This is the most fun I’ve had in business for a number of years! All I’m doing is uploading a couple of files and entering text. That’s how you sell notebooks on Amazon! KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is Amazon’s e-book publishing unit launched in 2007 at the same time as the first Kindle devices were launched. Now you upload both Kindles and paperbacks at kdp.amazon.com. Anyone can enroll at KDP and create notebooks and low content books and sell them as paperbacks on Amazon.
Regular readers are familiar with my various businesses: doing web and graphic design for clients, selling courses online, selling physical products through Amazon FBA, selling PDF ebooks on my site, selling t-shirts in the US through Merch By Amazon, to name but a few.
All of the above business were a long, hard road … and sometimes there was nothing to show at the end of a painful journey. However, selling notebooks on Amazon has been a very welcome exception.
I started creating the books in April 2018. In May, I sold around 20 and made around $20. In June, I sold nearly 250 units and only made just over $100 (I realised I needed to put my prices up!)
In July, I sold over 450 units and made over $530. And all this with less than 250 books in my catalog. August: $680; September: $660; October: $800; November: $1450. I had around 650 books live by December 2018 where I made over $3700.
I’d not seen a trajectory like this in a new business before. Ever. Compare this to my Merch By Amazon business: 1st month, 1 sale; 2nd month, 1 sale; 3rd month, 10 sales. Clearly, the notebook business on Amazon is much easier than Merch.
If you want to know how I’ve got on selling low content books in 2019 here is a video of my Sales Figures For My KDP Low Content Book Business on Amazon.
Selling print on demand notebooks on Amazon – WTF am I talking about?
I’ve found it quite hard to explain this business to people. To be honest, it took me a while to wrap my head around it. I couldn’t believe that people would spend $6.99 on a hundred paged blank paperback – but they do!
Added to that they’re perfect bound – the same sort of binding as fiction and non-fiction paperback books – so the spines liable to crack if over-used.
But, then again, I didn’t believe people would spend $30 on a t-shirt with three words on it. But they do.
What are the products, exactly?
Say you are creating a notebook, you literally provide a PDF of 120 pages of lines that people can write in. You also have to design a cover and create a product page on Amazon and that’s it!
Here is a post specifically about the sort of low content books that sell on Amazon KDP.
However, I’m also talking about “low content books” which are books like diaries, logbooks and journals. There are so many niches out there. So, for example, you could make a wine tasting logbook where every page contains space for the customer to fill in the date, vintage, price, taste, etc., of the wine they drank on a certain occasion.
Basically any book where the content can be fairly easily created as opposed to a book where you actually have to write the bloody thing. I provide some interiors for free with the course.
The above video is of me extolling the virtues of selling notebooks on Amazon. Note: I’m talking about Createspace in the above video. Amazon used to use Createspace to upload and manage your paperbacks, now everything is done at kdp.amazon.com – and this is reflected in my course.
The benefits of selling notebooks on Amazon
- Easy to start: I believe that anyone from one of the 100+ countries in the world can sell on Amazon and start uploading books to the Amazon website.
- Easy to continue: Once you have a kdp.amazon.com account there are no limits to how many products you can create. Unlike Merch which limits you to 25 when you first start out. However, don’t go crazy! I’ve heard of people uploading 50 a day being told to slow down by KDP or, even worse, getting their accounts suspended or terminated! Don’t ever upload more than 20 or 30 a day.
- Easy to sell: Whoa now hold on right there! It’s never easy to make money anywhere. However, so far I seem to be able to sell notebooks within some incredibly crowded niches.
- Amazon are less paranoid about things like copyright infringement or product descriptions than they are elsewhere on their site: OK, I’m NOT saying that you should publish copyrighted or trademarked material and pass it off as your own. But, for example, on Merch, Amazon will reject listings for the most stupid reasons. This doesn’t happen on CreateSpace where common sense seems to rule.
- No marketing: All I do is upload a book on KDP and forget about it. It might sell, it might not. I didn’t cost me anything to put it up there and I’m not going to spend one minute marketing it. I just rely on the keywords on the product listing and the amazing reach of the Amazon marketplace.
