The Biggest Lessons from My First Year of Amazon KDP

About this video

Sean recaps the biggest lessons from his first year of Amazon KDP publishing. He says he made $66,000 in that first year, starting at around $100 in month one, about $300 in month two, $1,000 in month three, and roughly $2,000 in month four, adding around $1,000 a month until month ten, when he says one book blew up and income jumped from $6,000 to $10,000, followed by around $9,000 in months eleven and twelve. Lesson one is that massive imperfect action beats perfect inaction: he says he published while learning from a course, YouTube videos, and blog posts instead of waiting to master everything, and published two to four books a month very consistently, with each book improving on the last. Lesson two is to maximize every format and platform — add a hardcover if eligible, make an audiobook version, and expand beyond KDP to platforms he names such as ACX, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital where exclusivity rules allow, because small amounts across books and platforms compound. Lesson three is his claim that 99% of his books made back their investment: he says he has published over 200 books, probably around 250, with only about five failing to make ROI, three of them low-content books, and even those still sell a little each month. Lesson four is to build an audience and email list as soon as possible so launches can generate reviews and sales instead of starting from zero each time.

Key takeaways

• Sean says he made $66,000 in his first year, growing from around $100 in month one to $10,000 in month ten when one book blew up.
• His first lesson is massive imperfect action over perfect inaction: he published two to four books a month consistently while learning, improving with each book.
• He advises maximizing formats and platforms — hardcover and audiobook versions, and platforms such as ACX, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital where allowed — because small amounts compound.
• Sean claims 99% of his over 200 books made back their investment, with only about five failing to make ROI, three of them low-content books.
• He urges building an audience and email list as soon as possible so each new book does not start from zero for reviews and sales.

Episode details: published April 20, 2022 · 10:14 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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