How Much I Made In My First Year of Amazon KDP Publishing Mid-Content Puzzle Books (Income Report)

Summary

在这段视频中，Toby分享了他通过亚马逊KDP视频出版第一年的经历。他从2022年7月开始，第一年收入达到了25,000美元，但实际利润仅为3,000美元。他详细讨论了成本，包括广告支出、劳动力成本和辅助成本。Toby强调了低利润率和季节性书籍带来的挑战，并分享了他如何通过提高利润率、避免季节性产品和持续教育来改善业务。视频以他如何克服挑战并实现业务增长的故事结束。

Takeaways

• 📈 在亚马逊KDP视频的第一年，作者实现了25,000美元的收入。
• 💼 作者通过雇佣虚拟助手来弥补自己因健康问题而有限的工作时间。
• 💸 尽管收入可观，但由于广告成本和劳动力成本，第一年的净利润仅为3,000美元。
• 🔍 作者强调了广告支出在总收入中占据了很大一部分，大约19,000美元。
• 📚 作者在第一年出版了大约15本书，但主要收入来自一本季节性书籍。
• 🌲 作者建议不要只出版季节性书籍，因为这会导致收入不稳定。
• 🔑 作者提到了提高书籍利润率的重要性，以避免收入和支出相抵消。
• 🎓 作者强调了持续教育和应用所学知识的重要性，以改进业务模式。
• 🚀 作者通过提高书籍利润率和出版非季节性书籍，成功提高了收入。
• 🔄 作者分享了自己的创业经历，包括从乐观到低谷再到重新找到方向的过程。

Q & A

Toby在亚马逊KDP视频的第一年收入是多少？

Toby在亚马逊KDP视频的第一年收入大约是25,000美元。

Toby在第一年的净利润是多少？

Toby在第一年的净利润大约是3,000美元。

Toby在第一年的出版生涯中犯了哪些主要错误？

Toby在第一年的出版生涯中犯了两个主要错误：一是出版了低利润率的书籍，二是几乎只出版了季节性书籍。

为什么Toby不建议出版季节性书籍？

Toby不建议出版季节性书籍，因为一旦季节过去，人们就停止购买，导致收入大幅下降，需要重新开始广告投入来提高销量。

Toby是如何克服第一年的困难并继续前进的？

Toby在意识到第一年的业务模式不奏效后，通过与朋友交流、自我反思，并决定继续教育和应用所学知识，从而克服了困难。

Toby提到的'The E-Myth'是什么？

Toby提到的'The E-Myth'是一本书，讲述了企业家和技术人员之间的区别，以及如何通过创建系统和雇佣技术人员来弥补工作量的不足。

Toby是如何利用虚拟助手(VAs)来帮助他的出版业务的？

Toby通过创建标准操作程序(SOPs)和培训视频，让虚拟助手能够按照既定的系统进行工作，从而帮助他的出版业务。

Toby在第一年的广告支出大约是多少？

Toby在第一年的广告支出大约是19,000美元。

Toby在第一年的出版业务中，有哪些额外的成本？

Toby在第一年的出版业务中，除了广告支出外，还有劳动力成本和一些附加成本，如零食和办公用品等。

Toby是如何提高书籍利润率的？

Toby通过制作高利润率的非季节性书籍来提高利润，这样的书籍可以全年销售，不受季节限制。

Toby在视频的最后提到了什么策略来改善他的业务？

Toby在视频的最后提到，他通过继续教育、应用所学知识，并制作高利润率的非季节性书籍来改善业务。

Outlines

00:00

😀 亚马逊KDP第一年收入总结

Toby分享了自己在亚马逊KDP（Kindle Direct Publishing）第一年的经历。他首先介绍了自己的收入情况，从2022年7月开始，三个月内收入1600美元，六个月达到近10000美元。但随后由于健康问题和季节性书籍销售下降，收入有所减少。尽管全年总收入达到25000美元，但由于广告成本和其他支出，净利润仅为3000美元。Toby强调了成本控制的重要性，并分享了自己在营销和广告方面的一些教训。

05:01

😓 KDP出版的低利润与季节性问题

Toby指出了自己在KDP出版过程中的两个主要问题：低利润率和季节性销售。他提到，由于书籍利润率低，广告成本高，导致几乎没有利润。此外，他出版的主要是季节性书籍，这导致在特定季节过后销售急剧下降，需要不断投入广告费用来重新获得排名和销售。Toby建议避免这种低利润和季节性的问题，并强调了持续教育和应用新知识的重要性。