- Sell everywhere. One upload to KDP means the book can be bought not only in the United States, but also in Amazon’s European websites, including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, and Amazon.it. Compare that with Merch which is US only.
The disadvantages of selling notebooks on Amazon
- It helps to have either Photoshop, Illustrator, or proficiency in a good image editing application like GIMP or Inkscape for the covers. You can do them in Canva. But book covers are a huge deal. If you can create attractive covers that are right for the market then you’re going places.
- I don’t yet know how big this market is. I have a feeling there’ll be a lot of bandwagon jumpers coming in from Merch and a lot more sellers coming into this market soon. Early mover advantage is crucial. We’ll have to see.
- PEOPLE ARE GETTING THEIR ACCOUNTS SUSPENDED! As with any new online business that receives some coverage on social media, the “get rich quick brigade” moves in and tries to “crush it”. I’ve heard of terminations and suspensions due to multiple uploading of low quality products. Take it easy out there!
- You can only sell perfect bound books. If KDP Print start offering hardbacks, spiral bound books, tabs, or the ability to choose paper stocks, etc., I’d be a very happy bunny!
So, are you interested? Read on, I’ll tell you how to create multiple products on the Amazon marketplace quickly and easily with no capital outlay!
How to upload a paperback book at KDP
Have a look at this video which is the condensed version of the notebook creation process on KDP to sell on Amazon.
I go into more detail in the course.
To be successful in this business there are two things you need to do
- identifying niches that have sufficiently high demand and low competition to make notebooks or low content books for
- creating visually appealing book covers
The niches can be found by searching on Amazon and using a couple of Chrome extensions. The fact that multiple products can be created very quickly means that you needn’t spend ages on this. However, you soon realise the power of keywords in the product title and back-end keywords.
You could argue that only a talented designer can create visually appealing book covers, but I would disagree. Less is more. Some of my most successful designs have been a royalty free image with the title text plonked on top.
Your success in this business depends on how well your product fulfils a need that’s out there. Just a great cover design alone, however good it is, isn’t enough to sell a $6.99 notebook.
Further information
Although there aren’t a huge amount of groups and videos on this subject, but the few that we have are great. Join and subscribe to the following resources:
- Katharyne Shelton’s Facebook Group
- Katharyne Shelton’s YouTube Channel
- Kelli Publish YouTube Channel
- Self-Publishing with Dale YouTube Channel
- Self Publishing Books Facebook Group
- And, don’t forget my YouTube channel!
Can you do it?
Yes, you can. Selling notebooks on Amazon through KDP has been the easiest and best side business I’ve started in the last 10 years.
In my new course I show you exactly how you can research profitable niches and create the notebooks using free software.
In the course you will receive two FREE editable Word templates AS WELL AS two Google Slides templates to get you started creating the notebook interiors plus a link to a Facebook group where we can help each other grow our publishing businesses.
New course: GET OVER 55% OFF WITH THIS LINK!
In the meantime, feel free to let me know what you think about this new business. Would you like to join me?
This sounds like a very cool idea – I’m quite excited about the concept.
I’ve never been able to find ANY success with Merch so I’m willing to give this a go and see what happens (especially as I’m an avid user of notebooks and usually customise a blank one to suit my own needs).
So glad you’re excited, Phil. I am as well!! And it’s great that you are a “user” or “customer” of the product. Trust me, that really helps. Looking forward to hearing about your success, Phil.
I’m looking forward to seeing your course, Rob.
I’ve already been creating some page layouts in Affinity (Serif’s awesome Illustrator alternative) and I’m going to be trying out some ideas in the coming week or two.
As you said – it doesn’t cost anything and people such as yourself are already kind enough to share some guidelines to get started. 🙂
Go for it, Phil!!!
I’ve created my first notebook and I’m just waiting for the Createspace guys to review it before I publish it.
As I didn’t have InDesign, I used MS Word to assemble the book.
I have to admit, I copped out on the cover and used their cover designer tool. That might be a mistake. 🙂
Well done for taking action, Phil. I’ve seen your enthusiasm in Katharyne’s group. In the course I show you how to design a front cover in Canva and upload it using the Pine template in the cover creator at CreateSpace.
