Today we will see in this new article how to earn passive income with Children's Books directly on Amazon in its marketplace.
The novelty of self-publishing
Historically, if you wanted to publish a book, you needed an agent to get a traditional publisher to look at your manuscript and then put it up for sale with their publishing house. In fact, many publishing houses won't even open a book unless it arrives through an agent. Even if they open it, your book is still unlikely to be published and eventually sold in bookstores.
Is there another way to get my book published without going through a traditional publisher?
Yes! In fact, there is another way your book can not only be published, but also reach a global audience, with little to no upfront investment. This technique has led to the success of many authors and is changing the conception of the book and the traditional publishing industry.
The solution is self-publishing.
Are you an aspiring children's book author, or are you in love with the idea of sharing your writing talent with children all over the world? Then read on to find out how you can make money writing and publishing children's books on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. The good news is that it has never been easier to write, publish and sell your books without a traditional publisher using the Amazon Kindle marketplace.
Among all the different types of writing, children's literature – especially illustrated children's books (which have very few written pages!) – is among the most profitable, as well as the easiest for beginners to start with. With Amazon's Amazon Direct Publishing (KDP) program, you can turn your passion for children into a lucrative hobby, career, or side job! Amazon offers tools and technologies that make the publishing process relatively easy, even for novice authors.
While there are many ways to make money publishing information products online, (low content book) this is by far one of the most popular.
Why publish children's books?
Amazon gives you the opportunity to share ideas and real-life experiences with others. It can unleash your imagination to provide children and their parents with lasting memories.
Publishing children's books on Amazon Kindle
Amazon has been looking for children's book authors in recent years to expand this high-growth industry, that's why they introduced Kids Book Creator di Kindle , a free tool that allows authors and publishers to convert children's picture books into great Kindle books. This software takes much of the effort out of creating books by letting you add text, import images, and preview what a book will look like on real devices. Simply put, the goal is to remove the frustration of technology so you can focus on the main thing: making a great children's book.
- Take advantage of Kindle's “Write Once, Read Anywhere” concept to make your books available on multiple platforms (e.g. smartphones, tablets, and computers).
- Create a superior reading experience for kids and their parents with Kindle Text Pop-Ups.
- Import images using the most popular file formats such as jpg, pdf, tiff and png
- Preview your book on the Kindle family of devices before publishing. With a built-in preview feature, authors can check that their books look great on Kindle Fire tablets, too!
- Removing all the technological hurdles of online publishing so you can focus on creating great illustrations and content for your children's books
- Kindle children's book creator
- Kindle Kids' Book Creator supports multiple layouts for children's books, including facing pages.
Converting books originally created for print to Kindle format is now possible, thanks to the ability to import pages from PDF files. When you're ready to publish your Kindle book, go to KDP and upload your book.
As with other Kindle books, Your children's book file cannot exceed 650MB. It is important to keep this in mind, as graphics, cartoons, etc. they take up a lot of space.
By following the recommended steps, authors then publish on the Kindle platform and gain access to tens of millions of Amazon customers worldwide as well as other ways to make money online with children's books.
Writing picture books for children can bring great joy to families around the world and give you the opportunity to express your creativity as well as improve your financial condition like never before. Amazon has broken down the traditional barriers between authors and readers through its Kindle platform. It also empowered authors to take direct control of the publication, pricing, and marketing of their products.
All of which means more money for your efforts and a better chance of earning a regular, stable income as a children's book writer.
Publishing on Amazon and Kindle is not limited to children's books. It is a great platform for authors in any niche, fiction, non-fiction, romance, business, how-to, etc. Learn more about how to get started and make money with Amazon digital publishing, no matter your niche market or industry.
How to publish your book
So, despite some saying it's already saturated, today can still be a great way to earn passive income with Children's Books using your creativity drive. Let's see how to do it step by step.
Publishing books through Amazon is truly one of the lowest risk methods of starting an online business.
Preparing Children's Book for Amazon Kindle
You'll need to download Kindle's Kids Creator software to help you create the children's picture books that are in demand today. Choose the PC or Mac version. The manuscript itself can be written in several editors, although Microsoft Word is most recommended for document formatting for Kindle (.doc / .docx files). KDP relieves you from having to use complex conversion tools to get everything Kindle ready.
If you have an existing Amazon account as a consumer, you can use the same login credentials.
Plus, KDP's Cover Creator tool lets you design and create your own cover if you don't already have one. With Cover Creator you are free to upload and use your own images or access KDP's large gallery of stock images. You will also retain complete control over the font and layout of the cover.
Note: I highly recommend having a professionally designed cover by a graphic designer with experience designing book covers for the Amazon Kindle. Having a professionally crafted book cover can be the difference between your book's huge success and dismal failure. People really judge your book by its cover. You can find competent graphic designers on freelance sites like Fiverr.com.
Publication in various countries
Check if you have the rights to distribute your book worldwide or only in certain territories. Select the first option if you own the worldwide rights to your book. This allows Amazon to make your book available for sale on all Amazon websites. So whether you write it in English or directly in Italian you have access to all Amazon sites in the world.
Prices, rates and royalties
Select your prices based on your goals and sales strategy. The first step is to upload the Ebook (PDF).
