Stocking Stuffer
Some years ago, I created my first ever book published on Amazon through the KDP platform.
With 48 years of IT behind me, you could expect that my first book would be on coding or system design or knowledge management or managing a diverse team of IT prima donnas, but no.
Not even the relatively simple subject of web design.
I'd heard that joke books were popular.
So I wrote a book about Grandad jokes.
What are Grandad jokes?
They are Dad jokes (groan; that's awful, Dad) that have got really, really old and so have degenerated into Grandad jokes.
Anyway, that was years ago. I just leave it there sitting on Amazon.
It costs me nothing.
I just wanted to let you know that it sold 60 paperback copies in the past two weeks.
Obviously a stocking stuffer.
But it just goes to show.
You can put in a small amount of work at little or no cost other than your time and then sit back and watch it pay dividends with no further work on your part.
Here's some training I did on Amazon publishing in case you'd like to explore that option:
How to Publish Your Book on Amazon: Part 1...
How to Publish Your Book on Amazon: Part 2...
But, of course the same principal of doing the work now and reaping the rewards later also applies to Affiliate Marketing as taught at Wealthy Affiliate.
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Impressive! Thanks for the info. Something I will look into. I have several short stories never published (ah, the magazine rejection slips!) which I might be able to do something with.
Or it may give me motivation to do something new. I like to write, so it may be a future path for income.
Thanks for the blog!
Awesome! Thank you for sharing that success story with us, especially the links you've shared for those of us who would like to create/write something and get it published following the course of action that you've taken and had success with. I will definitely be checking out these resources in the near future!
That is soooo cooooolll Phil!
I will find it in Amazon for one of my Christmas stuffers this year!!!
It's a Royalty of 70% less the cost of printing for a paperback or hardback. It's POD (print on demand) so there's no upfront cost.
All my articles in my website, I can collate for a little book for beginning parents. That’s one…
Yes, that's a great idea. You have to be a little careful, though. If the articles are already published on a website, Amazon may reject your book because "the information is freely available on the internet".
Ok, it “MAY” reject! It’s not in a stated rule that it will not accept posted articles in the internet, is it?
No it's not, but it's happened to me. I fixed it by deleting all the blog posts, publishing the book and then restoring the blog posts from trash. A bit of a nuisance but relatively painless.
It's been 3 months and I haven't seen any earnings, any idea on how to cancel membership...
I'm sorry to hear that. Have you been following the training? Most people persevere longer than 3 months before they see earnings, But then it starts to escalate.
To cancel your membership, click on your avatar in the upper right, then select Account Settings.
Under Settings, select Subscriptions.
To cancel, scroll down to the bottom of your current membership plan and select Cancel Billing. This will stop billing and you will no longer be able to log in to your account. However, when you try to log in, you will have the opportunity to restart.
To delete your account, scroll down to the very bottom and select Delete Account. This will totally remove your account. It will be as if you were never there.
But first, make sure you have alternative arrangements for any websites and domain names you have hosted at Wealthy Affiliate as you will lose all access to them. It's a really good idea to backup your sites first and download the backup file. I use the plugin All in One WP Migration for this.
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Good morning Phil,
Thank you for your blog post, it's appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to read all of your blog posts, but I do always appreciate them!
I trust you are doing well.
That is fantastic, Phil; sometimes simple is simply the best! Good for you for taking action and making it happen! Incidentally, what is KDP, Kindle development platform, I have not looked it up, it's just a guess.
I haven't forgotten your book publishing course, in fact, I was only thinking about it a couple of days ago. I will go through your course once I am ready to start.
Have a great weekend.
Roy
Hi Roy. KDP stands for Kindle Direct Publishing. It allows you to publish your book as any or all of Kindle format, paperback and hardback.
Most of my sales are paperbacks.
Hello Phil,
Thank you for clarifying, I got that slightly wrong; it was a guess! It is something that I will be looking at, I hope, in the near future!
That's interesting that most of your sales are paperbacks. I guess I started using Kindle around 2008 or 2009. Originally I started using Kindle as I was running out of shelf space, but I also like the convenience of being able to read on any device. For example, if you're waiting or using public transport, which doesn't really happen for me now, I can just start reading from my phone. It's also useful for making the print larger at my tender age! I generally read from my desktop or laptop computer now.
All the best.
Roy
I find my Kindle useful in a variety of situations, but particularly on planes, but, depending on the book, most of my sales are paperbacks.
I know where you're coming from regarding your Kindle; it is very useful indeed.
It's interesting to hear about people's buying habits. I love to see books on a shelf; if I see someone on a video with books in the background, I try and read the titles!
It's good that people still like to buy traditional paperback books.
Have a great week.
Roy
Thanks, Roy. You too.
👍