The Shocking Truth on Why You Can’t Make $10k-$30k a Month Self-Publishing eBook on Amazon Kindle
Beware of the hype … the truth will set you free
I fell for the hype about making $10k to 30k per month to self-publish an eBook on Amazon Kindle.
It was a harsh truth to swallow. It didn’t help, especially with the constant lies about this system over the media, mainly by people who have supposedly sold millions following this type of lifestyle.
What other programs and systems have you tried, only to realise the shocking truth that your chances of making it is as slim as winning a lottery ticket.
Now don’t get me wrong; the lessons I have gained and the experiences I have endured only makes me wiser to steer clear from myths and good sells tactics.
To convince and persuade someone to make a decision requires good copywriting and marketing skills, which is selling by the power of words. To assist this endeavour, you only need 1,000 dedicated fans and hardcore customers who will buy whatever you put in the market.
As Kevin Kelly iconically declared, and his principle has been adopted by many entrepreneurs and business owners, to get anyone to buy whatever you produce, you need a true fan.
“To be a successful creator, you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor, you need only thousands of true fans.” — Kevin Kelly
After all, we are in the business to win and influence people, and the way to do that will depend on your most robust skillset and mind-set.
THE JOURNEY OF SELF-PUBLISHING ON AMAZON KINDLE AND THE UNPLEASANT REALITY
Amazon platform as a whole is terrific for everything to do with our lives; whether you are looking for a gift for next day delivery or you want to watch movies on demand, the company have your back.
The story of how Amazon become the most trusted and most used eCommerce stems from its founding father, Jeff Bezos. His determination as a businessman surpasses the mere money-making machine.
When he launched on July 16, 1995, or officially in 1994 from his garage along with a few employees developing the software for his site, his vision for the company’s explosive growth and domination was because he wanted Amazon to be
“an everything store.”
The excitement of creating a business on Amazon to generate passive income to support my other ventures was compelling. The reality of that happening was short-lived, just like any idea birthed out of desperation rather than a clear, well researched, and strategic plan.
I was under the impression, which sounded achievable and straightforward was that if I had the desire to accumulate a $10k figure monthly, which was not as high as the $30k that was sold to others by ‘Lurn Publishing Bootcamp’, by Anik Singal, was that, I simply need to upload a short word document, which can be as short as 25 pages. I can even outsource the task to eBook writers over the internet, who work on a freelance basis as ghost-writers.
Now tell me you would not have purchased the program when you see these figures and promises. I went even further to learn from another confessed Amazon Kindle self-publishing success guru who sold their time and experience on Udemy, which is a massive online teaching platform with over 2 million students worldwide and 13,000 courses, teaching people like myself looking for a better way to outrace the corporate ladder or as entrepreneurs looking for an additional source of income.
We can all fall that easily if you are a naive and hungry entrepreneur. The easy and simple life, the shortcut to success, the road travelled by many, but only a few may achieve the guaranteed result.
WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS ROUTE
With titles such as ‘Learn My Proven Kindle System to Write and Market a Kindle Best-Seller, and earn $10,000+ in Royalties in 72hrs’, I should have been more sceptical and roll my eyes, but with so many people purchasing the course and it coinciding with the other sweet promise from Anik Singal, both acclaimed and self-confessed millionaires, who wouldn’t want a slice of their pie and knowledge.
The course was easy to digest and was implementable, with plenty of examples and step-by-step guides starting from the beginning to the final upload to Amazon Kindle. Anyone could believe that it will be possible, especially when it shows you how to research your competition, optimise the eBook for maximum impact, and write powerful and market strategically.
I completed the course in a weekend, which indicated my eagerness and what I like to believe is my positivity and risk-taking abilities. I took this course alongside Anik at Lurn nation and getting pump up with excitement that, at last, I will also have the title of an Amazon bestseller to add to my title of accolades.
You already know that if this was successful, then I will kindly share the success stories and the strategies to implement to try to achieve the same results; well, if that was your plan.
