Selling journals on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) can be a great way to create a source of passive income.
While it requires a considerable amount of time and effort upfront, journals can provide you with a steady stream of income over time. The beauty of creating and selling journals on Amazon is, that you create them once and keep making money for years to come.
In this blog post, I will paint a true picture of whether you can still make money selling journals on Amazon. I will also show you how to approach it strategically to maximize your chances of success.
I urge you to read the blog post till the very end as it covers a lot of practical information that can help you a lot in your self-publishing journey. Thank you!
Before we move further, here is my backstory (a quick one)…
I first started selling journals on Amazon back in 2017 via Createspace. It all started when I came across an ebook on ways to make money on Amazon without writing!
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I bought that ebook for $10 and started creating prompts journals to sell on Amazon. At that time, amazon had a separate platform for paperback books aka CreateSpace.
So, after publishing a couple of writing prompts journals, I saw some sales coming which motivated me to create more of them. After that, I published a wide range of paperback books on Amazon and most of them were journals.
Here are a couple of journal niches that worked for me;
- Writing prompts journal for kids 3rd grade
- Writing prompts journal for 1st grade
- Writing prompts journal for 2nd grade
- Writing prompts journal for depression and anxiety
Can you make money selling journals on Amazon?
You can make money selling journals on Amazon in 2024 and beyond provided you manage to put together a really nice cover that targets a really focused audience.
The short answer is yes! However, the market for journals on Amazon has become quite saturated. To stand out, you need to niche down and create journals that cater to a specific audience.
People often buy journals as gifts, so having a unique and eye-catching cover is crucial.
Put it in other words, If you want to sell journals on Amazon to make money then you should create journals or notebooks around what people are searching for!
As journals and notebooks are easy to create, thousands upon thousands of publishers are creating them in bulk therefore, this niche has become massively saturated.
The fact of the matter is, that you can’t expect to make money unless your journal or notebook stands out among thousands and thousands of other journals.
Don’t worry, I will show you the right way to create to sell journals that can potentially make you a decent passive income online. So keep reading.
I just searched for “Journal” on Amazon and it shows 80,000 search results, which speaks of the huge amount of competition.
During the year 2019, I have published over 500 journals or notebooks on kdp and less than 5% of them sell only. This is because over 95% of journals are not laser-focused and they also have really basic covers.
So, after publishing that sheer amount of journals, I can say, that journals with basic covers will no longer sell on Amazon unless you have an audience of your own.
👉 Want to create kdp low content books fast? I have shared a step-by-step process of creating and publishing a kdp journal in under 60 minutes, you can read it here.
What is a Journal?
A journal is a type of low-content book, which normally has little to no text but mostly design elements like lines. People use journals in their day-to-day lives to write down ideas, thoughts, memories, and more. They are good for students to take notes.
Journals can have lined or blank pages, catering to various niches such as gratitude, meditation, cooking, exercise, business, and more.
The cool thing about journals is they are easy to create and most of the time they consist of repetitive pages. You can create one page and repeat it 100 times to create a 100-page journal. So, creating journals is pretty straightforward and effortless as compared to writing a 10,000-word book.
If you are starting with Amazon KDP, creating journals would be a great move as these are very easy to create and the demand is enormous for this type of low-content books.
Top 5 Benefits of Selling Journal on Amazon
Amazon, being one of the largest online marketplaces globally, offers numerous advantages for sellers looking to distribute journals and stationery products. Here are five key benefits:
1. Journals are Easy To Create
Journals are effortless to create using tools like Book Bolt, allowing you to design a journal within 60 minutes, streamlining the production process.
2. Low Barrier Entry and No Upfront Costs
Amazon’s KDP platform enables selling journals without any initial investment, minimizing financial risk, and KDP charges nothing for the service, making it accessible to all.
3. Source of Passive Income
Selling journals on Amazon can generate a sustainable passive income for years, providing a steady revenue stream and allowing for business scalability.
4. No Inventory Needed
KDP’s print-on-demand eliminates the need for inventory, reducing storage costs and risks. Journals are printed only when ordered, ensuring efficient inventory management.
5. Effortless Customer Support Handling
Amazon takes care of customer support tasks, including returns and after-sale assistance, relieving sellers of these responsibilities and allowing them to focus on growing their business.
Selling journals on Amazon through KDP offers a convenient and cost-effective opportunity for aspiring sellers. With easy journal creation tools like Book Bolt, low entry barriers, potential for passive income, no inventory maintenance, and hassle-free customer support handling by Amazon, it’s a win-win platform for journal creators looking to succeed in the market.
What Type of Journals Sell on Amazon?
Journals that have a quote or message on the cover that is either funny or relates to a specific group of people do still sell. I have some journals with funny quotes and they sell a couple of copies every month. On the other hand, I have a lot of journals that don’t sell at all.
