I was really interested in how this January would turn out, because the last two Januaries have been very similar to my December earnings.
While that always surprised me initially, I think it must be down to the fact that I don’t have that many gift related books and so the sales jump I experience isn’t as huge as some people that focus on the gift market primarily.
Also, I guess people are cashing in their Amazon gift card presents in January and it can be a good month for sales in that case.
But considering December 2021 was my highest month to date, I thought it would be unlikely that January would quite reach that level.
I was right about that, as it was around $2000 lower than December, but still a great month and I also spent less on Ads.
KDP INCOME REPORT JANUARY 2022:
So, as you can see below, New Years Day was naturally the lowest sales day at $14.
My lowest day aside from that was $139 and my highest day was $429.
Many days were around the $200 mark, with some higher and some lower.
In general, it was pretty steady overall.
Did I Publish Anything New?
I have published one new books recently and uploaded one that had been pretty much finished for a while.
Neither of them have sold yet, but have only recently gone live and I’m not currently running Ads to them.
I had intended to get some books ready for Valentines day, because I rarely upload books for specific holidays and thought I should give it a go.
However, by the time I remembered to do it – it was already the start of February and I’m thinking it’s a bit late to publish those now.
I do have a few Mothers Day books and they did quite well last year, so I think I will create some new books in time for that this year.
In general though, I do tend to stick with evergreen niches.
Were There Any Surprises In January?
As far as sales go, not really.
It was the same best sellers in December, that were still continuing to sell in January also.
However, I did have a surprise when it came to expanded distribution!
When you upload your book to Amazon, you can tick the expanded distribution box – which allows your book to be sold in other outlets…. Such as Walmart, Barnes & Noble and more….
However, some extra rules came into place a while back, that meant that many low content books would no longer qualify for expanded.
However, some of mine still did — but I barely got any sales from it.
Maybe 5-10 a month were selling via expanded distribution and I’d sort of written it off really.
Until this January!! Where I sold 162 units!!!
Now, I typically only get 50 cents or so per book via expanded …. So, it’s not a huge amount.
But this still did spark my interest and made me wonder what other books I could potentially add into expanded distribution.
I will have to see if this is a random one-off, or if February brings more of the same.
What About Amazon Ads?
Ads were another surprise this month, as the UK and Canada Ads really started to do well.
I tried to use some of that info, to create a new Ad in the USA.
But you can’t just transfer a bunch of keywords from one platform to the other and expect they will be profitable automatically.
It doesn’t work that way and you have to tweak the Ad — SO, my ACOS in the USA consequently went right up.
That said, I have been working on tweaking that Ad and just today as I write this, I checked in and saw the ACOS was down to 15% yesterday!!
I’m really hoping that’s going to continue, it looks like it was just a couple of the keywords in the exact Ad match set that were spending too much — so I reduced the bid right down on those and this has helped so far.
As for the UK – with an ACOS of 16.97%… It’s the lowest I’ve had in a long time, as far as I can remember!
Canada too, had a pretty good ACOS…. It had been lower, but went up slightly at the end.
So, when you combine all the Ad spend and switch into dollars…
My total Ad Spend was around $233 and then there is that 20% VAT charge on top – so, give or take, it comes to around $280 spent on Ads.
Then there are just my regular tools, which come to around $100.
Included in that is only part of Helium 10 – I use the Cerebro tool, which is cheaper than getting the whole thing.
I also have a Creative Fabrica subscription, you can try that for just $1 here.
Or if you’re really not a fan of paid subscriptions, which can start to add up — Publisher Rocket is fortunately a single one off payment.
This tool can help you to generate more keywords, check out your competition, research low competition categories an more.
So, What Are The Total Expenses?
Expenses were really low in January…. Just around the $280 for Ads and the $100 for tools, which works out to be $380.
That works out to $6300 in profit.
Before your standard taxes of course, which will vary depending on your location and how much profit you make in total, over the calendar year.
Make sure you research what you can include in your expenses come tax time.
For example; any tools or courses can be classed as a business expense. As well as any advertising and much more.
It’s a good ideal to get an accountant, who understands the online business world and they can advise you.
Check Out My Mini Course Below — It’s Free & For Beginners:
How Was Your January?
So, how were your sales on KDP this January and what are your plans for this year?
Were your sales any higher, or lower than expected & where are you right now, in your KDP journey?
Let me know in the comments and also, if you have any questions at all – don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂
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