10:03

🚀 从失败中学习，实现盈利性增长

在经历了第一年的挣扎后，Toby决定改变策略。他通过提高书籍的利润率，避免季节性销售，并持续学习新的营销策略，成功地改善了自己的业务模式。他提到，在坚持和不断学习后，他开始看到业务的增长和盈利。Toby鼓励观众在面对困难时不要放弃，而是通过不断学习和应用新知识来克服挑战。

Keywords

💡收入

收入是指个人或企业在一定时期内通过销售商品、提供服务等方式获得的货币金额。在视频中，提到了'25k in Revenue'，即25,000美元的收入，这是衡量视频制作者在亚马逊KDP（Kindle Direct Publishing）上第一年业务成果的关键指标。

💡利润

利润是指收入减去成本和费用后的剩余金额，是衡量企业经营效益的重要指标。视频中提到了'how much of that was profit'，即询问收入中有多少是纯利润，这关系到视频制作者一年的经营成果。

💡亚马逊KDP

亚马逊KDP是亚马逊提供的一种自助出版服务，允许作者自行出版电子书和纸质书。视频中的'Amazon KDP'指的是视频制作者通过这个平台进行出版和销售的过程。

💡季节性书籍

季节性书籍是指只在特定季节或节日期间销售较好的书籍，如圣诞节主题的书籍。视频中提到'cozy Christmas word search book'，说明了季节性书籍的销售高峰和低谷，以及对利润的影响。

💡边际利润

边际利润是指每销售一个单位产品所带来的利润。视频中提到'low margin'，即低边际利润，这直接影响了视频制作者在广告投入和利润之间的关系。

💡广告成本

广告成本是指为了推广产品或服务而投入的资金。视频中提到'ad costs'，说明了广告支出对视频制作者经营成果的影响，以及如何通过控制广告成本来提高利润。

💡虚拟助手

虚拟助手是指远程工作的助手，帮助完成各种任务。视频中提到'I had a team of virtual assistants'，说明了视频制作者如何通过外包劳动来弥补自己工作时间的不足。

💡系统

系统是指为完成特定任务而设计的一系列有序的步骤或流程。视频中提到'systems'，强调了建立有效工作系统对于提高效率和扩大业务的重要性。

💡持续教育

持续教育是指不断学习和更新知识的过程。视频中提到'continued education'，强调了不断学习新知识和技能对于改进业务和提高利润的重要性。

💡非季节性产品

非季节性产品是指全年都能稳定销售的产品，与季节性产品相对。视频中提到'Evergreen'，即常绿的，用来描述一种全年都能销售的产品，这对于稳定收入和利润非常关键。

