175: Turn Digital Products into Physical Profits With Amazon Print on Demand
Interesting in learning how you can turn your digital products into physical books and start generating passive income through Amazon's print-on-demand service?
In this episode of the Creator’s MBA prodcast, Julie Hall breaks down the process of creating and publishing books, from simple notebooks to more complex activity books and planners.
Learn about the tools, strategies, and best practices for success in the KDP marketplace.
Timestamps:
01:55 - Julie showcases examples of her KDP books, including coloring books, diaries, and planners
03:32 - Overview of how Amazon KDP works and the publishing process
07:00 - Tips for getting started with your first KDP book
11:05 - How to research hot markets and profitable niches on Amazon
15:12 - Discussion on using PLR products for KDP and best practices
Unlock the Power of Amazon KDP: Turn Your Digital Products into Passive Income Streams
Are you looking for a new way to monetize your digital products or explore a lucrative side hustle? Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) might be the answer you've been searching for. In a recent episode of the Creators MBA Podcast, Dr. Destini Copp sat down with Julie Hall, creator of the KDP Creators Club, to explore the exciting world of publishing low and medium content books on Amazon KDP. Let's dive into the key takeaways from their conversation and discover how you can leverage this platform to create a thriving passive income stream.
What is Amazon KDP and How Does It Work?
Amazon KDP is the e-commerce giant's print-on-demand publishing arm. It allows creators to upload and sell their books directly on the Amazon platform without the need for traditional publishing channels. The process is surprisingly simple:
Create an account using your existing Amazon email address
Design your book interior and cover as PDFs (Julie recommends using Canva)
Upload your files to KDP and set your price
Amazon reviews and approves your book
Your book becomes available for purchase on Amazon
One of the most exciting aspects of KDP is that you can create physical products without holding inventory or dealing with shipping. Amazon handles all the printing and fulfillment, making it an ideal passive income opportunity for digital product creators.
Getting Started: Your First KDP Book
If you're new to KDP, Julie recommends starting with a simple notebook or journal. This allows you to focus on creating an attractive cover design without worrying about complex interior content. Here are some tips for your first KDP project:
Use Canva or another design tool to create your cover and interior pages
Start with a product you'd love to own yourself
Keep it simple – don't overcomplicate your first attempt
Order a proof copy to check the quality and make any necessary adjustments
As Julie shared in the podcast, "Honestly, you will be amazed at how great it feels to hold one of your books in your hand." This tangible result of your creativity can be incredibly motivating and may spark ideas for future products.
Researching Hot Markets and Profitable Niches
To succeed on KDP, it's crucial to understand what buyers are looking for. Julie shared several strategies for market research:
Use free tools like DS Amazon Quick View (a Chrome extension) to gather insights
Pay attention to Amazon's auto-complete suggestions when searching for keywords
Look for topics with a grid view display on Amazon (indicating popularity)
Check the Best Seller Rank (BSR) of competing books – aim for ranks under 100,000
Consider using paid tools like Book Bolt or Book Beam for more in-depth data
Remember, the best time to start publishing is in August or September to establish your books before the lucrative holiday season. As Julie noted, "If you start publishing your books in August September, they can start getting established. And by the time Christmas comes, then you can start making great money over the Christmas season."
Leveraging PLR Products for KDP Success
For those who want to speed up their product creation process, using PLR (Private Label Rights) products can be a great option. However, Julie advises caution and offers these tips:
Verify the quality of the PLR content before using it
Ensure consistency in formatting, margins, and font choices
Customize the content slightly to make it unique
Consider blending elements from different PLR products to create a cohesive book
Focus on creating a cover that stands out
Julie emphasizes, "If there's an audience for your products, there's an audience for these in books as well. So just have a little bit of fun with the creativity." The key is to use PLR as a foundation and transform it into something that reflects your brand and style.
Expanding Your KDP Portfolio
As you gain confidence in creating KDP products, consider expanding your offerings. Julie's success story includes a variety of products:
Coloring books
Diaries and planners
Kids' activity books
Gratitude journals
Social media planners
Don't be afraid to experiment with different types of low and medium content books. As Julie shared, "My best selling books are really simple planners. I knocked them up in about 3 hours, and they've just done really well."
