I've just finished creating my first 30 images -next step actually uploading my first book. It's been a huge learning curve investing time into learning how to use procreate on my ipad but I love the creative process. Trying to create original images I've doubted myself a few times but this video has encouraged me!

you are the only realistic youtuber in the field of kdp and i like how you prisent your videos and man i can watch your videos even if they are 2 hours long

I just published my first colouring book 3 weeks ago….Funny thing…MY BOOK WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE SOLD!!!! even at the time I completed the book, It was ONLY meant to be A GIFT!! I’m a recovering addict, I went to an incredible treatment centre in 2017. Every single year since I graduated from this facility, I have given Christmas presents to the residential clients who would be spending Christmas in the same facility I went to, like notebooks, colouring books, markers custom pens etc. Last summer, I thought it would be cool to print off a bunch of sobriety colouring pages that you can find on the internet and bind them together….until I saw the “copyright” stamp on one of them, and realized I couldn’t do that…so I wondered if there was a cheap program that would allow you to make your own pages, which I would then bind together myself. That’s when I stumbled onto Canva. I then set out, AND SPEND 5 F*UCKIN@ MONTHS POURING MY HEART INTO THIS GIFT because all the alumni that have gone to this facility are very close and we consider each other family….so I spent time, effort and love into it….it was only AFTER the book was completed, and Delivered to the facility on December 22nd, that OTHER PEOPLE kept asking me to sell it to them, or saying it looked amazing and I should sell it. I spent my Christmas break watching KZfaq videos, searching if it was even possible to sell it, or what to do…. And by Jan. 2nd it was published. For 8 days I sold NOTHING. and on January 10th, I got my first 5 sales. From January 10th to today January 20th, I sold 25 books. I don’t even know if that’s a “good” amount. While I was creating the book I FELL IN LOVE WITH CREATING IT!! And spent a significant amount of time doing it because it was also good for my anxiety and my own recovery to spend that “me-time” doing something I love. When I decided to sell it 3 weeks ago, I said I would be happy if I make 20 bucks a month to cover my Canva subscription, so I could keep doing what I love doing, and that’s creating. I still don’t understand how the hell I ended up as a “hot new seller” under 3 different categories….have no idea why I even sold a single copy. And had no expectations on SELLING it…let alone making money……ALL I KNOW FOR CERTAINTY…IS THAT I CREATED A BOOK WITH TIME, EFFORT, PATIENCE AND LOVE, FOR WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY MEANT TO END UP INTO THE HANDS OF LOVED ONES ONLY AS A GIFT. I’ve been working on my next colouring book….and all I can say is that I’m creating it the same way I did when it was only meant as a gift for loved ones…..with time, effort, patience and A LOT OF LOVE FOR THEM, AND EVEN MORE LOVE FOR CREATING IT. I’ve looked at other books and it looked like they were created in a few days with zero thought or effort into it. Kinda sad to see such a poor thoughtless effort into creating it with so many visible mistakes on the designs….many of them JUST HAVE ONE DESIGN that they dragged onto a page…..I read the Canva legal stuff and I thought using just one image is prohibited and it’s copyright infringement because you’re using someone else’s image. But if you add several images, it becomes your own custom design, therefore making it legal.

Hi Chris, greetings from South Africa! I just wanted to say that I'm very happy I found you on KZfaq! I enjoy the fact that you are "real"! No hype and exaggeration just lots of tips and sharing of your ups and downs. I am just starting out on the KDP journey with colouring books and I feel relieved that my dream of an online income stream is achievable with the right application! Thanks for your time and your sharing and Happy Holidays!!

Great overview. I personally make all my books myself, I am NOT a professional artist but I have spent my MONEY and time to learn Photoshop, Affinity Suite and Canva which help me create great books and covers, and invested in tools that put out good activity pages. Since I LOVE the creative side of doing KDP, this is right for ME and my business. I have 4000 books over many years and I made every one of them myself. Lots of mistakes along the way. Once I focused on LESS BOOKS and Higher Quality, I can take a Week to make ONE book, and since I started focusing on LESS Books and Higher Quality, my income shot through the roof. I do run ads for all my launched books, because you need to let the Algorithm know what your book is about, So I believe that ads is vital, even if you can only spend $50 on ads, DO IT..

Thank you for your honesty with your journal! Inspiring.

thank you so much, I just start at kdp I'm a graphic designer with 10 years of experience and I will give all my time and work hard for 12 months at kdp I hope I can make successful in 2024

Epic video. It was nice to be able to tick off the dos and don'ts and learn from the other things you recommend. The reason I was able to tick most of them off was because of people like you, people being real and giving it how it is. Thank you for this, I had my first couple of sales this week and I've been over the moon, I need to get my head down and create more.

