Amazon KDP Journey

I have recently started my KDP journey but with bad results but after this post i will continue the project.

Thanks for the motivation! Keep us updated!

Very inspiring journey, I've been wanting to attempt this. I'll probably dive into it in a few days.

I've kind of fallen off the erotica train the last 2 weeks. Just moved into a new apartment and going to start a new job next Monday...hopefully I can bang out a few bundles this week. Have about 50 to create/make covers...then I have to add my new stories to the bundle equation so I'll probably be able to throw out another 50 more.

I'm glad you've kept up with this journey, most KDP journeys fall off after a week or two.

Charn said:

I've kind of fallen off the erotica train the last 2 weeks. Just moved into a new apartment and going to start a new job next Monday...hopefully I can bang out a few bundles this week. Have about 50 to create/make covers...then I have to add my new stories to the bundle equation so I'll probably be able to throw out another 50 more.

I'm glad you've kept up with this journey, most KDP journeys fall off after a week or two.

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Sometimes it can be really annoying to work on the KDP stuff - that is also the reason I try to outsource as much as possible.
After you uploaded 25 books, normally you are not in the mood to upload more books... :cow04:

Maybe there will be a point in future I will stop this journey, but I will announce it and don't quit silently. At the moment I only can think there are two reasons for that:
1.) It is a fail
2.) It gets to successful

Also KDP is a long term business - it will take some month to grow and receive the first nice payout but also it will last long. Or at least longer than other businesses. So, to quit early is not useful.

I will declare a fail, when the input is not worthy anymore. Means, after x month the costs are still higher than the income or I have to put to much effort myself (not my worker's) into the system. Declaring a fail only means, that my system is not working. KDP still is a gold mine, but my digging tool (system) is not the right one. I will try to choose a new one. Until now it doesn't look like this will happen soon...

When the system really starts working I also will stop this journey. Reason is easy, because than I have to think about what to do with my money

But until now, the journey log continues!

nice journey.will check this out soon

I'm glad you keep it going. What is your ultimate goal to determine if this journey is a success?

kpimp said:

nice journey.will check this out soon

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Thank you.

jivvust said:

I'm glad you keep it going. What is your ultimate goal to determine if this journey is a success?

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That is a good questions.
I find it already successful - I am making profit, that was all I wanted to do. Now I want to make "a lot" more and have to see how to upscale it.
My short term target is to get a medium four figure amount what I want to reach in the next three month. And my long term is something with five figures. We will see if I can reach it with my setup or if I have to make changes and with which time frame.

Argh... the computer did not arrive. The parcel delayed in Bangkok and will arrive tomorrow around lunch time. At least the new staff could learn a little bit on one computer, like how to upload and everything else.

Stats are okay, no growing yet but the uploading process slowed down also a little bit.



Around 550.- USD so far, extrapolation for June is still around 1,500.- USD.

Great progress!
Where do you see the income of the borrowed books?

You're doing well my man. Keep it up

I will be following your progress

digga said:

Great progress!
Where do you see the income of the borrowed books?

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Thanks!
You can only see it from the month before - it is marked as KOLL.
So I took the last month number and put it into my Excel. Not perfect, but good enough to get a rough idea about the earnings.

Slim Picky said:

You're doing well my man. Keep it up

I will be following your progress

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Thank you!

how often do amazon pay you?

bizguy said:

how often do amazon pay you?

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Amazon said:

Separate royalty payments for each Kindle Store in which you have chosen to distribute your title will be paid automatically by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Wire Transfer (where available), or check approximately sixty (60) days following the end of the calendar month during which applicable sales occur, once threshold is met.
Keep in mind that your bank may charge fees for some payments. If you're not sure whether they do, you may want to contact them.

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The Office is finally ready. From today I can do mass uploads to Amazon.

Wish you all the best!

If in the near future you will be able to replace the benches with proper chairs I bet they will be more happy about the working place( just my two cents )

Keep on pumping!

SirM

sirmattheww said:

Wish you all the best!

If in the near future you will be able to replace the benches with proper chairs I bet they will be more happy about the working place( just my two cents )

Keep on pumping!

SirM

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Thanks!
That is a original German beer bench from the famous Oktoberfest.
No, but honestly, I offered them chairs first, but they asked for the bench. Personally, I couldn't work on a bench. Only watching them hurts my back...

Stats:

Numbers for May arrived today and I calculated.

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Incoming:[/TD]
[TD]957.95 USD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Costs:[/TD]
[TD]-120.00 USD (worker)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD] -95.79 USD (10% extra for worker)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]-100.00 USD (software)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total:
[/TD]
[TD]642.20 USD
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So I made ~640.- Bucks profit! That feels great. But so I have to wait for the payment as Amazon takes 60 days after end of the month. So bank transfer will be around end of July.

My yearly statistics:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]April 2014[/TD]
[TD]-166.00 USD
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]May 2014[/TD]
[TD]642.20 USD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total:
[/TD]
[TD]476.20 USD
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Until now it looks good. My numbers are growing again, as my team is now uploading a good amount of books (yesterday: 89 books, today already 35 books).
Next month I will have a lot more costs. Only ~400.- USD for four more workers, also the get an extra payment if each uploads more than 30 books a day (1.- USD per book extra).

This is really taking it to the next step, heh. Do you know the original worker in person to have so much trust in him?

Very nice progress. Keep at it!

jivvust said:

This is really taking it to the next step, heh. Do you know the original worker in person to have so much trust in him?

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Yes, it did - I still think it is more about numbers, than quality. Especially in this niche.
I knew him now since 3 years. He sometimes was at our home parties and I know his former wife.

The problem here is, if I outsource most of the work, I have to give some trust. I offered him a nice salary plus bonus and hoped that everything worked out. Until now it did!
But at a certain point you have to trust or you have to do it your own. I want a cashflow system, even grows if I am not working on it, because somebody else is doing the working part.

Calea21 said:

Very nice progress. Keep at it!

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Thanks!
I will do, especially now when I see numbers are growing again.

Stats:



I touched the 50 yesterday!
Long journey to it - now it has to become the daily minimum.

What I recognized is, that I have really high refunds. 26% is way to much. From my German sales I know that this niche has around 5 - 10%.
The UK readers are the ones, who refund most. Shame on you guys, jerking off quickly and want to have the money back after. Not very gentlemanly. :motz:
But also maybe the books are crap. I hope it will be better with more sets of stories. The extrapolation says 1,600.- USD for June. That would be nearly a doubling of income.

On Saturday my staff uploaded 155 books to KDP. They also come in Saturday and Sunday nowadays, because of the promised bonus.
They get a 14-day payment of 5,000.- NPR for 300 book. 150.- NPR for each book extra in these 14 days. The first worker, or my leading hand, is doing quality control and focus on the creating process, because I need a lot more stories (minimum 2,400 per month).