In this video,
I want to tell you why self publishing on Amazon KDP is such a great
opportunity at the moment,
but in ways that might not be completely obvious to you at first and in ways
that could be way more valuable to you than just earning money from books. Now,
if you've not been here before then welcome to my channel.
My name is Paul Marles, and I do videos on how to make it, keep it and grow it.
And that's your money I'm talking about. If you do like videos like that,
then please do give a thumbs up,
hit the subscribe button and smash that notification bell to receive
notification of when I produce more videos like this. Now on this channel,
I get a lot of superb comments from you guys.
And it's building into a great community of like-minded people who are
interested in self-publishing on Amazon and creating that second or full-time
income online,
which with the current state of the world is becoming more important than ever
in order to protect your lifestyle and even to survive in some cases.
Now some comments I get, which I still like,
and are perfectly valid are along the lines of if this is so easy,
why isn't everyone doing it? It's too saturated.
And if it is so easy to create an income,
why am I even teaching it and not just creating more books or I'm just
teaching a scam in order to get views and make sales off this channel.
All perfectly valid statements.
Except for one thing I never said this business was easy. In fact,
I've never come across an online business that is easy.
The easiest money I've ever made hasn't come from a business as such.
It's come from investing in arts stocks and cryptocurrencies,
but that's for another video. But these comments got me thinking.
I could see there point. I've had similar thoughts in the past,
but the problem is it's very shortsighted and good examples of short-term
thinking. Let me explain.
I'm going to tell you my thoughts on this business,
how it helped me grow as a content creator and business owner.
And more importantly,
show you guys what's possible if you decide to go along the route of becoming an
online self publisher and what doors it can open along the way.
You'll be surprised. So let me first give you a bit of my background.
When I started this business around the middle of 2018,
I had no idea this would work.
I'd published some short stories three or four years earlier.
Some were relatively successful.
I think I wrote around 15 over a period of about six months.
But the income was never great. I enjoyed it,
but changes to Amazon's royalty schedule meant that the income quickly took a
nosedive and there's a learning lesson there as well.
But I had learned how to create a book, a cover,
format it and publish it on the KDP platform.
So when by chance, I came across a video by Kelli Publish.
It was like someone had suddenly turned a light switch on and I thought,
what a genius idea. I liked writing the books.
It didn't cost much money up front,
except I think I paid for Scribvener about $30 or something.
But I really liked to knowing these books were sat on Amazon,
not costing anything to store.
And it had minimal creation costs except time.
So when I came across these no content and low content books,
I could see the huge opportunity they represented.
These books didn't require hours and hours of writing and editing.
You could create them quickly,
experiment and create an army of books on Amazon,
waiting for customers to buy and therefore creating a passive income.
You put in the work up front and wait for an income further down the line.
And the profits from these books were more than from the written books.
It was superb. I couldn't find anything wrong with the model.
Now, like you,
I saw people creating these books online with a few making five figures a month.
Of course I was a little skeptical and had similar thoughts to those comments I
mentioned earlier. But I couldn't see any downside.
And I was determined to work at it until I made it a success.
So I went all in on it. And over about a year,
I created something like 2,400 books at the same time as working a
full-time job. I'd be creating them whilst at work in the evenings,
any spare time I had and the income rose,
especially when I finally came across a design that customers seem to like.
And I'd also learned how to use Adobe illustrator, pretty adeptly.
Now I wasn't thinking of five figures, but to me,
1 to $2,000 a month would have made a significant impact. I mean,
if they could make five figures, surely I could make a couple of grand.
That was my thinking anyway. So nothing was going to stop me.
Now I know a lot of you guys are at the beginning stage,
not convinced you can make this work, or if it works at all.
You've created books,
not got any sales or making only a few sales. So I know what it's like.
I've tried many things.
On eBay, selling used.
Books on Amazon, creating websites and they didn't give me the success I wanted.
But it was down to one common factor. I didn't persist at it.
Maybe six months max.
With low content books I had set myself a challenge that I wasn't going to give
up this time, no matter what.
I Gave myself a three year goal to create an income of 1 to
$2,000 a month.
Then I started this channel around a year ago for two main reasons, I guess.
One is because enjoy teaching.
I've been teaching doctors and medical students in some capacity over the last
30 years. And I know what it's like to feel desperate,
to make some sort of an income online with a dream of making a full-time income.
Whether it's to improve your quality of life, escape, a job you hate,
or even just survive.
And what gives me satisfaction is knowing some of you will follow this path will
persist and succeed and make a change to your life.