While generic journals might struggle, those with targeted themes and attractive covers can still find success. Here’s what sells well:
- Targeted Niches: Journals with a specific focus, such as “Fitness journals for runners,” “Gratitude journals for moms,” or “Travel journaling prompts for couples,” resonate more with buyers.
- Eye-Catching Covers: Think of strong visuals, relevant quotes, and a clear message that speaks to your target audience. Think of the cover as your product’s advertisement.
I have also written a whole blog post about Are Low Content Books Profitable! Do check this out!
So, What Makes a Good Journal to Make Money?
If you want to make money selling journals on Amazon, then you need to spend some time finding low-competition keywords.
This will help you make a journal around what people are searching for. Once you are done with the research process, then you need to create an eye-catching cover that stands out!
For instance, I just searched for “teacher appreciation gift notebook” and on the first page, the below notebooks caught my attention!
This teacher appreciation journal has a nice quote, “The World Needs More Teachers Like You” and it has an eye-catching cover. The selection of colors and font is amazing, which makes this cover stand out!
Let’s have a look at another journal in the same niche (Teacher Appreciation Gifts);
This teacher appreciation journal has a best-seller rank of below 57k which means it is selling roughly 3-5 copies every single day. And it follows the same principle, it is targeted and it has a nice cover!
Struggling to find profitable niches for kdp? Check out the blog post where I showed How I Found 7 Profitable Kdp Niches Under 12 Minutes!
How to Make Money Selling Journals?
As we saw in the examples above, the journals with awesome covers still sell on Amazon. People buy journals from Amazon to gift them to a friend, family member, or co-worker.
So, keeping all this in mind you need to target professions, hobbies, and relationships to make a journal around these niches!
Below I will walk you through the fundamentals of creating a journal that sells on Amazon. Let’s do this step by step…
Step # 1 – Finding a Niche
Finding a niche is not hard, you need to focus on one thing and that is, who will buy this journal and why?
Don’t just pick a broad topic. Consider trending interests, your passions, or areas with limited competition. Here’s how to brainstorm niches:
- People’s Interests: What are people passionate about? Hobbies like gardening, cooking, or writing are good starting points.
- Professions: Doctors, engineers, teachers, and other professionals might appreciate niche journals related to their work.
- Relationships: Family, couples, and friends often gift journals. Explore themes like father-daughter journals or self-care journals for busy couples.
- Current Events: Is there a popular mindfulness trend? Capitalize on it by creating meditation or gratitude journals.
So, niches are all around us! Just pick one of these niches or topics to start with the next step of keyword research!
I have many videos on kdp niche research on my YouTube Channel. One of those videos is pasted below;
Related posts;
Step # 2 – Keyword Research
Once you are done with the niche selection your second step should be finding as many low-competition keywords as many as you can!
These keywords are usually long-tail keywords and you can find these keywords by using a free Chrome extension called AMZ Suggestion Expander or you can use Titans Pro, the latest amazon kdp keyword research tool.
I use Titans Pro as it allows me to download keywords as an Excel sheet. I have a video on that as well, you can have a little watch of it below!
In this video, I shared a step-by-step process to find low-competition niches and keywords. You can use this method to find low-competition journal niches.
For example, If I type the keyword journal in the Amazon search bar, Titans Pro shows me a lot of long-tail keywords that I can use to create and publish journals.
As you can see, I found a couple of long-tail sub-niche ideas for journals.
- Journal for girls ages 8-12
- Journal notebook no lines
- Journal set for girls ages 8-12
- Journal for women leather
- Daily journal with prompts
👍 Want to learn more about finding profitable keywords for kdp? Do check out, Kdp Keyword Research Trick to Find Low Competition Keywords!
Step # 3 – Create An Eye-Catching Cover
Lastly, you can create a really nice cover that appeals to your target audience. To do that you can add a quote or message on the cover!
For example, if you would like to create a journal for teachers, then you can find/write a quote that relates to the target person who will receive that journal as a gift from someone!
You can find quotes online but make sure the quote is in the public domain and is not copyrighted otherwise you will be at risk of losing your kdp account.
You can use sites like Pinterest, Etsy, Redbubble, and Teepublic to find best-selling designs, and then you can model those designs to create your own version!
👉 I have also reviewed 5 Best KDP Courses to start and scale low content and medium content publishing business, you can read the blog post here.
Conclusion
Today in this post, I have answered a really common question about Kindle direct publishing: “Can You Make Money Selling Journals On Amazon”.
The short answer is Yes, you can still make money selling journals on Amazon if you manage to niche down and create an appealing cover.
People buy journals from Amazon as gift items and most of the time they look for an amazing cover. So, as a self-publisher, you can provide people with what they are looking for and make money by doing so!
What Next?
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Subha Malik
