How I Broke the 20k/mo Barrier - Kindle Publishing 2020 May Income Report

About this video

Sean reports his May 2020 income finally broke a long plateau. He says his Amazon income had been stuck around 15000 dollars for about a year, and in May he passed 20000 dollars for the first time without ACX promo codes, totaling 21273 dollars. The breakdown he gives includes KDP at 8355 dollars, IngramSpark US at 3574 dollars, UK at 182 dollars, Global Connect at 71 dollars, and AU at 361 dollars, Google Play at 272 dollars, Draft2Digital at 862 dollars, and two ACX accounts — his personal account with 592 units for about 1200 dollars and his LLC account with 1981 units for about 6300 dollars, noting most books are three hours long at about 3.5 dollars royalty per sale. Expenses were 4256 dollars, including about 2000 dollars in AMS ads, leaving profit of 17000 dollars before taxes, he says. He attributes the breakthrough to changes made five to six months earlier: stopping chasing huge, crowded keywords everyone else targets, and instead choosing less competitive keywords even if each book makes less, so books keep selling instead of being buried within months. He also stopped shotgunning books across multiple profitable niches, and now publishes only under his brand, building his email list and focusing on high-quality books so income stacks with each new release rather than replacing dead books.

Key takeaways

• Sean reports May 2020 income of 21273 dollars and profit of 17000 dollars before taxes after 4256 dollars in expenses
• Less competitive keywords may earn less per book but produce consistent, longer-lasting sales
• Chasing huge keywords creates a rat race where new books get buried by constant new competition
• Stop shotgunning across niches — publish under one brand to build an email list and audience that helps launch each book
• Focus on high-quality books published steadily so income stacks instead of dying out

Episode details: published June 15, 2020 · 11:12 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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