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Kristen
Jan 29, 20235 min read

Getting Yourself Published


T​his month, I've been designing and publishing journals and notebooks for creatives through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). KDP is a print-on-demand (POD) service that gives anyone with the desire and a little time the ability to self-publish and sell a book in paperback, hard cover, or as a Kindle ebook. POD means that Amazon handles all the printing and shipping as orders come in so you don't have to keep boxes of unsold books in your garage.

If you've looked into passive income strategies at all, you may have come across the idea of selling POD low-content books through Amazon or other vendors. Low-content books aren't filled with stories or information. They're mostly blank, and the user fills the pages with their own words or sketches (for example, lined notebooks, gratitude journals, or blank planners). Puzzles and coloring books (for kids and adults) are also low-content books.


I​'ll admit, I was pretty jazzed about this particular passive income gig for a couple of reasons. First, I love paper journals and notebooks—I've never really warmed to the digital versions. Second, I know how to make books. I worked as an instructional designer for years and have design and page layout skills and I know how to use the design software. Third, I like the work, in part, because it's easy to apply a bit of creativity to structure and be successful. But it became very obvious very quickly that for most people (I'm guessing about 99% of us), selling low-content books is not a money maker. If you search Amazon for journals or notebooks or coloring books or puzzle books, you'll get tens of thousands of listings. The market is saturated and it's hard to be found.


Y​ou can try what the low-content book seller gurus call "niching down." This is an attempt at creating a book for a niche audience and describing it as such with the title, description, and keywords so that the search results are much more limited (in the hundreds). With fewer competitors, you're more likely to sell your book, especially if it looks good—cover design is important, too. Getting the keywords right is much harder than it sounds. I gave it a go, but I don't think I did very well. I also lost interest in trying. If you want to learn more, I'll point you to YouTube or any number of online learning libraries (Udemy or Coursera, for example) for instruction.


With my get-rich-quick hopes dashed (again), I went ahead and made a bunch of notebooks anyway—eleven in all at the time of this writing. Here's what I learned in the process.


M​ake the book you want to use.

U​sually when you're designing something, you're very interested in the end user. You're trying to solve a problem for them. Once I let go of finding a niche audience, it was fun to make notebooks and journals that I need and can use. I became the end user. And until Amazon goes out of business (so, until the end of time), I'll be able to order books made just for me, by me. I love my new notebooks, even if no one else does. Note: publishers can order their books from Amazon at printing cost.


M​ake it a learning experience.

W​hile I am a trained and experienced desktop publisher, it's been a while since I've done that kind of work. And, as an independent artist, I'm using different (less expensive) tools than I used as a corporate professional (Adobe vs. Affinity—more on that later). So i​n the process of making my books, I rediscovered the art and craft of page design and learned more about how to use the Affinity Publisher software. Low-content books are a simple way for creatives to practice taking a design from an idea to a finished product. It's gratifying.


Practice being a professional creative.

E​ven though it's unlikely that many people will buy your low-content book, you still want to create it as if they will. Make something that you would be proud to show to your most admired artist. Practice being an excellent designer. This means paying attention to the tiniest details. I'm trying to describe perfection here without saying you need to be perfect. But quality matters. A lot. Make sure the lines are straight and the composition is balanced and the words are spelled right and the pages are number correctly (by the way, odd numbers go on the right side pages). Also, make sure titles and descriptions and keywords are error-free. Be patient before hitting the publish button. There are certain details you won't be able to change after you publish (unless you republish as a second edition of your book, which is a silly thing to do so soon after the first edition). If you happen to find any of my books on Amazon, suppress the urge to tell me to follow my own advice. I see the mistakes, too.


P​ut yourself out there.

A​mazon offers a good way for creatives to get their stuff out into the world. KDP is an easy way to publish books of all kinds. As a self-published author, you can create your very own author page on Amazon—a place for a short bio and a display of all your KDP books. So make something you're proud of and tell people about it. Not to earn money, but to take another step forward in your creative journey.


F​ind your flow. Or not.

W​hat surprised me most about the last few weeks of designing and publishing books is that I found flow—that state of being when you're so engrossed in what you're doing and finding so much joy in the work that time passes without you noticing. I effortlessly spent hours at a time designing pages and covers. I even made a creative habit of getting up at 5:00 a.m. to work on this little side-hustle project before starting my full-hustle job. I know there will be more book making in my future. I already have ideas for new books (not low-content) which I've documented in my recently self-published Ideas Journal. Maybe you'll find a flow state and a love of this particular creative practice, too. Or maybe you won't, and that's okay. Try something else.



M​y Journal and Notebook List:






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