decrease the ads bids and budget, as it was not profitable at all. And I began to work on other books. I was like: enough is enough, let's move on. At the end of June, the KDP team sent me a message telling me that I had not followed the rules for the books' titles, and asked me to unpublish in 5 days and re-publish with the correct name. They said "(...) Please remove the following descriptors from your book’s title field: ["Coloring book"]. Extra descriptive content in your book's title field that is not part of your book's actual title may be misleading or distracting to our customers. (...)". That was shocking because those ARE coloring books! How could it mislead anyone? Also, this name was part of my title correctly in my point of view. Oh well, book A had already some reviews (5 stars). I changed whatever they wanted, and re-published both. I thought, Ok, let's take it as a new start, work on those better this time as they will be as new releases, with better ranking positions, etc. On July 1 books A and B were on again. I created some high bids campaigns to get that start. Book A still much better than Book B. However, almost ZERO organic sales in both US and CA. Book A kept the ranking between 20k - 40k until last week when I decided to decrease the budget and bids. Book B, the best position was 70k. Since I decreased the budget, book A is right now 200k, and B is 800k. In Canada, there have been no organic sales. Only through ads, and only a few sales. I stopped all ads in CA, and in the US, I started new ones with a really low bid and budget. Just to let those have some impressions. And I'll focus on the US market for a while. Amz Ads is indeed WEIRD. For instance, Book A for a high-demand keyword was working with 0.66$, while Book B, even with 0.70$ bid had no impressions. For Book A, in Campaign X, the same high-demanded keyword had no impressions with 0.52 bid, while in Campaign Y, the same Book A and the same high-demand keyword, have many impressions with 0.21 bid. I'm stressed with Amz Ads lol I think that working with a list of subscribers (I have none yet), and social media will give me more results. My book covers are great :) Decreasing the price from 7.99 to 6.99 for Book A, the sales decreased! Moving back to 7.99, the sales were back. And I increased it from 7.99 to 8.99, and it continued to sell. However, book B works better with a lower price. I also worked better on the A+ content, and I could see the difference in sales. Oh well. I'll focus on the new books project. Again, thank you for your content!
Thank you for all the work you do in offering education for KDP! I always get so much out of your videos.....(also love your commentating style, easy to follow..)
Thank you so much Chris. I ALWAYS learn something from your videos, I always do and I look forward to your long videos. I understand the videos are long because you take such care and explain everything to your audiences. ❤your work. A big fan.
So I have a question. my budget is literally 0 but I’m still giving KDP a try and since I enjoy amateur design I think I can manage that part on my own. I know I have a good eye. I also have done a ton of niche research and with your no nonsense common sense help I think I have some decent ideas for books. The niches I’ve chosen are medium like you suggest, high traffic and some are even a bit low in search (under a thousand). I don’t have any money for ads at all since I’m in a pretty bad spot with my life circumstances. I think my books will be good even with my limited tools because I am someone who likes to make quality things and I’ll spend extra time to do it. My question is will anyone see my books if I don’t have any money for ads? Can I run ads to them later if I make money down the line? They are sought after niches and I’m also good at making things just a little different to stand out. Do I have a chance?
Just go for it and give it a try, you sound like a hard working person. I don't have experience yet in KDP yet, but in life. If you do something with love and hard work it always pays out. All the best to you!!
Thanks for this video Chris. It's informative. I have to say that much of this seems to come from the POV of a person who jas disposable income to invest. Any tips for people who don't? Thanks again.
This video is well made. and honest. So, I have been doing it for 2 weeks and have 40,000 impressions but no sales on 15 books and I spent about $45 so far. Any advice Chris? thanks
I can relate to the experience. I have created my first adult coloring book in February this year (and it was AI-generated) and had success with it without too much of ad spend, especially in the UK. Here's the luck part: this book didn't really take off in the US but had a 3-digit bsr in the UK for a month. The same book! In late April I had my ads suspended due to sanctions so I couldn't advertise anything until late June when I had them unsuspended. So the book was selling for 2 months without any ad support and was quite successful. I used this book as a platform to start building an email list and got around 90 contacts so far. I use a monthly freebie of coloring pages to keep people signed. However it seems that the list is at the moment too small to have any effect on book launches. When my ads were down I tried launching with the newsletter but didn't see any meaningful results. As for AI coloring books I have converted to a hybrid strategy - making sketches with AI and then reworking them with human illustrators. Makes a great difference to the quality. One thing to notice about ads is that in my 2-month absense from Amazon Ads brand campaigns seem to have changed for the worse. Previously the clicks on them were cheaper than on usual campaigns and the acos was very good. Now the clicks are completely overpriced (especially in the US) and the results are very mediocre. Another thing that bugs me with ads are 'dead' campaigns. Sometimes when I create a campaign even with high enough bids (way above the suggested level) there are simply no impressions. It's really frustrating - starting it and after a day or two seeing that it is not working.