Highlights

作者Toby分享了自己在亚马逊KDP视频出版第一年的经验。

在亚马逊KDP的前三个月，Toby实现了1600美元的收入。

六个月内，Toby的收入达到了近10000美元。

Toby在第一年共出版了15本书，但不再使用之前的品牌。

2023年的前三个月收入下降至2200美元，原因包括健康问题和季节性书籍销售减少。

最后三个月的收入回升至9475美元，全年总收入约21000美元。

全年总收入25000美元，但净利润仅为3000美元。

Toby在第一年花费了22000美元在广告和劳动力上。

Toby通过阅读《E-神话》学习了如何建立系统和雇佣技术人员。

Toby雇佣了虚拟助手来完成工作，平均每小时成本约5美元。

Toby强调了避免出版低利润和季节性书籍的重要性。

Toby分享了他在第一年犯下的最大错误，包括低利润率和季节性出版策略。

Toby提到了持续教育和应用的重要性，以及如何通过教育改进业务。

Toby描述了创业过程中的“黑暗骑士”时刻，以及如何克服困难。

Toby通过提高书籍利润率和出版非季节性书籍来改善业务。

Toby展示了过去三个月的仪表板，暗示了业务的积极转变。

Toby以幽默的方式结束视频，鼓励观众关注他的第二部分内容。

Transcripts

we had 25k in Revenue the problem is how

much of that was profit yo what up it's

me Toby your boy and this is going to be

a how much money I made in my first year

of Amazon KDP video hopefully if you

want your first year of Amazon KDP to be

a lot better than mine was then this is

for you and I'm going to start with the

dashboard because I'm not trying to

string you along so let's just go ahead

and take a look at the dashboard then

basically I'll share everything that I

learned with you so that you can have a

much better experience than I did

getting started with KDP Amazon KDP for

whatever reason they only let you do a

3-month custom range so I'll go with you

from the very beginning of my journey

June 2022 was the first month that I

didn't publish I started in July 2022 so

we'll go three months July August and

September gives you 90 days so it cuts

off the first two days of July but in my

first three months of publishing I did

1,600 bucks which was really cool this

is my first online sale of my life so as

we go let's just keep a tally to the

nearest number and then we are going to

move to the next set of 3 months now

this was an exciting

period we went to

7,727 so in the first 6 months of

publishing I had made almost 10,000

bucks and just so you know I'll show you

my brand that I was in at the time this

is what the brand was so mid content

book word search brand I in my first

year I published a total of I think it

was 15 bucks you're free to like check

out this brand if you want to because

I'll get into the details later of why I

do not publish under this brand anymore

but it's a great learning experience so

let's go on from there we'll start in

January of 2023 so in the next 3 months

we made 2,200 not so good and the reason

we dipped so hard was one my health I

couldn't work very much so I didn't I

wasn't able to publish new books and

then secondly as we'll talk about more

in depth later when we talk about the

major problems with my first year and

how you can avoid them too is that most

of my money came off of this cozy

Christmas word search book so it's a

seasonal book meaning as soon soon as

Christmas is over people stop buying it

and then the last 3 months was actually

a pretty good 3 months so in those last

3 months we did

9,475 so we did 21,000 bucks in our

first year now that's pretty cool right

but the problem is how much of that was

profit let's go just a little further so

cuz the first honestly the first couple

months of publishing I only had

published two books and they were like

test books to just see if I could

publish and yeah there was almost no

money that came from them so let's

extend this through August of this year

another 4,000 so really in my first full

year of publishing it was closer to 25

but when you calculate expenses such as

ad costs which I'm not going to show you

my ads dashboard because I don't want to

I didn't have it pulled up already and I

don't want you to see all the books um

details but we spent about

22,500 bucks so ultimately how much

profit did we make in year 1 about 3,000

bucks clearly something worked well

because we we made here let me pull up

this this silly guy and we're going to

we're going to start explaining some of

the details of what I did well and what

I did wrong and I've got my notes Here

on the side so feel free to follow along

if you want to we had 25k in revenue and

3K bottom line profit how the heck does

this happen well let's talk about the

costs now this is going to get a little

Tactical for you this video by now as

you know if you're still watching is

going to be super valuable to you

because I spent 20 you know that's

$22,000 in the first year I spent that

so you didn't have to so pay attention

if you want to learn a little bit about

marketing and advertising especially if

you're KDP publisher this will be like

Priceless for you so costs what did I

learn if you're wondering how the heck

do you spend that much there was ads

then there was Labor um because of the

health issues that I've undergone over

the past four and a half years I've only

been able to work on average since I

started the publishing that first year I

averaged about an hour and a half a day

so what's that an hour and a half 1.5 *

365 but that's

approximately approximately 500 a little

over 500

hours so that's pretty cool that we were

able to make 25 in re in 25K in Revenue

with only 500 hours of work but that's

because I paid for a ton of Labor okay

so I have a team I I read the book

called The emyth this was one of my

biggest blessings in the first year I

had a a mentor who was PNC PNC Banks

operations manager I think nationally at

one point and he recommended he said

toes if you can't do if you can't work

very much you need to learn about

systems so I read the e- myth this talks

about how there's a difference between

entrepreneurs so it's getting a little

messy over here but you've got

entrepreneurs which we'll call e that's

what the E stands for an e- myth and

then you've got technicians so an

entrepreneur is the manager the

Visionary the technician is the person

who actually does the tasks themselves I

ask myself I can only work 1.5 hours a

day but there's 10 hours of a day of

work to be done how do I bridge that Gap

and that's where where creating systems

and hiring technicians come in so I had

a team of virtual assistants also known

as vas who did hundreds and hundreds of

hours of work for me had a fairly

reasonable wage on average working with

people in the Philippines I have a great

team most of them are from the

Philippines on average it'll cost about

five bucks an hour and if you come up

with good systems then they can just

follow those systems so I made training

videos Sops which is standard operating

procedures so written and visual that

they can just go step one step two step