In the “Royalty & Pricing” section, choose a royalty plan: 35% o 70% . Check list price requirements by royalty plan. You can choose a plan for each of your books.
Sales to customers outside the 70% eligible territories will only receive royalties of 35% of the list price.
Learn more about eBook royalty options.
KDP Prints physical books
Now let's move on to the option of giving the option to offer the paperback or the paper version of your Ebook. Paperback pricing for KDP Print is a little easier. In this case, the key number to understand is the cost to produce your book. The main factors influencing costs are:
- The country where your book is sold
- The number of pages in your book
- Whether you're printing the interior in color or black and white
Note that there are two factors that do not affect costs:
- The size of your book. It doesn't matter if it's 8,5″ x 11″ or 4,25″ x 6″, the production cost is the same.
- Whether you choose cream paper or white paper. Color printing is decisive.
There are 3 ways to calculate KDP Print printing costs:
- Upload your files to KDP Print and their calculator will give you a cost.
- Use Amazon's pricing tables. See below for Amazon.com (other countries are different).
- Download the KDP Print Excel Spreadsheet Printing Cost Calculator.
Also on this same page you will find a download button for the KDP Print Cost Calculator available as an Excel worksheet. (Click on the subsection: how we calculate the printing costs).
Calculating Amazon Pocket Sales Fee and your royalties
Now that you have the cost of producing your printed book you can calculate the sales commission. It's easy: your royalty is 60% of the list price less printing costs.
- (list price x 60%) – printing costs = royalties
For example, if you have a 278-page book, the calculation looks like this:
- Production cost: (278 PDF pages * $0,012 per page) + $0,85 = $4,19
- Royalty Calculation: ($14,95 x 60%) – $4,19 = $4,78
Print cost / 60% (royalty rate) = minimum list price. As you see above for Evidence and Trace, that number is:
- $4,19 / 60% = $6,98.
The maximum price of your paperback must be no more than $250 (no math required!), 250 Euros for the European market.
Terms and conditions and publishing
Accept the Amazon Kindle terms and conditions and click the "Publish" button after reviewing all the data you have entered so far.
After clicking the "Publish" button, the title will be available for purchase on Amazon, between 48 and 72 hours (occasionally the system is backed up or the book contains objectionable content which may hold the process for several days).
Now that your book is published, you'll need to market it. It's important to come up with a marketing plan before publishing your book so you're ready for this stage.
Amazon KDP Pay Notes:
Now that your book is published, check your Amazon Kindle Payments section of your account to see how many people have read and/or purchased your book. This will become an additional passive income stream. The fees will be sent to you every month and Amazon will manage the distribution of your e-books and whenever the paperback version of your books decides to continue selling your books in physical form as well.
Amazon pays royalties approximately 60 days after the end of the calendar month in which the royalties reach the payment threshold. You will receive separate royalty payments for each Amazon marketplace where you have chosen to distribute your title. Available payment methods (direct deposit, wire transfer, or check) are based on your bank location. Your bank may have fees associated with some payments.
Promote and market your children's book on Amazon Kindle
Ok, now it's time to earn passive income with Children's Books. You may want to strongly consider enrolling your book in Amazon KDP Select to gain access to some key features not available to non-KDF books. Joining KDP simply means making your book exclusive on Amazon for a period of 90 days. At the end of the 90 days, you can re-subscribe to KDP or opt-out. Enrolling your book in Amazon KDP Select allows you to:
- Earn higher royalties
Earn KDP Select Global Fund shares when online readers select children's books and read over 10% of all your books from Kindle unlimited (paid subscription program in the US only currently) or borrow your book from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
Il KDP Select Global Fund it's a certain amount that Amazon sets aside each month to pay authors whose books have been downloaded for free under their subscription program. The money is divided equally based on the number of downloads and pages read of your book.
You can also earn a 70% royalty on sales to customers in Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico instead of the standard 35%.
- Reach new readers through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
People who borrow your children's picture book through the Kindle Library will also put money in your pocket! Your reputation will grow faster and make readers anticipate your next work even more.
Note: You may want to consider having at least two books on Amazon as customers who buy your first book may be more likely to buy your second book. Additionally, Amazon will proactively promote your second book to buyers of your first book.
- Maximize your book's sales potential
Choose from two (2) great promotional tools:
Kindle Countdown Deals (time-limited promotional discount of the children's book while you earn royalties).
Amazon's free books promotion where readers around the world can access books for free for a limited time. In case you're wondering, "free" works!
You may ask yourself, "Why should I give away my book for free?"
There are two reasons why you might consider running a free promotion.
Your free book will receive a significant amount of downloads which can lead to more book reviews. More positive book reviews can help increase sales of your book after the free book promotion.
Having a large number of initial downloads can help get your book into Amazon's "rating system" and help you find it more easily after the free book promotion period.
The thought of making your book Amazon-exclusive may seem daunting at first, but keep in mind that most book sales are generated from Amazon.com, and you can always cancel the program after 90 days.
Conclusion
There has never been a better time for aspiring children's book authors to publish a book and reach a large audience. As you grow and develop your publishing business, you may want to consider publishing on other platforms and distribution channels; and even consider looking for a traditional publisher, but starting with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is a great place to start.
As mentioned above, in addition to creating and selling your e-books online, you can also publish books on the Amazon platform, creating a real monthly income.