Conclusion: Your KDP Journey Begins Now
Amazon KDP offers an exciting opportunity for digital product creators to expand their offerings and tap into the lucrative print-on-demand market. By starting small, researching your niche, and gradually expanding your portfolio, you can build a sustainable passive income stream through KDP.
Remember Julie's advice: "Take that PLR as your foundation and then turn it into something that you love." With creativity, persistence, and a strategic approach, you can transform your digital products into physical books that generate income while you sleep.
Are you ready to embark on your KDP journey? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below, and don't forget to check out Julie's KDP Creators Club for more in-depth guidance and resources!
Mentioned In This Episode:
Creator's MBA Newsletter: Actionable marketing advice that you'll want to save in a special Gmail folder to grow your digital product business, sent weekly to 10,000+ readers. Subscribe here.
How to get in touch with Julie: Website and KDP Creator’s Club & Royalties Accelerator
Julie’s Free Gift: KDP Notebook Interior and Cover Template
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Transcript:
Dr. Destini Copp [00:00:07]:
Welcome to the Creators MBA Podcast, your go to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destini Copp, and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk, constantly live launching, or worrying about the social media algorithms. I hope you enjoy our episode today. And my special guest today is Julie Hall. Julie is the creator of the k to p creators club, and she loves talking to anyone who will listen about how to publish low and medium content books on Amazon KDP. And guys, I am super excited about this conversation with Julie, and we were chatting just a little bit before we started recording today. I've never had anybody on this podcast that does exactly what she's doing with digital products, and I personally am super interested in this conversation and possibly even exploring doing this myself. So I'm super excited.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:01:16]:
But, Julie, before we get into all the questions I have for you, can you tell the audience just a little bit more about you and how you help people?
Julie Hall [00:01:25]:
Hi, Destini. So thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I am so excited about it. So, yeah, how did I get into Amazon KDP? My background actually is a digital marketing trainer. I teach corporates and small business owners, and I've done that for many, many years. And I entered the world of KDP when I was looking for a side hustle business, as you do. I was gonna look and create templates to sell them on Etsy. And I was doing my research around different niches and discovered this KDP template niche.
Julie Hall [00:01:55]:
I was like, that's interesting. I could create templates for KDP people. I don't really know much about it, but I'm gonna create some templates. And then I created my first couple, and I was like, I don't wanna give these away. I want to publish these as my own book, and I did. And I was I honestly have so fallen in love with the process of holding products, physical products that are my creation. And so I have gone on to create many books. We can talk maybe about some mistakes I've made as well, but many books along the way, including, including like, you know, this is a coloring book that I did, so just that gets printed and sold on Amazon.
Julie Hall [00:02:43]:
I've got diaries, kids' activity books, journals, gratitude journals, notebooks, social media planner, all that, and it just never gets tired for me. And I run a membership where I teach others how to do
Dr. Destini Copp [00:02:55]:
the same called the KDP Creators Club, and I have a now I have a template membership, which I'm happy to give away those templates, called royalties accelerator. Alright. So for those of you who are listening to the podcast episode, in the background of her office, she has some printed books. You know, I think she's created them on Amazon. We'll let her tell tell us a little bit more about that, and they look absolutely beautiful. So I I wanna delve into this with you a little bit more. But for those of us who are listening today and we're not familiar with Amazon KDP. Can you tell us a
Julie Hall [00:03:32]:
little bit more about how that works exactly? So Amazon KDP is Amazon's print on demand publishing arm. So it works by you create an account. Usually, it's the same as your regular Amazon account email address, so they do like you to use the same email address, and you create a book as a PDF. So I use Canva as my tool of choice. People use Affinity or Adobe or PowerPoint even, and you create your book. You download it as a PDF. You create your cover. So they're they tell you how big the cover template size needs to be, and then you upload it and you choose your price, and Amazon reviews it, and it then is ready to be bought.