I know from the comments who some of you already are,
even though you may not be reaching your goals just yet.
And making money online is often at the start, a lonely endeavor.
You often have people around you who are skeptical of what you're doing,
even if they are openly supportive.
Having a channel like this brings like-minded people like yourselves,
who are all on this similar journey together. It builds a community.
And I know it helps you guys knowing there are others out there on a similar
path. It's something I want to concentrate on building in the future.
Somewhere where you can all join in and have a better community experience,
share ideas and problems, and hopefully learn from each other.
Maybe not just with books, but with other online ventures as well. Now,
the second reason I started this channel is that I've always wanted to start a
YouTube channel. I liked the opportunity and the creativity aspect of it,
but basically fear always held me back. Fear of putting myself out there,
what people would think and fear of having nothing to say.
So at the beginning of 2020,
I made a commitment to myself that I was going to start a channel on something
and not stop creating videos.
But how does this relate to you and what you're doing now? Well,
this is the interesting thing,
and this is something you probably don't yet appreciate.
I suddenly realized I had something to say, something to talk about,
and that was self publishing books on Amazon.
I know a lot of people were or are in my situation wanting to create that second
income, build a side hustle, even quit their job.
And I had something that people would be interested in,
would want and could use,
which was essentially information on publishing and making money online. Now,
I couldn't have grown this channel without you guys, obviously,
for which I'm eternally grateful.
But I couldn't have grown it had I not started publishing and experimenting,
creating books in the first place.
And what some of you will find if you persist with this business,
is that not just the money-making aspect from the sale of books,
but something completely different and something much more valuable because if
you persist at it,
you will have built that mindset of creating content and you will have developed
skills, using graphic design skills and using software,
keyword research, niche, research, writing, compelling titles,
and headlines. All skills for any,
any online business.
So with these newly acquired skills and knowledge,
you're positioned to jump on any opportunity that comes your way or that you
just fancy pursuing.
Just like I did when I first came across the no content and low content
publishing business.
I'd already built the skills and had knowledge of publishing,
but I couldn't have predicted that in 2014, when I first started writing books.
Opportunities could come along few, like creating Merch,
t-shirts, hoodies opening,
an Etsy shop or Shopify store .using the great pattern you've designed to
create soft furnishings, cushions, curtains,
or phone covers that you can sell online.
The possibilities are literally endless.
So don't think of this particular business as a be all and end all,
your only hope of making money.
It's just the start of a long and hopefully profitable journey,
if you persist at it.
It would be a waste if all you did was create a few books, not make any sales,
declare this opportunity a scam, or not feasible,
and move on to the next thing in search of something quick and easy.
When I started this channel I was exactly at the point where a lot of you are
now with publishing. I saw lots of people making money with a channel.
I wasn't sure if it would work for me. I had all the normal skepticism,
but I did what you're doing now.
I watched videos by Nick Nimmin, Brian G. Johnson, and Think Media.
I bought courses, read and learned and was determined to give it a go.
And I said to myself that I would spend at least a year giving it my all,
because I knew if I did that,
it would either work or some other opportunity would appear.
I could've believed it was a scam and thought,
why would they bother teaching if teaching it,
if they could make all that money? Well, believe it or not,
it's not just about the money otherwise I'd go back to my old job working 60
hours a week. And I'm sure it's the same for many that teach online.
There's an incredible amount of work that goes into just creating a short 10
minute video with no guarantee of success.
And I put in way more hours than I did at a job. But for me,
it's about imparting knowledge and creating something worthwhile and building a
business at the same time.
I don't know what path this channel will take in the next couple of years and
what opportunities might arise, but I know something will happen,
which makes this online business space very exciting.
And that's how you should look at it. And that's what I want for you.
You're creating a business that if you work at it,
commit and persist will succeed at it.
But I guess what I want to say is is that you may not succeed
along the path you think it will be at the moment.
It could be something completely different.
But you wouldn't have got there without doing this at this very moment.
So keep your mind open and follow a path,
whether it is publishing or something else,
but stick to it and learn because it will turn into success further down the
line in some form or another.
What I found and what you will find is that success and satisfaction
doesn't come from something quick and easy. It comes from commitment,
not giving up struggling and seeing it through.
There's actually a book by Ryan Holiday called The Obstacle is The Way which
talks about this very thing. I'll leave a link to it down below.
Now if you're just starting out,
then watch this playlist here where you can learn all the skills required to get
into this business. Thank you very much for your time. It's really appreciated.
And don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Until next time.
Goodbye.