@@ChrisRaydog seems like it :) after that initial success I've decided to concentrate on coloring books for adults since I very much needed some streamlined process for this business rather than being all over the place. so far so good :)
@@ChrisRaydog I'd add that the tricky part with ads is also in keeping that balance between under- and overspending. I have some leeway because there are established profitable book but still I would like to see some profit at the end of the month rather than spending it all on ads.
Bravo. I truly appreciated the humble and direct tone, However, your comment about keeping it positive really resonated with me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and leaving out the "hype". I have published maybe 10+ books in the last few months and would love to learn more. The groups you mentioned on Discord sound awesome. Please let me know how to get in touch and iof that is still happening.
Thanks Chris for this thorough video! One question - how do you know if a sale was generated from organic sale or from your ads campaign? What tool do you use. Thanks!
My wife and I were inspired by your video, so in January 2024 we started to write and have written about 18 children's books (24+ pages each) and 4-6 coloring books with most months are under $100 in sales. Almost no sales on the coloring/activity books. We even spent quite a bit on KDP marketing with no correlation to sales. So unless you want to P.M. me and see if there is something we can do to improve this I say you're lucky and it is a one off success story. Which I'm happy for you but it sucks not having that extra income for the books. The only means of sales are by word of mouth. My wife is a school teacher and my Basset Hound and I are a therapy dog team and we go to schools and libraries and hand out cards. But that doesn't generate the kind of sale you were talking about. You can look us up most all the books start with the title Finn's ---- adventure, like Finn's Moon adventure or Finn's Water Shed adventure.
Just discovered your channel after starting my KDP journey. Subscribed! Have some question regarding ads, what would you suggest for someone on a tight budget? could still be worth it to set maximum bid of 0.20 and daily budget of 2$ to run for 10-20 days or do you think that will just be a waste of money and one should better rely in organic sales and releasing more and more books (aiming for quality books of course)
This is an Outstanding video, I wish you released it earlier, the discord idea sounds great, I'd love to have a discussion about ads especially now as I'm noticing an increase in competition for ads itself where I don't know if a 50$ launching budget for 2 weeks can work in a high demand nich
I think it's possible, because it depends on the keywords in your ads. You'll still get ranked even if you get sales for keywords that aren't in your title etc, if that makes sense
I still did not fully understand how you selected the nische. How you know it is low competition. Like, the swear word has 600 bsr but 10K results. How do you analyze this? What's a good BSR and how does it relate to how many results you find. Thanks
Very informative video. A question: when you state to implement the keywords in the book title & subtitle, do you mean the title actually on the live book cover, or the title/subtitle which we type into the KDP wizard ?
Hi Chris! I just finished listening up to your content creation section. Well, all I can say is you have highly motivated me regarding no AI art and original art /design for my potential coloring book. I will do my own designs. Would it be possible for me to buy your coloring book that you are talking about here on Amazon? Thanks! I think it would provide even more inspiration. And my second question: I do have an Amazon KNP account and I published a children's story that I now realize dies not have the right keywords! Can I go back and change them on my account? Thank you for your very intelligent presentation. I am learning a lot. PS I am mainly a singer- songwriter, but I also got the drawing gene!
I did not watch the whole video yet but I already want to ask: did you outsource it? I'm new to KDP, I've done a couple of books that did not sell. I honestly don't have the time to invest in learning graphic design, at the moment. Could you give us some tips about outsourcing? How much do you usually invest in a good book? (Don't tell us exact amounts, just between such and such would be great for someone who knows nothing about it). How do you recognize a good graphic designer? Do you have the idea yourself and then describe exactly what you want? What if the design does not turn out how you want, do they do a new one? (Sorry, a lot of doubts, I honestly would like to do the designs myself but it would take me years and eons to make something with good quality). Thank you!