However, this is not a negative review in slating off any entrepreneur selling the promise of making it big on Amazon as people need to eat after all. But it’s more to do with the insight into why after taking the courses and finally putting the book out, I only made $10 instead of $10k in a month.
What went wrong with my journey was the lack of experience, mainly when dealing with freelance writers, as I fell for the first smooth talker and how their profile on Guru.com was impeccable with past work that seems to align with the writing I usually adopt and which echo my voice and writing style.
Now you may think, why didn’t I write my own eBook since it was an area I thoroughly enjoy and know a fair deal about. I guess it all narrow down to my lack of faith and confidence in my ability to deliver. Since it was a first attempt at writing professionally, I assumed that I should seek the help of an experienced and seasoned writer who stipulated that they had done it for various clientele and interests.
I guess the laugh was on me since the writer’s quality was traumatising that I ended up wasting $250 and reediting the whole book, and in the end, losing its soul and meaning.
Secondly, because I was anxious about the outcome of the eBook, I believed that it wasn’t the quality to be proud of and warrant the enrolment of a marketing campaign to get the attention it needed and, as advised by the gurus to get the proper traction and eyes on the eBook. So I cowarded in silence and just waited for its gradual downfall.
The fall was a lesson that emphasizes the importance of crafting something that you can be proud of to brag about. Even if you rank #100,000 on Amazon Kindle, you will feel assured that the book will benefit your target customers. As you can see, the appalling rank is the indication that this route to achieving my $10k per month was farfetched.
APPARENT SUCCESSFUL SELF PUBLISHING AUTHORS MAKING IT ON AMAZON KINDLE
The reason I may sound doubtful about the people who have done okay self-publishing eBooks on kindles are the ones selling books on ‘How–to ‘. For instance, John Locke’s ‘How I sold 1 million eBooks in 5 months’ have readers in mixed mind and wondering if they execute his advice, whether they will also succeed. No one knows, unfortunately.
Another self-publishing author on Amazon is Martin Crosbie with his book ‘How I sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon, an easy to follow self-publishing guidebook’. With these books spilling common-sense advice, what echoes from these authors is that the only way you can truly excel and make your time worthwhile is facing the fact that there’s no easy way around this.
The only way is to set aside everything else in your life and pretty much do nothing but promote, network and sell, mainly if you are tight on cash to hire someone else to handle marketing.
One thing I know is that to get the accolade of New York Best Seller, you must be willing to invest heavily financially and time to do the hard work of promoting the book.
WHAT LESSONS DID I LEARN AND WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM THIS
Do I regret the journey?
Yes and No — I mostly regret not writing my own first eBook but allowing another person to spoil my first impression and possibly weakening my reputation on Amazon as a writer.
However, I did learn massively from this journey, and the lessons contribute to all other lessons gained on the path of entrepreneurship and the road to success.
As famously cited by most successful entrepreneurs and business owners, the road to success is never a straightforward route; you are bound to intertwine with various obstacles and setbacks.
If you want to pursue this avenue, I will alert you that even though the platform is free and offer potential and opportunity, note that just like any idea and plan, the road of entrepreneurship requires a certain pedigree of strength and wisdom.
Approach Amazon Kindle self-publishing, just like any other business venture. It takes time and some level of expertise and determination to keep pushing and publishing. If I had published another eBook that follows the first’s flop, it might uplift my confidence and belief that I may also have a better potential to achieve the $10k to $30k per month on the platform.
TAKEAWAY
Amazon is a genuinely fantastic platform to make money, only if you’re prepared to invest the necessary time and effort to make the amount that the gurus are teaching.
Would it be hard to compete on the platform? Absolutely but with the right consistency and dedication, I am sure you will also get close to making the five, six or seven figures.
The opportunity presented itself; I tried and risked the unknown, and was it successful, possible no, but at least I have the entrepreneurial mindset now and as Steve Jobs once said, ‘Don’t be afraid to be different.’
I have now started focusing on working smarter, investing in appropriate knowledge that will benefit me in the long run and most importantly, I’m more focused on improving my business and not following the carrot on the stick.