Julie Hall [00:04:22]:
And so I tend to I always buy every book I create because, I don't know, because I love them. I love them so much. And you can I tend to just order mine on Amazon? You can order author copies. So if you want, like, a 100 of your books, if you wanna go to a craft sale or use them for clients or whatever, you can order them yourself, at a discounted rate, but I tend to just order mine on Prime. And my little secret trick on this is to make it so that it's absolutely no cut, like, no royalties. I don't make any money from them. But I can order it and then change the price, and then I will, get money from them when anybody else buys them.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:05:05]:
Oh, I love that. I love that. So I want to kinda walk through let's say somebody's interested and get started on this, and I'm a put myself in this category because I'm definitely interested in this. We have a ton of products on our hello content shop, our Shopify stores, our, you know, my hobby school stores. And I'm thinking as you are talking, I'm like, I think there's a lot of these products that I could put on Amazon, KDP, and start making that print on demand and start making money on them. So can you walk us through if somebody is interested in getting started with this,
Julie Hall [00:05:41]:
where do you suggest that they start? So the obvious place I'm gonna say is my membership, but you wanted to if you wanted to just find out more about it, you can go to you can go to YouTube and search for KDP, and you'll find loads of trainings on there. I've actually got a beginner's guide to Amazon KDP on my website, which you can look at, and that's free. And, also, I've got, like, a, you know, a notebook template and notebook cover template that you could use to create a your initial design and upload it if you wanted to. So so you can start there. I think the the thing is to really just make it for your first book, just create something really simple. So I always suggest to people that they start with a notebook because it means you don't have to get caught up with the interior being perfect or, you know, having to think about text to write or any of that stuff. So start with a notebook, and then just create, like, create a cover that you would love to own your note like, have your notebook, You know? Like, it doesn't have to be anything special, though they always are a little bit special. Just have some creative fun with it, play with it, upload it, and, honestly, you will be amazed at how great it feels to hold 1 of your books in your hand.
Julie Hall [00:07:00]:
Like, I've always wanted to be an author, but I don't have the patience to write a book. This way, I kind of feel like I get a little bit of that by, you know, creating book loads of books. They just don't have a lot of content on the inside.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:07:14]:
Now I'm looking at the books that you have behind you. Are those covers did you create those in Canva?
Julie Hall [00:07:20]:
So yeah. So let me show you. So this, well, this 1 here this 1 here, that's an AI generated 1. Okay. It's beautiful. I absolutely
Dr. Destini Copp [00:07:29]:
love it. What AI can I ask you? What AI system did you use to do that
Julie Hall [00:07:33]:
or use MidJourney? Loop
Dr. Destini Copp [00:07:35]:
what is it? MidJourney. MidJourney. Yes. I'm familiar with that. So we'll make sure that link's links in the show notes so people can check that out and familiarize themselves with that.
Julie Hall [00:07:44]:
Yeah. For sure. So this 1 here, this is just a diary, so a 20 20 4 diary, and and I just created this in Canva. So this was and in fact, I'm for your bundle, I'm doing a I'm submitting a training on how to create a diary in Canva. This 1 here is, like, 1 of my kids' activity books. So
Dr. Destini Copp [00:08:06]:
Oh, it says I love dolls activity books. Oh, that's so cute. Oh, we're gonna have to include, like, pictures with everybody on the website so they can go and see these. Did you create that 1 in Canva, or did you
Julie Hall [00:08:17]:
use Yeah. Yeah. All of it. I do all
Dr. Destini Copp [00:08:20]:
of it in Canva.
Julie Hall [00:08:20]:
That is awesome. With this 1, my favorite resource for graphics is Vecteezy because the licensing is really clear. But a lot of the graphics that I used in here are Canva graphics. You just well, you need to be really careful when with the licensing is just to make sure that you've got the rights to use the images, and there's a lot of confusion about Canva licensing. I will say that I don't buy into the fear mongering that we can't use Canva elements, but what I would say is you have to create a unique page. So the the page design that you create has to be of your own creation. You can't just take a template off Canva and put it on. You need to modify it.