@@ChrisRaydog Awesome video Chris! I'm halfway through... On this comment, I'm also looking forward to an outsourcing video from you 🙂. I've got a VA, but not at the level I want. Would be great if you can make a detailed video on this topic and what skills to look out for in a designer.
Hi! Have just found your YT channel and am loving it. Thought you might want to know that Flodesk is only $38 a month unlimited (emails, subscribers, forms, landing page forms, workflows, and segments). I'm not affiliated with them, they are just a great company that doesn't rip you off. Anyway, I was going to buy a fairly expensive KDP course but now think I might be able to go it alone with your videos. Cheers mate!
Thanks for the great information! I don’t think it’s hippie wishy-washy to be positive minded by the way. Like attracts like so the more positive you are the more good you feel and create. I think it’s good that you added the positive mindset to your video.
Hi Chris, just watched this video. I am in one of your case study groups and have a book to publish but revisiting the videos to ensure I have followed the process first. It would be great if you created the discord group. Please do.
Omg Chris! I just saw one of my books in this video!! Hahhah Dang Sooo EPIC 🎉🎉🎉 and hugeeee congrats on your earnings. I also LOVE the fact that you pointed out the importance of income diversification. Its never safe to rely on an income stream that you dont have control over. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos and congrats again on your success.
Playing with AI, I've gotten some hilarious results. For instance it just gave me a pig with a cow's nose. I'd be so mad if I bought a coloring book and it was full of the sort of 2 left hands, arms going through solid items, kids holding a puppy but one of their hands is also a dog paw things that AI generates. 🤣
I have some novel and also have copyright and I upload it on KDP amazon but KDP block my books I am following all there terms and conditions but I don't know why they blocked them Email me saying these books might result in disappointing customer experience can you please kindly guide what to do????
Hi Chris, I couldn’t make out what plug-in you use for the BSR displayed for the books. Could you post it here please? Thanks for the great content! New subscriber here 👍🏻
On that book I started small with lots campaigns being tested, but the last couple I've just gone higher in auto -- depends how you want to approach it
Anybody reading this. This is your lucky day: how much is amazon kdp production cost, verses everyone else? Will your coloring book have a competitive market price? How much does Amazon kdp make and how much does the individual make??? Go find out.
I don't remember if it was mentioned in the video but i am really curious is it necessary to spend money on ads? Is it possible to make a trending book absolutely naturally(without ads)?
Am not getting setting option in Payoneer dashboard, I did everything but couldn't fill import and export code because I don't have it. Due to this am I facing issue? Or my account getting verified and wil take few days?? Please reply 🙏
@@JonJackson-ex4gi can’t say. Lol. I don’t want people going to it and messing up the click through to conversion rate. But it was just funny to see it since i haven’t checked out the ranking in a bit and was surprised it got to first page.
Most of the designers I've worked with have tried KDP and failed because they don't know what they are doing. So yes the upfront money will always suit them. Advertising costs, zero guarantees of a return and no knowledge of niches, keywords etc
Good video, but you are off base on a couple of things for sure. The biggest issue is the use of AI. The swear word coloring book would probably be a bit difficult with AI because most AI engines will simply not allow you to use swear words. Some will, but very few. As for Upwork and others. I have used many freelancers over the years and I have zero doubt that there are people on these platforms using AI. NO doubt at all. Someone that knows how to use AI effectively can make about any coloring book, make them FAST, and for close to nothing and YOU would not know it was AI. I have seen it many times. In fact AI can quickly make coloring designs of about anything that are spectacular and there would be NO WAY you would know it was AI because the person using AI knows how to use it. Otherwise this was a good video with a lot of good information. Also, there is more than one way to skin a cat and know of people making very large amounts of money using AI to write all sorts of books. The key is learning how to use AI as an assistant. And finally, as someone that runs marketing campaigns I can say for sure that promoting products on Amazon with ads is a GREAT way to go if you know what you are doing. You can get access to thousands upon thousands of potential buyers extremely fast if done right instead of hoping to rank on Amazon organically.
KDP prints your book on demand and subtracts your printing costs from your royalties. That means you don't have to pay any costs upfront or carry any inventory.