Yes Rob, I’ll most definitely join you! I’ve got a list of planner pages I’ve been going to design and get into books so your info here is very timely! Thank you.
Awesome, Manda, it’s great to put more effort into the books rather than just doing notebooks.
Wow! Another great business idea.
Thanks for sharing this. Yes, I’m very interested.
I never earned much from Merch – mainly through lack of effort and little sales from the shirts I did put online.
I will keep an eye out for the course!
Joe
Thanks, Joe, hope this one works out for you.
If you are subscribed to one of my free courses https://robcubbon.com/freecourses you’ll get an email with the early bird offer.
Rob, do you have a landing page for your notebooks, or can you point me to a specific notebook or two yours?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Scott, thank you for your comment. You can find the one I did in the video by searching for it in the Amazon store using the keywords I used in Createspace. Instead of looking for my notebooks, it would be better for you to search the Amazon store for notebooks in a niche that you are interested in and seeing if you can compete with them. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for posting this. I have a couple books on Createspace now, and I wasn’t aware when uploading it that there was a place to put keywords. How does one do this?
Thanks for any help 🙂
Hello Christine, watch the second YouTube video in the above article.
Mahalo Rob!
I would love to join you as this sounds less intimidating for a beginner trying to get her feet wet. Always wanted to sell something on Amazon and feel this might be the best way to test it out.
Look forward to your course.
Aloha,
Hoku
Thank you, Hoku
I love that electronic circuit board Mickey Mouse t-shirt you’re wearing in the video!
I am, indeed, a fashion icon. 🙂
Great ideal! I love it!
Thank you, Charles
Hi Rob!
Started uploading to Createspace and have 2 notebook/coloring books for girls and they are selling.
Sold 20 since uploading 2 weeks ago. Looking forward to you video course.
Thank you for your advice as always!
Wow, Rosemary, so impressed with your action. Keep uploading and experimenting!
Thanks Rob, but where is your course on Create Space?
The download was on Website design business
Mike
Hi Mike, it says that the course is coming soon. Not sure what download you’re talking about.
Thanks for another great idea, Rob!. I like that it is fast and 100% set and forget.
Yes, it’s fast and set and forget but you do have to do the work to find the niches and design the books.
Do you have an ETA for the course? Just wondering if I should wait or make my own templates so I can get started.
You can definitely get started, Jim, I keep on pushing the course ETA back because I’ve not only got to show you how I create the books I’ve also got to work out how to create the books using free software. Hopefully in a week’s time but I said that last week.
Thank you Rob I appreciate the reply!
Hi Rob,
This is such a great idea & thanks for sharing!
You always have such great inspiring thoughts and ideas. I do so appreciate you!
I tried to join up, but your form didn’t accept either one of my email addresses.
See my email in your form below!
Cheers,
Rich
Hello Rich, if you sign up for one of my free courses here: https://robcubbon.com/freecourses you’ll be on my mailing list. You are probably on my mailing list anyway so you’ll be notified of the course when it comes out. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Rob,
I’m definitely interested in this idea, and look forward to your course!
Thanks for keeping me inspired!
Fiona
Thank you, Fiona 🙂
This is interesting Rob, thanks for sharing!
May I know how many planners/ notebooks you have uploaded to Amazon so far?
This sounds like a nice little side income that requires little to no maintenance.
I would love to join you. 🙂
Hello Hazel, over 230 so, although it is a side business and you can upload a new book in a few seconds, it does take some considerable time and effort to get started.
Hello Rob,
All this sounds very good. I have never tried to get a business on the internet but I am now looking for different things on line that would give me some residual income. I am not techie and am concerned about my lack of knowledge about setting things up and connecting them together. The great thing here is that apart from the initial preparation work, the rest should be straightforward when it is on CreateSpace. I would be interested in doing the course and learn more about it. The two main concerns I have are :
– setting up cost: how much does it cost to be on Amazon ? any monthly fees or extra hidden costs? cost for a design app?
– I am not a designer, nor do I know how to use design programmes
– Bearing all that, could I be successful at this? If not, would I be more successful spending time and energy on something else?
Sorry for all the questions.
