Help CenterPart 1 – My Story
If you’re new to self-publishing, I get that you probably just want to jump in and start making books. It’s exciting. You’ve likely seen videos online where people say it’s easy and that they’re making thousands of dollars doing it. It seems like anyone can do it, and quickly. But don’t believe everything you see. If you ended up on this page and missed the start of this article, please click here to go back to the Intro.
A lot of those YouTube videos only show you what they want you to see. It’s incredibly easy to fake screenshots and earnings reports. Ever notice how some creators always seem to have multiple tabs already open, and they never actually click around on their KDP dashboard? That’s not by accident. It’s because those screens can be edited. I even made a short video myself to show how easy it is for anyone to change the of the dollar amounts on the KDP Dashboard page. Now, I’m not saying everyone is doing this, but many are. If someone were to show you their real KDP dashboard, click on “Orders,” change the date range, and go through it all in real time, without cuts, you could believe that. If they don’t, you should be cautious. A lot of these creators are more interested in getting views and affiliate clicks than actually helping others.
They also like to say it's passive income and easy. But let’s be real: nothing is easy. There’s almost nothing in life that gives you real passive income without you putting in the work and learning how to do it properly. Think about anything new in life, jobs, hobbies, relationships. You take the time to learn, right? This is no different.
When I started, I dove right in and created over 20 books—lined notebooks, journals, planners, you name it. I uploaded them and waited for the sales to roll in. A month went by… and nothing, not a single sale, second month, the same.
That’s when I took a step back. I started watching the Live Calls in Book Bolt. I went back to the very first two videos in the series that Neil always talks about as a starting point. I read articles. I asked questions, lots of them, trust me, Neil still remembers this I am sure lol.
Eventually, it all started to make sense. I began to understand the importance of research, of finding the right niches, and of creating quality over quantity. From there, I was on my way. Every month, my books got better, and my sales started to climb. I learned about A+ Content and added it to every book. I studied how ads worked. I didn’t rush—I focused on creating just one ad and really learning everything about it before doing more.
At first, I priced my books to try and make $2 or more per sale. I realized that wasn’t the best move. I'd rather sell 50 books and make $1 each, than sell just 5 books and make $2. So, I adjusted my prices, and it made a difference, this is just one way to help get you going. Now, I have a lot of books that sell without any ads at all, or had ads for 2 or 3 months and now none. Most of them are evergreen, they sell year-round. Some get 3 to 5 sales a month. Others get 6 to 15. A few get 16 to 50 sales a month.
That didn’t happen overnight. It came from learning, experimenting, and being honest with myself. All those original 20+ books? I’ve unpublished them all. They were terrible. No niche targeting. Poor covers. They just weren’t good. I looked at books in the first 3 to 5 pages in each thing I searched and compared to mine. Mine didn’t hold up. That was a tough pill to swallow, but it was a necessary one.
So, if I can give you one piece of advice: Take the time to learn. Spend time in the studio. Create a test project just for practice. Try to watch two or three videos a week. Read a few articles every week. Don’t rush. Don’t expect instant success.
And most importantly, be honest with yourself. You’re not creating books for you. You’re creating books for others.
If you’re the kind of person who just wants to make a book right now and you are sure you do not need to learn then just go and do so not. If you want the minimal amount to learn, then check out Part 2 - I Just Want to Make a Book. It is not very long and I tried to make it to the point. For others, some of you might be ready to dive into learning every step, and that’s great. You can jump straight to Part 3 - You’re Ready to Learn, start there if that’s you, or you may choose to read Part 2 then 3, then great as well!