I really enjoyed this format, including the comments at the end about mindset & surrounding yourself with the right people.

Thank you for this video. I also quit kdp in 2019 after 2 years and came back to it a month ago working on coloring books and your videos are invaluable in my journey.I’m already seeing promising results and organic sales with ads-powered book launches.🙏🤟

What I would love to know is whether your ranking drops if you stop Amazon ads.

Yes just like you said some where in the video, people always talk about niching down due to competition and avoiding those competitive niches. But from my own personal experience, venturing into those very competitive niches is probably where the sales are provided you compete well and run ads. Nice breakdown.

I love these long format conversational videos. I can listen while I’m working or doing chores around the house. BTW, are you still selling your book of short stories? I’d love to read it and would love to hear your story around that process too.

Running ads is mentally challenging. I've made several attempts to enter the cursive workbook niche with ads and only in recent months I've been able to make it work more or less. There's so much competition and these campaigns just consume so much money that I too used to just switch them off and give it all up. It's reallyy hard to tell early on what search terms or keywords are working. There are only a few clicks and also the book have little to no reviews, so few people buy it but the bill keeps growing.

This has really encouraged me. It's been a year since I started and I can see that my designs and the quality of my books have improved. Sales have improved but nothing to write home about yet. I like to do both low content and high content educational books for secondary school. I have one ready and it's selling, one a day, which is not bad but it's rated 5 stars. I'm working on my second one, which will probably take me a few more months. But quality is what I focus on, and how my book is going to contribute to the learning of the children using it. I'm still struggling with ads but I do notice they have an indirect effect on my books, i.e. I don't sell through ads but I notice an increase of organic sales. I haven't figured out why, but I know it's because of the ads.

Thanks for the informative content. I listened from beginning to end including adverts 😊 to say thank you. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023 KDP😅😅

Whaaat?! It’s all about the good old fashioned elbow grease?! No way, there must be a magic secret! JkJk, nice to see someone not pretending that print on demand is EASY or FAST.

This is fascinating mate and inspiring too. Thanks for sharing!

First year, I sold 11 books. 2nd year, I sold 77. Going into my third year now, and ready for 77 per month. I hope your strategies help!! Thank you for posting!!

Thank you for this. I like your voice and your sense.

Great video

Hi Chris, I'd like to thank you for this wideo 👍🏼 I also have a question as a begginer. Doing my research, I noticed swear word puzzle books and colouring books. Do you think it's worth publishing that kind of books ? I also wonder what to tick in Adult Content section (when amazon asks if content contains language, etc) ? 99% I fond containing swear words is available in All section which means authors stated that their content is OK for under 18 readers 🤔 I'm curious about your opinion.

I'm a little down because Morocco lost to France but I'm glad that i run into your video... listening to your "story" i got motivated so tonight i will try to make my first ever book... I created an Amazon account more than a month now and every time i find an excuse to not finish the book. Anyway thanks for the video I really enjoyed it... (English is not my language so im sorry about all the mistakes above😅)

Thanks for sharing. What coloring book were you referencing?

Hi there! Just getting started with KDP. Have few questions. I have budget so I can pay for ads you recommend me to step in medium volume niches or low volume. Like I have money for ads so I should get into niches like activity books for kids. Or still look for some low niches that have less competition. I have no plan for organic.

I am creating a coloring book using scratches from Creative Fabrica. Some of these images have a commercial use license, while others are in the public domain or have a free license. What should I include in the copyright notice at the beginning of the coloring book to make sure I am following the proper copyright procedures and respecting the rights of the artists? Can I just mention Creative Fabrica as the source, or do I need to list the individual artists and licenses for each image? or what?

link to that book of yours?

Please can I send you a pdf of a coloring book I'm about to publish, I wanna know if it's high quality? I'm really new at this and I don't want to waste money

Hi do you offer one and one coaching?

Wich would be the best way to get a good employees to make my coloring book? no matter how much will cost, i have about 150€ to make each one tahnk you

I really enjoy your video, how you share your story and the great honest info. Unfortunately I can not handle you pushing commercials every 2 minutes or less! You speak of the customer experience in the books you sell and caring about how they feel, yet hammer your viewers with such an absurd amount of ads it makes the experience with your videos extremely frustrating. Unsubscribed, unfortunately because I do enjoy your content.