Brutally Honest Look at KDP Journey for Beginners

KDP, or Kindle Direct Publishing, through Amazon is sometimes pushed as a get-rich-quick form of passive income. However, many find that creating an income with low content books is not as easy as you may have been led to believe. This video is an honest look at the beginning of my KDP journey to hopefully give you a more realistic overview.
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[@vladimir.zlokazov]

After 4 years on KDP... no, it's not easy and it's always changing/getting harder. Still, one of the best online business opportunites out there I think.

[@knorman717]

That’s great to hear!

[@ZJones760]

So oh my goodness. I can so relate. I tried KDP back in 2021 after falling in love with Paul Marles videos. He does really great instruction on how to get the measurements for the cover by the way. I had a slow computer and I published 19 journals. The covers were just ok (made in canva and I have no graphic design experience), but.....out of those 19, I sold 6 journals. No ads at all. I kinda let it go after those 19 because I got busy. But recently, I got another sale and I picked it back up. Now I'm trying to do medium content and get some actual consistent sales and I'm paying someone on Fiverr to do my covers so they look better. I published one book last week, but it took a month to do it. It's a real runaround and very frustrating at times, and youtube videos say things like Creative Fabrica is your answer, but then you find out that depending on what you're making, it can be a real hassle to change up the images like you should... but I'm telling myself to just publish. Whatever you do, publish. But yeah, youtube makes it seem easy. Yesterday I was thinking. It's not. It's definitely not.

[@knorman717]

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. Glad you’re persevering!

[@MarilynPrimich]

I enjoyed your video, thank you for sharing your experience. I'm considering doing KDP for some medium content books and I hope that I will gather enough information to get me started. Your video was a good start.

[@knorman717]

That’s wonderful, Marilyn! I’m so glad it was helpful!

[@JDJD-hg9hu]

Take a deep breath Don’t give up Learn and get better Now get back in there!!!

[@knorman717]

Thanks!

[@laurenvineschapter2]

I appreciate your informational transparency. I look forward to scanning your channel and sharing. ❤

[@knorman717]

That’s great to hear!

[@cucumberroad]

Love your honesty!! I tried to use Smash Words and got stuck with formatting, that was in 2016. I've written a large body of work in the holisic health area (I went to school and have practical experience in a clinical setting for this topic) plus have more work written in other genres. At this point (especially after watching your wonderfully honest video) I'll look at hiring a tech guy for help. It seems that a lot of videos on YT are there for click bait to get views to make it sound easy. I wish you the best to figure it all out!

[@knorman717]

I wish you the best as well! Thank you for watching, and I’m so glad it was helpful!

[@commandogeoff9521]

Thanks for the video. You really have great resilience and hope to see it soon

[@knorman717]

Thank you!

[@wildlyartisticliving515]

Beside the point of the video. LOVE the tree art in the background!

[@knorman717]

Aw, thank you so much! A life-long friend of mine painted it for me and my husband as a wedding gift!

[@CreatorsBurnout2Brilliance]

i wish you well - and yes there are so many promotions where it is made to look so easy.👏🏼👏🏼💯💯

[@knorman717]

Thank you so much!

[@rochellerascon9978]

I have around 50 notebooks and journals on KDP and have sold 3😂. I used Book Bolt to create mine because they have the right templates for KDP and it's way easier and faster.

[@knorman717]

Ooh, thanks for the tip! I’m going to look into that. If you’re comfortable saying, how long have your notebooks and journal been up? I’m trying to adjust my expectations to something more realistic.🙂

[@rochellerascon9978]

@@knorman717 You will probably do better selling than me because you are on social media. And I'm not so brave. But about a year. I haven't had much time to work on anything lately and am still trying to figure out how to advertise for free. I would say when using Book Bolt do your keyword research (it's built-in to the site), because your keywords are very important for your books ability to be seen.

[@rochellerascon9978]

@@knorman717 Mine have been up for about a year. However, I really haven't done any advertising. I'm trying to figure out how to advertise for free. You will probably do much better than me because you are on social media and I'm not that brave. I have also been working a lot so it's hard for me to find time. But, at least they are on there and I can work on the rest as I have time and energy.

[@rochellerascon9978]

I made 2 other comments but I'm not sure if you got them. I don't see them.

[@knorman717]

@@rochellerascon9978 Hmm…that’s strange! I only got notified of this one here about Book Bolt.

[@coachlisat]

IF someone finds it is the key word!! I published my book on heart health 4-5 years ago and it’s buried in the search engine by books by more “scientific” writers. Everyone who has bought my book was sent there by me or a friend. 🤷🏻‍♀️ PS: I updated it and created a 2nd edition of same books and lost ALL my reviews of a nearly identical book 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@knorman717]

Oh, wow! Okay, good to know-thank you!!

[@annelivingstonart]

Oh my WORD, what an ordeal!!! Thanks for the heads up about all this. People really do make KDP sound effortless! I wish you lots and lots of money in the very near future 😅

[@knorman717]

@@annelivingstonart Aww, thank you so much! Right back at you!

[@AlanAlanAlanDave]

I’m so glad you have been brutally honest about your experience. Which is the reason I subscribed. I have at least 15 guide books on various subjects that I have ready to be uploaded (still need to create the cover and internal images, may use designrr?) do you have any other suggestions as to other platforms to upload to? P.S. I hope it all works out.

[@knorman717]

Thank you for subscribing! I can’t currently recall the other platforms to upload to, but I did see them listed in another KZbinr’s video. So, they are definitely out there!

[@chiporusere5202]

Amazon Kdp not easy at all. People out there make it sound super easy🙄

[@knorman717]

Totally! I was not prepared for how difficult it would be!

[@divine_enlightenment858]

Thanks. You made me laugh. Png Pdf Jpg Kdp. A whole new language. I made five journals two years ago using Gimp and Scribus running on Linux. So being a techie helps. I loved the creativity of it. But nothing sold so I lost interest. Recently I watched a real life publisher who said, Amazon isn't a publisher. You are. Amazon checks your book, displays it, prints it when somebody wants to buy it, delivers it, and gives you a percentage. And that's a very small part of a publisher's life. The rest is huge, including things like editing, proofreading, cover design. But the biggest one of all is marketing. And perhaps the legal side like copyright. If you enjoy steep learning curves, become a self publisher. But beware. It gets in your blood. So I'm back in.

[@knorman717]

Oh, wow-back in! For me, I’m just going to do this one journal as an experiment. We’ll see how it goes!

[@propertypointers]

Sounds like it’s Simple, not easy. Similar to the real estate industry and its investment strategies.😅

[@FitnessProfusion]

Your vid is quite informative but your laughing is awkward.

[@knorman717]

😆

[@lorinash]

And your comment is rude and senseless.