three let's say for formatting a book

well I'd do it myself until I understood

then I'd make these systems and then I'd

hire a VA Okay so we've got ads we've

got labor for cost and then there's

ancillary costs like I don't need to

change colors but I like it cuz we're

talking about snacks baby so I paid for

snacks and office supplies and stuff

like that that should be about

everything that I spent on my first year

of business but it was so ridiculously

expensive and here was the biggest

problem that I found here's the rookie

mistakes follow along here cuz this is

this is really big if you're yeah like

please listen I wish I had known these

things at the beginning so badly the

biggest mistakes me and my team made and

particularly me cuz I'm the one who's in

charge we started with a low margin on

these books that we were publishing

under blueberry books the margin was

approximately

324 per sale so what does that mean that

means at the end of the day if I sell a

book for let's say it was let's say it's

$8.99 after printing costs and

everything this is what enters back into

my bank account into my hands now the

problem with this is one it's super low

ticket so ad spend is really tight

meaning my customer acquisition cost

cannot exceed 324 otherwise I'm exactly

at break even and it's a wash right

nobody makes any money sad day and it's

a really competitive market which the

word search Market is so I spent of that

25,000 I think it was approximately like

19,000 was in ads so the vast majority

was just ad spend at a really low margin

equals no profit no profit so if you're

publishing do not play the race to zero

game I don't regret it because I learned

but if someone had told me I would have

been much better off so the second

rookie mistake that I had made and this

is another really big one was that I

published almost exclusively seasonal

books do not do this the problem is

remember when I had that like 9k 3mon

span that was a summer book and the time

when I had a really good span during

Christmas you spend a ton on

ads and this goes for both books you

spend a ton on ads and then after 3

months your book has ranked well

organically woohoo but then the season

is over why is nobody buying and you're

back to square zero not even square one

square 0 you're making like almost no

money at all for the nine other months

of the year and then you have to go back

to the beginning of the Vicious Cycle

spend a lot on ads to rank and then

you're you're making a tiny bit of money

for 3 months so with a with a perfect

storm of a low margin and seasonal books

I didn't make like any money as you see

so what do you do instead right oh and

the last thing I did not have

continued education and application

based on that education I find that the

easy thing for me as a creative person

to do is just get a little education and

then skip straight to the creative

application I would just get creative

with things I'd learn the basics of

publishing and then I and basics of

marketing and I jump straight over to

the creative and I wouldn't continue to

do these two steps get educated and

apply educate apply educate and apply so

all of this was terrible all of this was

terrible

I get to the end of that first year I

crunch the numbers this is only in

October when I really crunched the

numbers and found out that profit was

like 3K right so I go what the heck do I

do I just spent thousands and thousands

of dollars and a year and a half of my

life at by the time it was October

working towards this business model and

it's not working what do I do so I had

this I had this like absolute pit of my

stomach moment I called up a couple of

my friends I was like I am not an

entrepreneur I'm just an artist there's

no way I can do this and the two that I

spoke to gave me a great pep talk so I

decided to Dream a Little I decided to

keep going and what I found Alex horoi

talks about this and it was entirely

true so see this little graph here this

is the beginning of any Venture right

here you're highly optimistic and your

optimism grows and it's uninformed

optimism and then at some point you

start realizing oh this is hard this is

really tricky I don't know if I want to

stick with this this is expensive this

is is going to take work and at some

point you you either choose to to get

out here and go to the beginning of a

new Venture which is what a lot of

people do which is what I did for the

first 20 years of my life 22 years of my

life really and you just go through this

cycle of uninformed optimism to starting

a new Venture but if you stick with it

you're going to go oh this is actually

way harder than I thought oh you know

for me it was margins really are trash

how do I get to 30k in a in a year or

25k in a year and make no money and then

at the bottom here you have the Dark

Knight of the Soul

sad but then as soon as you push through

here if you keep pushing through and

this is where I was in October when I

called my friends if you keep pushing

through you'll start to see a little

momentum I'm learning things I'm

starting to make sense of this I'm

actually seeing some traction and before

long you're where I am right now which

is

informed this is the best place to be by

the way in my experience and I've only

been here once in my entire life which

is today informed

optimism now why am I an informed

Optimist well I'll show you my dashboard

for the past 3 months okay before I show

you my dashboard I want to show you what

I did so what I did was I said okay I'm

at this pit but I'm going to try making

a book with high margin guys learning

things is so simple if you take the time

and I I'm preaching to myself right now

because I never do it but when I do I'm

always glad I did and you'll see in a

second with the dashboard I said what if

I made a book with increased margin that

was Evergreen instead of seasonal

meaning it'll sell 12 months out of the

year and this goes for things that

aren't Just Books too whatever your

Market is and the last thing is that I

continue to get education and apply it

then what would happen and I'll show you

what happens I published one book a

little over two months

ago and this is this is the result I'm

such a jerk if you want to find out the

rest go to part two because I'm a really

new YouTuber and I need more engagement

so I'll probably put it up here or

something like that all right thanks

guys peace what is this

even