Be Careful Where You Put Those Eggs!
I've been making the majority of my income through Amazon KDP for several years now. It currently constitutes the bulk of my online earnings. However, relying entirely on external platforms for income can be risky. These platforms can change their policies at any time, leaving you feeling a bit powerless and on edge.
One thing Amazon is known for is frequently updating its rules. What may be acceptable for sellers today might not be in a year from now. This applies to books as well. For instance, some of the books I published a couple of years ago are now subject to different rules. Recently, I encountered this issue firsthand. I went to edit a book, and Amazon flagged it. Long story short, I had to unpublish and republish the book with some minor changes.
The downside of this process is losing all the reviews and ratings for that title. This particular book had generated over $1,000 in December alone and generally brought in a few hundred dollars each month. While it wasn’t one of my best sellers, it certainly helped boost my monthly income.
Although this incident wasn't catastrophic, it did make me reconsider the importance of owning and controlling your platform and income streams. Take, for example, having a website. A website is something you own 100%, giving you full control over what you sell and how you operate. You can offer products and services directly to your audience and adapt as needed.
The problem with relying on platforms like Amazon is that they can shut down your entire business overnight, and this happens to people more often than you might think. Sometimes, we need a wake-up call to guide us in the right direction. For me, this experience has made me reassess how I spend my time and has highlighted the importance of diversifying my income streams to ensure I have more control over my financial future.
This experience has underscored the importance of not putting all your eggs in one basket. While platforms like Amazon KDP can be highly profitable, they come with risks that are outside of your control.
By building and investing in your own platforms, such as a personal website, you can create a more stable and secure income stream. Diversifying your income sources not only provides a safety net but also gives you the flexibility to adapt to changes on your terms.
I just felt like sharing that today folks! Have a great day :).
Recent Comments
12
Appreciate the share Nat and you are so right!
With the way things currently are for us... diversifying is more important than ever! :-)
Very smart. Just recently I was thinking about how a large portion of one of my websites promotes one product/program. It's a high paying, recurring commission product, but it would be terrible for me if that company/product was ever discontinued. So I, too, have been thinking more about promoting a bigger variety of products on that website.
I'm just wondering about Amazon KDP. Are you actually writing books and selling them on Amazon KDP? Or do you mean you're making money as an affiliate selling books on Amazon? It looks like you're writing them?
I've run a local writers' group for 15 years and several of my members have self-published books. Next year I'm hoping to spend some time learning about the best way to market their books (and I have two of my own to publish as well). The writers' group has a website which I run, so I'd love to do this.
Any tips on the best way to go about this? Or where I can get started learning about this specifically?
Debra
Hi there,
Sorry for the delayed response. I've mainly been creating low/medium content books - so, things like journals, planners, notebooks, activity books - and then publish via kdp. Who print and distribute them. A lot relies on keywords/SEO and also advertising to get sales.
I have a link to my YouTube account via my Bio if you want to learn a bit more about it.
As far as marketing etc - I'm definitely not the best person in terms of that because I don't do any marketing at all outside amazon. It's all based on targeting certain keywords and then advertising directly on Amazon basically - I don't even use social media right now. That being said, some people have had good results promoting their books on TikTok or other platforms such as Pinterest.
All the best, Nat
Very good post. I started a vacation web site and am trying to get that up and running correct and I imagine I can sell products as well as recommending vacation locations to camp at as well as a basic vacation. I haven't started making any income yet and am still trying to figure ways to get that going. Thats true they say you must love your niche and I like making articles and such things also.
Good point, Nat!
Having multiple streams of income is always a good idea. Amazon can be part of that, but it should not be the only one.
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Good morning Nat,
Thank you for your blog post, it's appreciated.
First of all, it's great that you are publishing Amazon books; it is something that I want to do in the future.
I must admit that I'm trying not to use Amazon as much as I used to; I would much prefer to purchase items from smaller companies. However, Amazon is an extremely easy way to order products online. I have heard from an Amazon seller that they look after the customer much more than the seller.
I can imagine that it must be a bit of a headache when Amazon keep changing their policies, etc, it's difficult to keep up with all these rules and regulations. It's particularly annoying and not really fair, if you are losing the reviews on a title.
My Webmaster in the US said to me years ago that our website should be the main platform, other platforms can shut us down whenever they want. I'm hearing about this happening all the time. I'm really not a Facebook fan, however, I set up two accounts years ago, one for real friends and one for networking. On the networking Facebook account, I had a few different pages set up my websites, including a page from my offline business. However, about ten months ago, I received a message saying that my account had been disabled!
Although the account is disabled and I can't get into it, the actual Facebook pages are still live, but I can't get to the pages! I have absolutely no idea why the account has been disabled, as I hardly write anything on Facebook, apart from the business pages! There are various ways to explain how do get your account back on the web, but none of these work, it's just a total waste of time! Which comes back to why our website has to be the main platform!
Have a great day and keep up the great work, Nat.
Roy
Hey Roy!
Sorry for the delayed response here. Thanks very much for your thoughts and experiences too.
Yes, I feel very much the same and it's a tricky one really because I feel pulled in multiple directions and really struggle to juggle too many things.
I do much better when I focus on one thing/one path/one platform and that's why I suppose I ended up primarily on Amazon -- but because a lot of the income is semi-passive, (I do have to monitor ads) I think I will take some time off of the platform completely and work on something else.
I hope you're having a great day.
Many thanks,
Nat
Good morning Nat,
That's no problem at all, I think most of us are busy here!
Traditionally, the boffins have asked to focus on one thing at a time, which I believe is probably best. Even though I have quite a few projects on the go! I think it's so easy to become enthusiastic about various income streams and to try and do too many things at once.
I hope you come to the right decision.
Have a fantastic day.
Roy
Yep, I believe that's the case! Always a tricky one. Thanks Roy :)
Have a great week, Nat.
Roy