The next passive income opportunity is ebook publishing, now technically this is mainly the AMazon KDP program but there are still other sites which you can publish ebooks on, just be aware that Amazon is the big player in this market.
kindle ebook reader
If you have writing skills you can write an ebook on a particulat subject, signup to the Amazon KDP program and submit your ebook. Once reviewd and approved it will go live. That is the simple basic concept, of course there is more to it than that.
On the Kindle platform you control the rights of your ebooks, you can also set the pricing structure. There are 2 pricing structures that you can choose from.
30% – For lower price ebooks, ones that start at $0.99 you will earn 30% – so about $0.30 per ebook
70% – This is the higher royalty rate but the minimum is $2.99 per ebook – so you could earn more, in theory.
The pricing structure is where things get interesting, its amazing how many people will not buy an ebook if its over a certain pricing point, unless of course its from an established or well known author. This means that most newcomers aim at the $0.99 and 30% pricing structure, convincing people to even purchase a $2.99 ebook can be difficult.
What is the process for Kindle submission
Start writing your book or hire a freelance writer, you can use freelance sites or dedicated ebook writing sites. Verify the ebook content, fix any typos, punctuation and read through it to make sure the ebook reads OK. You can hire someone to do this as well if you like.
Prepare your document. You can use Amazon’s in-house tools such as Kindle Create or there is even a plugin for Micorsoft Word. You should try and design a cover, you can use Canva to deisgn one with free resources, you can also use the generic Amazon tools but these tend to lead to fairly generic looking books
Sign up with KDP. If you already have an Amazon account, you can use it to sign up with KDP. If you don’t have an account, you should create one.
After completing the sign-up process, goto the section that says Bookshelf and then click on the button that says “Create a New Title”, then click on the “Kindle eBook” option.
In the new window, you will be required to input your information and details about your book. These include Kindle eBook Details, Kindle eBook Content, and Kindle eBook Pricing. Click “Publish Your Kindle eBook” and that is that. Amazon will review your ebook and if all is OK it will go live in under 48 hours.
That sounds too easy, surely there is more to it than that.
Well yes there is, you are competing against many authors
ebook reader
Outsourcing ebook development gotchas
If your like me and you find it tough or time consuming to crank out ebooks then you can outsource this work. The most commonly cited websites for this work are Fiverr and Upwork, you search through the listings and select a writer who will write an ebook on a topic that you want. This is where the quality will wildly vary and it has to be said that the less money you spend the poorer quality of product recieved. I have had 3 gigs on fiverr and the quality has been incosistent, you can tell that the author does not speak english naturally (I can speak), the content has been rewritten and the book is not well structured and there are lots of spelling mistakes.
Just be aware that you may spend a lot more money than you think before you get quality work and you’ll have to sell a few copies to get your money back.
eBook publishing tips
You should pick a niche to start with, research it thoroughly and then write about it. If you don’t know about a subject then this will quickly come across in the ebook. I am a Kindle Unlimited subscriber and there is some utter crap I can tell you on there.
Check out the top selling ebooks in a category you are targetting – thats what people are interested in, it may also help to find out how popular that topic is on google – try a search for your idea.
Think about a series of books, lets say you were into the Ketogenic diet. How about Keto Snacks, Keto Breakfasts, Keto Lunches – you get the idea. Can you turn the idea into a series, especially in the fiction genre – can you come up with recurring characters or strong characters – each of which could be a book.
You can also use the CreateSpace option in which Amazon will create a print version of the book. Another possible revenue source and a lot of people still prefer a physical book to read.
Enable DRM on your ebooks – its a check box on the KDP submission page, at least make it a little difficult for people to rip them off.
Dont use copyrighted works for obvious reasons, also avoid public domian books – Aamzon used to allow this back in the day but then changed the rules and the vast majority of these were removed.
Enroll in the KDP Select Global Fund and when customers read your books from Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. You’ll be paid for each page individual customers read of your book, the first time they read it.
You could read and record the ebook and sell is an audio book – or pay someone to do it yet again.
eBook promotion ideas
Here are some basic ideas to get people interested and hopefully buy your ebook, a lot of these will depend on your ebook topic – some subjects are easier to get content from.
Promote your ebook via social media, get people visiting that Amazon page. You can tweet about it, pin the front cover on Pinterest, mention it on Facebook and so on. More traffic = more sales (in theory).
If you have a lengthy ebook put a couple of chapters into a smaller ebook with a link to the full version and give it away – maybe to an emailing list
You can also submit the short version to document sharing sites like Scribd (with links to the full version of course)
Create a blog on the same topic with some relevant articles, point to the Amazon kindle page at the bottom. You can buy the domain name or use free services such as blogger and wordpress (you can also promote the blogs)
I was going to list the various ebook promotion sites but https://www.readersintheknow.com/list-of-book-promotion-sites does it better than I would, here they list the various ebook promotion sites with various criteria against them. You can check some of these out and promote tour ebook if you want.
Other ebook stores
There are other places to sell your ebooks, although they tend to generate less worldwide sales than Amazon in some countries they have high market share
Books on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/books
Kobo Books – https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/
eBooks.com – eBooks.com
iBooks Store – Apple iBooks link
Barnes & Noble NOOK Books- Nook books link
Summary
Ebook publishing is a genuine source of passive income but its a cuthroat market, there a lot of publishers out there with teh same idea. Outsourcing ebook writing as I stated earlier has mixed results.
I see a lot of videos that make it out that you just churn out ebooks and watch the cash come in – that is not true. Saying that having some ebooks on Amazon is worthwhile to have in your Passive Income plan – especially if you can link it to a niche blog you may have.
It can also take a lot of effort to promote, you have seen read some of my ideas – these can all take time to implement.