Overcoming 3 Common Challenges when Starting a POD Low-Content Book Business
Suggested Solutions and Series Summary (Post #14 POD)
Once you self-published your own low-content book via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you entered the POD business. In this post, I will discuss three common challenges encountered by newbies and how to overcome them. If you just found this series, please see the rest of the POD posts below:
Open New Income Streams via Amazon's KDP: Introduction to Print-on-Demand and Low-Content Books
Understanding Print-on-Demand Books: From PDF Printouts to a Physical Book
Find Amazon Keywords before Creating your PDF Book Interiors for LCB: How to Find Amazon Keywords
How to Increase Your LCB Pages for KDP from One to Many Pages
How to Create your First KDP Cover for your Amazon Low-Content Book
How to List your First Low-Content Book without being Frustrated
How to Increase your Print-on-Demand Books to Generate More Income
Overcoming 3 Common Challenges when Starting a POD Low-Content Book Business: Suggested Solutions and Series Summary 👇 this post 👇
1 - Ignoring Trademark Issues
Yes, you created your low-content book from scratch. Yes, you used a royalty-free image. But what if you were inspired with a popular phrase your students kept on saying and inadvertently used it in one of your journal prompts? What if you inserted an emoji that you usually use for text. Well, some phrases, emojis and images cannot be used. You should know if the phrase you used in your low-content book is owned by somebody else. How? Do a trademark search at this link then plug in the phrase you intend to use. To show you how, I googled for “popular sayings today” and picked “lowkey.”
As you can see above, the phrase is owned by a number of businesses or individuals. Even if your search did not yield anythings, it is safer to google the phrase and see if a business is already using it. If you need help in using the US Trademark database, find their official FAQ here.
2 - Overlooking Niche Research
Have you heard the phrase: “the riches are in the niches”? Actually, there is less money in the niches but it is easier to dominate it. Why? Less competition. When you have more competition, there is more money but it is likely you will not get any of it. So what do you do now? You have to balance niching down with the potential to earn in that market. The easiest way to show you what I meant is by using one of my favorite apps, Publisher Rocket when I searched for “blank writing journal” keywords.
Disclaimer: I use affiliate links for products and/or services I truly love and recommend.
Look at the screenshot above. The number of competitors are less than a thousand except for the last one with 245 competitors. Now look at the estimated Amazon searches. The more searches but less competitors, the easier it is to earn from that niche. Publisher Rocket makes it easy for you to decide by giving a “competitive score” where 1 is the easiest and 100 the hardest. If you do not want to use a paid app, just niche down and test that niche. For example:
blank writing journal ➡ blank writing journal for kids
blank writing journal for kids ➡ blank writing journal for homeschooled kids
blank writing journal for homeschooled kids ➡ blank writing journal for homeschooled PreK kids
You can niche down or up, based on your expertise or your low-content book idea.
3 - Overthinking and being Stuck
Lastly, do not overthink it. Force yourself to stop at a certain day or time and start self-publishing your low-content book. The more you think about it, the more you might question your actions and be stuck. I know. I was also stuck. That is why in the next series, I will share how I created my own work systems that made me act, accomplish and start replacing my previous salary on my own terms.