December 2023 was the best month of my self-publishing journey so far. I managed to achieve royalties of $16,966.
However, the new year has brought a reality check with it. My royalties have dropped by a whopping 70% compared to December 2023.
Some might think this is terrible news, but it is just part of the KDP cycle that repeats itself every year. I was expecting a sharp decline as I mentioned in my previous video, and so I am quite emotionless about the drop in royalties.
If you are noticing a massive drop in sales compared to December, you will want to check out that video. I will link the video here. It might just stop you from quitting Amazon KDP too soon!
I will quickly run through January data such as:
- My advertising spend.
- Other KDP related subscriptions and expenses.
- My top 10 best selling books.
But before I do, I want to let you know that I am planning my next video, and it will be a Questions and answers type video. Now, I have never attempted a video like this, so I am very excited to get that out for you.
But I need your help! I have several questions already courtesy of the members in my Facebook group but if you would like to add yours to the list, please leave them in the comments section below.
This is a great opportunity to ask any burning questions you have about self-publishing and how I approach certain things. I also welcome any personal questions too. You may wish to know things like how I juggle a full-time job, self-publishing, other online businesses and a having a young child or things of that nature.
I do not consider myself a self-publishing expert but I have sold over 135,000 books on Amazon. So, depending on your questions, I’m sure my answers will give you some helpful insights, and hopefully help you with selling more books.
Right, let’s jump into the income report.
For January, I only managed to publish 2 new books. This is better than most Januarys, as I am normally so sick of creating books after Q4, that I take a break for a few months. But, the past Q4 was the least stressful one yet, so I was happy to make a few.
My top 10 best selling books.
My top 10 best selling books earned me $2,308 which accounted for 45% of my total royalties. These books are a variety of planners, log books, and activity books. The new lined journals that did incredibly well during Q4 have fallen outside of the top 10 spot. (Unfortunately!)
This goes to show that books sell much easier during Q4, even low effort books like lined journals.
My hardcover sales were up from the previous month, which is a small win, but I’ll take it. Those books returned royalties of $437 which is about 8% of my total royalties.
Do you have many hardcover books published? If so, do they sell well?
Now onto, my expenses.
Here you will see the usual suspects. The only differences are that I did not outsource any work this month and my advertising spend always fluctuates from month to month.
My advertising spend was quite high for January at $1,685. I always find that January is a tricky time for advertising. I spent over $3000 on advertising for December and so it is always a bit challenging trying to drastically reduce the spend for January.
The reason why it isn’t straight forward is because there is an increased amount of competition during Q4. This means that typically we need to increase our bids to stay competitive. However, once Q4 is over, it takes a period of adjustment to find out what bid prices should return to and where they perform well. January is used to find the advertising balance again.
Luckily, I cover these insights in the “Amazon Advertising Blueprint” course. I have saved my students a lot of wasted money by sharing when & how much to reduce their bids at the end of Q4. The ongoing support in the dedicated advertising Facebook group is incredibly valuable as I can continue to keep students up to date in real time. Click here to find out more about the ‘Amazon Advertising Blueprint’ course and also insightful testimonials from our students.
So, if I take away the expenses from my royalties…. I am left with $3,368.
Like I said at the beginning, January has brought my royalties back to reality. I was prepared for this, and I am still very grateful to be earning this kind of money from a side hustle. Hopefully, I can hit close to $5000 in royalties for February, but it all depends how my Valentine’s day books perform.
Please don’t forget to leave me some questions. I will try my best to add the most helpful ones to the next video.
Thank you for reading!
Have a productive week,
Ben
P.S. If you would rather consume this blog in video format, here is the link to the YouTube video.
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