An Intro to Low Content Publishing with Amazon
Want the 'low down' on low content publishing with Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)?
Me too! Read our interview with Rebecca Holman - speaker, author and coach on everything to do with Amazon KDP, low content book publishing, and also known as the DIVA of low content books!
Low content books overview
Before we jump in let's just do a quick overview on what publishing with Amazon entails...
With Amazon's KDP you can self publish your own ebook or paperbacks for free.
In this case we're using KDP to create low content paperback books - that is, books with little or low content (not Kindle books), like these...
- Journals
- Notebooks
- Puzzle books
- Activity books
- Colouring books
- Diaries / planners
- Trivia / joke books
- And multitudes more...
Why low content? Because it's just so much EASIER to create a book fast, instead of spending a gazillion hours writing a book!
And yes, you CAN be as creative as ever, and make your own book totally unique too!
Plus your book appears on Amazon's HUGE worldwide marketplace.
You decide on the list (selling) price you want, you keep control of your copyright, and publish in either digital or print. I LOVE it! 🙂
Anyways, let's get into the interview...
What's all the fuss about low content publishing books (& why are they GREAT for creatives?)
INTERVIEWÂ (Questions are from us, all the answers are from Rebecca)
It (publishing low content books) is easy to learn, and has long time passive income potential. The fuss is that sadly some people promote it as a get rich quick scheme when actually it is a long term, get rich SLOW, be paid passively for a LONG TIME, plan!
There is a difference. Most people who enter low content books are gone within 6 months. The 80/20 rule as always pans out, with 20% of those people sticking around to make any money at all.
Do I need to be a graphic designer? (How much design study to create a book cover / interior?)
I can't even draw a stick figure. My creative abilities have improved over the 4,000 books I have made, so anyone, given enough time, can create a passive income. I am proof.
You can see more details here of Rebecca's Low Content Book Mastery courses, KDP quick start & activity books etc).
Can you tell us more about your colouring books for kids course?
The best person to research is Jade Summer - that brand began on KDP around 2015, the last hot fad on KDP, LOL. They built a brand, a list and an active FaceBook group following. That is HOW you do it.
What's the key to getting low content publishing sales (that are not just from family and friends?)
None of my family or friends have ever purchased any of my books because I don't promote them to my friends and family.
The key is, as with any business, you research your market, you create what is LACKING in the market, you ADVERTISE to the market, you build a LIST in the market and then sell to your list.
You build a brand and website if it is profitable to do so but ONLY if it is profitable to do so!
There are plenty of people who are selling books within days of going live, so that indicates that organic sales and good research still work, and work well, but at some point ALL LEGIT BUSINESSES advertise, so people can't fool them selves into thinking that they can make money purely from organic sales.
How creative do we need to be to do this? (What skills or tools do we actually need?)
Most top selling covers are not really that complex. Nice font over backgrounds. CreativeFabrica, Canva and 1,000,000 YouTube videos should be enough to get anyone going. LOL.
If you are NOT creative, then it may be worth buying covers from someone on say Upwork or Fiverr, with the stipulation that they are UNIQUE to YOU and not sold to anyone else.
How important is it to create unique, one of a kind, quality vs quantity low content publishing books?
It is critical to your account. Amazon rules state that your books must have unique content and can not mimic or look like someone else. Does it happen? Yes it does. But for the long term, unique is the best path to keeping your account safe.
When we say ONE OF A KIND... there are variations on a theme. There are thousands of iterations of books that say She Could, So She Did... or some other inane positive statement.
So the sheer variety with which you can REPLICATE a winning theme is mind boggling. Copy cats won't make it for long on Amazon or any other place, but it really doesn't take rocket science to put together something decent.
In the beginning it may take a bit of time to learn, but gosh, it took you two years to learn to walk, and I am sure most of us mastered that by the time we were 3, so this is about the same.
Anything you practice enough, you WILL get better at.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist or heart surgeon to make literally the SAME amount of money they make. There are low content book authors making $10k a month, $3k- $5k outside of holiday times.
Not all  are graphic artists either, in fact most are NOT.
End of INTERVIEW 🙂
Resources mentioned:
Canva - I use the Pro version but the free version is great too.
Rebecca's Low Content Book Mastery (Low content book creation, KDP quick start & activity books etc)
Jade Summer (amazing colouring books)
Start with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
And for any drop shipping please use the best in the business.
Footnotes:
For my first low content book I published with Amazon using the KDP program I paid a designer to do the cover for me on Upwork.
I think it's easier (and cheaper) to learn to do it yourself in Canva. 🙂
And if you think for a second that your niche or field of interest might be too weird or random, then take a look at the gazillion niches and hobbies people are into here!
Conclusion
Sneak a peek at Rebecca's Low Content Book Mastery here when you're ready!
Anyhoo...
Have you started publishing with Amazon using low content books yet?