Cheers
Hello Marie-Ange,
It doesn’t cost you anything to set up an account at CreateSpace. Everything can be done with Microsoft Word and free software. I can’t tell you whether or not you’ll be successful because it’s dependent on how much effort you’re prepared to put in and whether you enjoy it. If it’s your first online business then you’ll find it challenging at first. Believe me, most people give up very easily. It’s really hard to say.
Thanks very much Rob for your comprehensive reply and honesty.
I am an Applemac user and only have Applemac products though. Do you know whether I could do the same with Apple software as I don’t have Microsoft Word? Although creating an account at CreateSpace is free, is there an initial fee to pay to use Amazon for selling them?
I love notebooks and I am enthusiastic about what you had to say. I am prepared to put the effort in. Always feels daunted and frightened by technology I don’t know.
Looking forward to hearing more about the course too.
Thanks
Marie-Ange
Hello Marie-Ange, I’m a Mac user as well. Although I use Adobe InDesign to create the interiors, I have added videos in the course to explain how you can make the interiors in Word. So everyone, regardless of what computer they’re using, can do this. You can make the interiors in Pages. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi There Mr. Cubbon,
This sounds like a great idea. I’ve wanted to have a small business of my own for a while. This sounds like a good starting opportunity. I have some ideas for notebook designs – and with the way this works, it looks like you could try and see what happens — without much (if anything) to lose.
Thank you for this information.
Ed
Yes, Ed, you’ve got nothing to lose. Although, it’s funny everyone says “I have some ideas for notebook designs” whereas I would prefer it if they said “I have some ideas for notebook niches”. The niche comes first, the design second.
Hi Rob
Thanks again – I always enjoy your articles and ideas. I’ve purchased your Merch course but haven’t had time to do it yet – I’m wondering whether to start with notebooks instead as I’ve caught your enthusiasm!
Do you know where I can get a template foe interior pages please? I have got a few covers already and would like to try for myself using your recent videos.
THanks again!
Alison
Hello Alison,
There templates bundled with my course. And there is Tangent Templates by Katharyne Shelton who is also mentioned above.
Tangent Templates has a huge number of templates to choose from for $49.
Thanks *so much* for this page and your videos, Rob. They helped spur me on to continue with this.
I saw something about the Createspace “journal” thing a few weeks ago from one of the other mailing lists I belong to.
I already have a Createspace and Kindle account and have several books (non-fiction) that earn me a few hundred a month. I’m hoping to do some more non-fiction books but was intrigued by the low-content journals.
I like Merch but you’re totally right about how paranoid they are. I like the money (I always try to be grateful for whatever I make) but like you, it’s not mega mega bucks. The paranoia of Merch is over the top. You can do something totally innocent and they *still* give you a black mark. It’s too stressful.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I started doing the low content journals (made about 30) but nothing happened so I decided to take a break. Then, yesterday and today, the sale are starting to trickle in. It’s like someone flipped a switch. I’m firing up InDesign again because I need to make more books! Thank you for your encouragement and information!
So far I’ve done about half my books in Createspace and half with Kindle. There are a few differences. Kindle seems to be “quicker” to approve books and get books published and live, and they also immediately create a “look inside” thing for the book. (It seems like Createspace takes a week or two for the “Look inside” to work.) However, Kindle will not allow blank books. (I tried.) You have to have at least lined books.
Kindle also won’t allow keyword-type titles that I see *all the time* on Createspace: For example, “Blank journal or notebook with 100 pages, 8×10 inches” would be fine as a title in Createspace, but Kindle don’t play that game. I think you can use it as a subtitle, though.
I like Createspace for a lot of reasons, but also like the swiftness of Kindle. Since Kindle is the “future,” I’m trying to do books there. But I’m not giving up on Createspace!
Sorry for being so long-winded. Thank you again SO MUCH for the information you’re sharing with us!
Hello Elvira, thank YOU so much for your comment. So good to hear from someone with experience on KDP Print. So far I have only used CreateSpace for paperbacks (and only used KDP for Kindles). I keep meaning to do one there. There are several pros and cons of both as you say. There’s a lot of discussion on some of the Facebook groups I’ve mentioned above in the article about it. Here are some of the things I’ve heard (and repeating what you’ve said).