Julie Hall [00:09:03]:
You need to adjust it. You need to, you know, add different pieces, make it your own design, and then I then it's fine. This is, like, my 1 of my little gratitude journals. I have many gratitude journals, and that's just like a repeated page of daily gratitude. So those are just a few examples of some of the books that you can create. And so I create what's called low content and medium content books, and a low content book is a book that has lots of repeated pages. So a planner, a diary, a journal, a logbook, a tracker, things like that where there's, like, an there are all the pages of the same, but there's a number of kind of lots of space for people to write things in. The activity books and the coloring books are actually considered high content books because every page is different.
Julie Hall [00:09:52]:
So they tend to, like, get they get approved faster. They obviously take a lot more work, but my best selling books are really simple planners. Okay. Well Not, you know, not like a dated like, a couple I've got a couple of dated and a couple of undated books. I knocked them up in about 3 hours, and they've just done really well. And they they, you know, sell particularly around Christmas time, obviously, is a really hot period for Amazon. So for anybody that is looking to get started with Amazon KDP, my advice, the best time to start probably is August, September. I mean, you could start anytime.
Julie Hall [00:10:35]:
But if you start publishing your books in August September, they can start getting established. And by the time Christmas comes, then you can, you know, start making great money over the Christmas season.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:10:45]:
Well and that's right around the corner. So if anybody's interested in it, now's a great time to get started in there. So let's say that we're we're sold, we wanna jump into this. How do we figure out what the hot market is? Like, what what are what are people gonna buy, I should say, on Amazon? How do we do the research on that?
Julie Hall [00:11:05]:
So there are a number of tools that you can get get. Some are paid and some are free. So I use a couple of paid tools. I use a tool called Book Bolt and another 1 called Book Beam. They both tell me how many searches are happening for a particular book, they tell me how many I'm gonna try not to get too complicated, but they tell me, like, how many sales a book is getting, So there are also a couple of free tools that you can use. So you can absolutely do it for free on Amazon, And the way to do this is there's a a tool which is called oh, I'm gonna forget it now. It's something it's something like DS Amazon Quick View, I think, is what it's called, but I will confirm that and give you the link. And when you look at it, when you install it, it's a Google Chrome extension, and there are a couple of clues about books that sell well.
Julie Hall [00:12:03]:
When you go into the Amazon toolbar, and I would suggest going into the privacy screen, when you start typing in something like gratitude journal, right, you'll see just like on Google, it will fill out the long tail keywords that would say gratitude journal for women, gratitude journal for kids, gratitude journal for teens, gratitude journal with prompts, etcetera. You know when those search terms are being completed that those are keyword terms that Amazon is fulfilling, and it and it they're kind of better sellers than, like, I don't know, gratitude journal for dogs, for example, right, or whatever. Like, if it's being filled out, then then it's then that's a sign. When you go to the landing page when you get to the landing page for that particular keyword term, if you see it as a vertical list, that can give you a clue that that perhaps it's not 1 of the most popular topics. If you see it when it's in a grid view, so you have 4 or 5 boxes, that would is an indicator that it is a hot topic. So there are lots of books in that area, and Amazon thinks it's important as a category of books or a group of books. And then the other thing the last thing that you wanna look at is if you install this DSM and Zoom quick view, when you see the books listed, now what you get is a lot of information underneath the book. So it will tell you how many pages it is.
Julie Hall [00:13:31]:
It will tell you the title. It will tell you the publisher, and it will tell you what the BSR is, and the BSR is the best seller rank. Mhmm. And the lower the BSR, the more popular that book is. So if you've got a number of books with a bestseller rank under a100000, which is tends to be what I look for, that is an indicator that that is a hot book. Like, there are lots of books in that field that are selling. The last thing is when you do your search on Amazon, though it will will tell you how many books are competing for that particular term. So, ideally, you want to have maybe 10, 20, 000 max because that tells you how competitive that field is.
Julie Hall [00:14:23]:
Now there are people that will say, like, in the old days, they used to say 2, 000 or 3, 000. That's just not practical today, but if you've got 10 to 20, I think, and less, then you're you've got a chance. So that's how I would do the research if I was doing it for free. But if you do wanna go in a bit deeper than using a paid tool like BookBeam or Book Bolt, both of those are really useful as tools to help you just get a little bit more data.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:14:53]:
Now, Julie, I do have 1 last question for you. I know a lot of people out there are interested in using PLR type products, so they don't have to create all of this from scratch. What would you recommend to them? Can they use PLR type products and then, you know, sell those type of products like on Amazon, Katie?
