Why Most Fail with Amazon KDP
I’ve been self-publishing books on Amazon for over 3 years and I’ve identified two key reasons most people fail to succeed. I’ll share these reasons and valuable lessons that I’ve learned.
1. Most People Fail to Understand Demand
In order for you to sell a product there needs to be someone who wants your product and is willing to pay for it. Every day on Amazon customers are searching for products to buy therefore you need to focus and create your book around what your customers are searching for.
Many beginners, including myself when I started, create books centered around their own interests or what they think buyers want. However, if you don’t conduct enough research into what your potential customers are interested in, you may end up producing a book that no one is interested in buying.
Take my personal experience as an example. One of the first books I published was a collection of summer notebooks, a decision influenced by my own interests and the season rather than customer demand.
The result was disappointing, with no sales. A simple search for this type of product on Amazon would have shown me a high average Best Seller Rank (BSR), indicating low demand.
Understanding this from the start would have saved me a significant amount of time. The key takeaway here is to create your books based on what customers are actually looking for, not what you think they might want. Spend time doing research to find in-demand keywords with low search results and BSRs to ensure there is demand first before creating a book.
My next example focuses on the pitfall of exclusively chasing after trending, hot niches. Although these can generate decent profits in the short term, they’re unlikely to provide sustainable income.
A prime example was the coronation of King Charles, a significant event in the UK that sparked widespread interest leading up to May 6th. Google trends show how the level of interest spiked the closer it came to the event, spiking on the day but quickly declining after and after a few days later there was hardly any interest.
I published a book for this event, and indeed, I made over 1K in a short period from this one book. However, post-event, the interest dramatically plummeted, rendering the book virtually useless in terms of generating further sales.
You can see how identical both graphs are. The sad ending to this book is that it will never make me a large income again and sales have completely declined.
The lesson here is that while it’s not wrong to pursue trending events or hot topics, it’s crucial to understand that they aren’t reliable for building a sustainable business.
My recommendation is to focus on niches that not only interest you but also have a consistent level of demand over time — your evergreen niches.
Most of my income comes from medium-content books, these books have taken a lot of time and effort and if I was not interested in the topic I would not have put in that time and effort to create such detailed books.
Having a consistent level of demand over time ensures that there is constant interest in your chosen topic.
My experience with one evergreen book exemplifies this point: while it made little profit initially, it consistently brings in between two to six hundred dollars each month.
If I type the keyword for this book into Google Trends there is a consistent level of interest in the subject and there are several books with low BSR’s for the keyword on Amazon.
I have several similar books selling well like this on Amazon and these books serve as the bulk of my sustainable KDP income.
2. Giving up too early
Many publishers create a handful of low to mid-content books, and if they don’t make enough sales, they quickly throw in the towel.
The reality is that not every book you create will sell. In fact, a large majority of the books you create probably won’t sell. The sooner you accept this, the faster you can move onto your next book and potentially closer to success.
I can’t stress enough the importance of persistence and patience. Instead of focusing on instant results, try to develop your skills, improve your research methods, cover design, invest in tools and learn Amazon ads.
I created a specific book during Q4 2022 and I invested heavily into it, outsourcing the cover, interior and spending money on Amazon ads but I was very disappointed in the outcome as it hardly made the sales I expected over the Q4 period (only $200).
However, instead of drowning in my sorrows, I persisted with my efforts, continue to run ads and in January and February the sales started to increase before March when the book started to generate over a thousand dollars each month.
The bottom line is, don’t rush or feel frustrated if you don’t see immediate results. Some books take time to take off. Don’t give up too early. Adopt a long-term mindset, remain patient, and continue refining your strategies.
In summary, understanding demand and persistence are two crucial aspects of finding success with Amazon KDP. I hope my experiences and insights inspire you to approach your self-publishing journey with a fresh perspective.