Lots of pros and cons. I really must create a book on KDP Print!!!
Wow! So much! Well done for trying both. Well done for taking action! And thank you again for your extra information.
Hi Rob,
I have a question regarding account setup on CreateSpace, specifically the Tax Interview Questions.
I reside in Denmark and have my own small consultancy company which I would like to use for any royalty payments. I can see that Denmark has a treaty with the US (reduction in the 30% US tax withholding rate), however, I’m stuck on the last question regarding “Limitation on Benefit (LOB). I cannot seem to workout which I should chose.
Hope you can help and thanks again for a great post and motivation to get working with CreateSpace.
Hello Nital, it would have been 5 years since I filled out that form so I can’t remember. But I think that the final questions all have the same answers, so if there’s 5 that are YES then the 6th one should be YES too. As far as I can remember and I’m not an expert, this is not legal advice. Another thing you can do is email CreateSpace or Amazon, or ask in the CreateSpace forums, or in one of the groups I list at the end of the article.
Rob,
A really useful, informative post.
I’m wondering how the demise of Createspace and its merging with KDP will affect your own strategy. Do you still think this is worth pursuing? I believe KDP is more restrictive on content: ‘Some books are simply not well suited to the Kindle format. These include any kind of book where the main purpose is to allow the reader to write or color on the pages. Books that are not suited for Kindle are removed from sale.’
Graham
Hello Graham, good question! I’ve spent the best part of the last two weeks trying to figure this out.
It really won’t affect the business very much. However, there are some really important differences between CreateSpace and KDP. KDP is slightly more restrictive on what you can put in the titles. However, Graham, your confusing KDP Print with the Kindle side of the operation. You can upload paperback books at KDP now and that’s the part of KDP that CreateSpace is merging with.
So we’ll still be able to create notebooks and low content books on Amazon with no problems. We’ll do it through KDP not CreateSpace. But we’ll never create the Kindle version of the paperback!!! 🙂 I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Great, thanks Rob for the further insight.
Much appreciated.
pleasure
Hi, I’ve just uploaded my first notebook. Took me quite a long time. I’ve learned a lot.And got there in the end. Had forgotten about the bleed thing, to have the lines up to the edge of the page.
I’m just waiting for it’s manual check/review which could take up to 72 hours.
Hi. Is it possible to purchase a book cover from someone who sells premade covers and just work on the interior? I have someone who does premade ebook covers who is willing to make 8.5×11 covers for my notebooks.
Hi Callie, sure you can purchase them if you can find a good designer with good prices. I prefer to do them myself as margins ($1-2 a book) are fairly slim. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Rob –
I’m seeing some small measure of success on KDP (I’m making about $5-10 a month in royalties).
I’ve created some lovely diaries (completely unique, hand-made interiors) but I’ve not sold a single one and I would have thought this would be the busiest time of year for diaries.
Do you have any suggestions? I’ve checked my keywords, title and so on..
Great to hear about your success, Phil. I’m also very impressed you’ve done diaries and made them unique as I’m convinced unique interiors are the way to go in the future as competition becomes more intense. However, you need to impress with the cover and the keywords first before the customer gets a chance to look inside to see your beautiful interiors.
Put yourself in the customers shoes and think what they would be searching for in order to find a diary for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Search for them yourself on Amazon and see what comes up both in the search results and the suggest tool. You’ll soon find the keywords.
Thanks for your reply, Rob, and your excellent course on creating low-content books.
I’m really proud of my diaries and think the interior design is awesome… it’s a shame I haven’t sold a single one. As you say, I need to figure out where I’m going wrong with the covers and the keywords because clearly, nobody is seeing them.
I actually tried to apply the principle of putting myself in my customers shoes – the keywords were based upon that exercise but maybe I’m not targetting a specific niche enough.
Thanks for the tip on searching myself – I know you covered that in your awesome course but I guess it didn’t really sink in so I’ll have another go.
Hello Phil, yes, you really have to find the keywords by searching Amazon not by searching your head. Get the initial ideas from your head and then put them into the Amazon search engines to see if books are selling around those ideas and then ask yourself what keywords are working for those popular books. It’s really the only way.
