KDP Low Content Publishing Q&A PART 1

I did a video a while back on YouTube – which was a Q&A to ask me anything.

But I didn’t do a write up of that, (you can find the video below)…. So, I thought it would be beneficial to do that for you now.

Just here I will post the video and then below is a typed up condensed version of my answers.

If you have any other questions you’d like me to answer for you now & potentially in future videos – please let me know in the comments section either here, or on the video on YouTube.

KDP Q&A…… ASK ME ANYTING!

Question 1 – when did you first start KDP?

October 2019.

I opened my account in 2015 but didn’t actually publish.

I had wanted to create a children’s ebook and even when as far as getting illustrations done — but due to some errors on my part, there were some formatting issues.

It was out of my comfort zone and I couldn’t get my head around it at the time and so, I didn’t hit that publish button!

That was a mistake because I definitely could have learnt so much more, had I got started back then and made a go of things.

In any case, a video by Kelli Publish, (or Kelli Roberts as of now on YouTube) encouraged me to give low content publishing a go.

I published a bunch of notebooks from my Merch Designs and ended up making some sales.

But one particular book that I made in the first few months took off & I made nearly $1000 in my third month in December.

One book made half the overall royalties and is still one of my best selling books today.

Question 2 – How Many Royalties Have You Made Overall On KDP

At the time of posting the video, it was nearly $137,000.

Obviously not all profit, as I do use Ads and have expenses as well. However, you can see how much I spend on those things by checking out any of my income reports.

That was back in July 2022, so it’s obviously higher now as I write this.

Question 3 – How Many Books Have You Published On KDP?

At the time of posting the video, I’d published 556 books.

Those aren’t the books that are LIVE on Amazon, because some of those books are things like dated planners and I also unpublished some over time.

But those are the actual books that I have published on Amazon at some point.

Question 4 – How Many Pen Names Do You Have?

I currently have 44 pen names.

I was surprised by that number actually!

In reality now there are a couple that I post to regularly and a small number more that I use with some regularlity.

Some I had to stop using, due to their being a keyword in the name.

For a while, Amazon was strict about this – although I can’t see much specifically about it now in their terms.

All they currently state is that your name shouldn’t mislead the customer – which is very vague.

Unfortunately Amazon’s automated response triggers many author names, even if they are very basic and just happen to have a word in like notebook/journal/books etc…. and not actually be keyword stuffed at all.

I had Amazon tell me my pen names were fine but unfortunately, one that automated response is triggered on Amazon, it will continue to happen no matter what the team says.

Consequently, you will become unable to edit the books without issues and should leave them alone.

Question 5 – How Much Do You Spend On Ads?

I spend around $300 per month on Ads – sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less at this present time.

However, most of my sales are organic.

I typically have my best selling books advertised and I now also have a LOTTO campaign running – which I talk about in this post.

I would like to get better at Ads and actually spend more if it would help me raise my monthly income.

While it does definitely increase my overall sales somewhat – still a majority of my sales are just natural sales from people searching on Amazon.

Question 6 – What Keyword Tool Do I Recommend?

You can find all the tools that I use over at this designated page.

However, the main tool that I recommend you use – is just your brain.

I had zero tools when I started and still the number one tools I recommend is just the AMZ suggestion expander and the ability to search on Amazon.

Fairly early on, I purchased Publisher Rocket too and I still love and use that tool because it has lots of features that just speed things up and are also fun & easy to use.

While I do use some other tools these days, I don’t think they are essential for beginners at all and actually could be more of a hindrance than a benefit.

I really dislike how some people seem to literally be slaves to the numbers and don’t actually do enough research on Amazon itself.

That’s all for the Q&A today, but I will be adding another one soon.

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