Julie Hall [00:15:12]:
So I would say yes. Absolutely. You can use PLR products. My advice would be my advice would be 2 fold. 1, just check the quality of what you're getting because we know quality of PLR products can be variable.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:15:27]:
Yes. Absolutely.
Julie Hall [00:15:29]:
So you wanna make sure the quality is good. Make sure your margins are the same, that your font sizes are the same, that things line up. When somebody is flipping through their book, you know, like this, it looks like it makes sense. So make sure you're using the same fonts font choices. I would say limit your font choices to 2, maybe 3 maximum in your design, and then customize it slightly. So you don't have to customize it a lot, but maybe change it from black to gray, maybe add a couple of elements to it that's going to make it slightly unique. You don't have to redo it completely. Another idea is to blend pages together, like, from different if you're buying from the same supplier and they've got they've got a range of products, try and blend some together so that they they look and feel like they are part of the same group, the same book, and and I think you should be good.
Julie Hall [00:16:27]:
Now what I will say is and the other thing well, there's a couple of things I'm gonna say. You can publish notebooks on Amazon, and they're all the same pretty much. There's not a lot of difference from 1 notebook to another. If you do diaries, again, they're all pretty like, there's a lot the same. Right? So I like, some people will tell you don't do the same interiors. I don't necessarily think that Amazon is that smart, but do know if you're taking something from a PLR store, other people are going to be doing the same. And what you wanna make sure is that you are creating a book that is just a little bit unique to you. And, obviously, part of that's gonna be your cover, but part of it also will be your interior.
Julie Hall [00:17:15]:
And my style is very minimalist. I don't actually do a lot of flourishes. I don't have a lot of graphics or things that I add to my books, and then that finds its audience. It finds the audience that likes minimalist stuff. But if you are you like florals or you like more crafty based things or doodly styles, you know, there is an audience for your books. If there's an audience for your products, there's an audience for these in books as well. So just have a little bit of fun with the creativity. Like, cut take that PLR as your foundation and then turn it into something that you love.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:17:54]:
And, Julie, I think those are some great tips here. Now before we hang up, can you let the audience know where they can find you and also let them know where they can join your membership?
Julie Hall [00:18:06]:
Thank you, Destini. So, yes, you can find me at juliehallonline.com. And because Julie Hall is an incredibly common name, I've gotta say. It is. Unlike Destini Copp, which I'm sure is not very common.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:18:19]:
Not very common, but we'll make sure that your link is in the show notes so everybody has that for you.
Julie Hall [00:18:24]:
And then if so, if you go to kdpcreatorsclub.com, you will get directed to my, membership page, and you can find out about that. And, royaltiesaccelerator.com, you can find my KDP template membership.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:18:38]:
So tell us a little bit more about that. Is that a PLR type membership, or what do you have in that membership?
Julie Hall [00:18:44]:
Yeah. So it's we do we do a weekly drop. So we've got clip art. We've got logbooks, trackers, journals, coloring pages, word searches. We're gonna do some mazes this month. So we're kind of just creating different kinds of interiors that you can then customize and use for your KDP books. You're not allowed you're not allowed to sell the templates. No surprising there.
Julie Hall [00:19:10]:
No surprises there, but you absolutely can use them to create a commercial book of your own. You can actually use them to create products that you'd sell on Etsy as well if you wanted. But, yeah, mainly, they are designed for books because most of them are this size, which is 6 by 9. So they're not designed typically for printing. They're designed to be a book. So yeah. And it's $7 a month.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:19:35]:
Wow. That's great. So we'll make sure that all of those links are in the show notes. I know that I'm gonna check them out personally, and thank you so much, Julie, for joining us today and sharing all of your wonderful knowledge with us.
Julie Hall [00:21:08]:
Thank you so much, Destini.