I am totally delighted learning about these options for building the interior . Once I have mastered that I can concentrate on the cover. Thank you for the many helpful hints, examples and videos.
My pleasure, Iris. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hello,
I’m a graphic designer and this is an avenue I am currently exploring. I’ve created my first journal design and I’m now at the point where it’s asking me whether I have worldwide rights or just in specific territories. It’s a pretty generic design but do I have to do something to obtain rights? Or am I good to choose worldwide and submit? Thank you!
Hello Katie, this is a good business for graphic designers! I usually publish all my books to all the different Amazon stores even though most of the sales come from the US and UK. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Rob, Thanks so much for sharing so generously. I’m hoping this is a good place to query on:
1) You offer a free KDP course and a bigger course for a fee? Is there a link/page to compare them?
2) I found one of your KDP low-info books courses on Udemy after receiving an offer for a $67 course from Jim Cockrum. Your course seems to be as comprehensive at a lower cost. Do you happen to know?
Thanks so much,
JL
Hello JL, Thank you for your message.
Free course: How To Sell Notebooks & Low Content Books On Amazon
Premium course: Selling Notebooks & Low Content Paperback Books On Amazon 55% off.
The version of the premium course on Udemy has about 60% of the content of the premium course on my site and no updates and no support. So, I want people to buy it on my site.
No idea about Jim Cockrum.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Rob
Hi Rob, this method is interesting for me, as an POD selling in Amazon.
Please advise below few pre-sales questions for the course:
1. Do you know what’s the daily and overall publishing limit of books for Amazon KDP?
2. Is there any upfront fee in Amazon for publishing each book?
3. For Amazon account suspension due to low content publishing, could you advise more or give some reference for it?
Thanks a lot.
Hello Anson, I’m sorry I’m late replying.
1. As far as I know there isn’t one but I’d stop short at uploading more than 50 a day
2. No
3. I don’t know much as I’ve never heard of an account suspension on Amazon due to low content publishing specifically. There are account suspensions on KDP. The ones I hear about are for copyright infringement or something like that. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be careful about what you do and upload real quality books!
Hope this helps.
Hi, I had a quick question.
I am currently working on my first no content book and it is slowly coming together. Your video on creating the exterior of the book and filling in the details etc. on the kdp site really helped me so I wanted to thank you.
My question is (as I have already created the exterior) what is the best possible way to create the manuscript. If you had any tips, clips or even a link to a short course that would be very appreciated. I ask this as I have done a bit of research and a lot of people say different things such as use powerpoint over word and some have said I should use tables to create the lines etc.
Once again, thank you for your video and all of this information as It has really helped me 🙂
– Brandon
Hello Brandon, thank you for your comment and I’m glad my YouTube videos have helped you. Best to watch my free short course on low content book publishing https://courses.robcubbon.com/p/free-course-how-to-sell-notebooks-low-content-books-on-amazon in the free course it shows you how to use Google Slides to make the interior. There’s no one way that everyone uses. The premium course shows you much more as well as how to use Adobe InDesign, MS Word (and free online PDF editors) to create the interiors. Other people use Affinity Publisher which isn’t covered in the premium course. I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hello is it possible to outsource the designing and layout in Fiverr or Upwork? I don’t know how to use Adobe Photoshop or any software for the design. Thank you in advance for your response.
Yes, Geraldine, it is possible to outsource everything but I would urge you to do it yourself when trying to make money with low content books. The margins on low content books are extremely small so you really have to get costs down to a minimum. In my premium course I show you how to do everything with free software such as Canva and Google Slides. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
So if I design a low content book and upload the digital file to KDP, when someone purchases it on amazon, amazon will print the book and send it to the customer? Or does the customer only receive the digital copy?
If I design a low content book and upload the digital file to KDP, when someone purchases it on amazon, amazon will print the book and send it to the customer? Yes!
Rob,
Is this still a viable side hustle for 2020? Or has the market become too saturated?
How about paying taxes? Is that like having a business?
This will depend on what country you are in, Rosa. But, generally speaking, you can either claim your earnings on your personal tax return or set up a business and pay business taxes.