You want to create a book with little material, but you’re not sure where to begin.
I’ll walk you through each stage of the writing and publishing of your low-content book in this post.
Low-content books are those with little to no content; they typically take the shape of notebooks, activity books, or even volumes of quotes, and the text on the pages are frequently quite sparse.
I’ll walk you through writing, formatting, and releasing your book rapidly in my article today.
Table of Contents
What Are Low-Content Books?
A book with little content has little to no information and is exactly what it sounds like.
How do these books sell if there is almost nothing inside of them, you may be asking.
In truth, they do fairly well in sales. Here are a few samples of current, low-content books:
- Composition books.
- Journals.
- Guest books.
- Logbooks.
- Planners.
- Coloring books.
- Sheet music notebooks.
- Sketchbooks.
A low-content book is, in the end, one that your consumer fills rather than you.
Therefore, developing a stunning cover is the most crucial step in producing one of these publications.
Of course, the various low-content book varieties will each demand a different volume of material from you.
For instance, a notebook would be the simplest because every page is empty.
A coloring book would thus be far more challenging because each coloring page would need to be created separately.
See what I mean?
Fortunately, it’s not too tough to design any of these spaces.
What matters most is that you select an option that will be profitable!
Additionally, I could have almost neglected the most crucial component of producing minimal content books.
It doesn’t sound like much fun to print and send all many books, does it?
But what’s this?
You’ll never even need to view one of your works in person in order for it to be purchased!
You only need to send your work to Amazon KDP, the company’s self-publishing platform, and Amazon will take care of the rest!
Amazon handles all of the printing and shipping, and it deducts the associated costs from your royalty payment.
How to Publish and Sell Low-Content Books on Amazon KDP?
Let’s now discuss all the procedures for publishing low-content books on Amazon.
Register With Amazon KDP
The first thing you need to do is join up for Amazon KDP if you haven’t already.
And what’s this? It is free!
You need just to create an account to access it. And if you already have an Amazon account, you can easily login into your KDP account using that.
You can start producing low-content books for Amazon now that you’re inside KDP! It’s that easy!
Fortunately, every step to generate low-content books on Amazon is simple, especially after you get the hang of it.
This is undoubtedly the simplest element of the process.
So let’s move forward.
Keyword Research
Instead of just diving in headfirst, you should have a clear idea of what you’ll be developing before you begin.
Even if you create a stunning notebook, it’s unlikely to sell successfully if you don’t know whether it would even be purchased.
Create a List of Ideas
You must first choose the subject of your design.
There are a few techniques to spark your creativity if you don’t already have one, even if you do have an idea.
One example is the list of low-content book samples I previously provided.
I’d advise starting out by making something straightforward, like a notebook or a sketchbook.
By doing so, you may experience the procedure without having to worry too much about the interior and style.
Having a plan for your cover design is another important consideration.
What would you want to write there? Hobbies? Sushi? Dogs?
Buy a blank notebook from Walmart and call it a day if you’re just searching for something to write in.
The design of your cover is unquestionably the most crucial aspect; you want to make sure that it’s one that buyers are actively looking for.
Conduct a Keyword Search
There are two sorts of research that may be done for minimal content books: niche research and keyword research.
Finding your book’s central theme or concept is known as niche research, and your low-content books may easily and swiftly identify niches.
What we refer to as a “Niche” is simply anything that has to do with a group of individuals who share a hobby, career, interest, or problem.
Just consider your possible customers in terms of their characteristics, occupations, interpersonal ties, issues, and interests.
So you can simply identify niches based on this fundamental knowledge about your customers.
For instance, if we discuss occupations, the most well-known or typical ones would be those of engineers, doctors, teachers, nurses, gardeners, and so on.
You may discover so many niches in this way.
People also have children, so consider the books that people could be interested in buying for their kids to keep them occupied or teach them something!
For preschoolers or kindergarten students, you may make a handwriting practice sheet.
In this case, “Handwriting Practice” is a market for your book with little substance.
After choosing a niche, you must locate keywords to put in the book title, subtitle, and back-end keywords boxes.
Do Some Competitor Research
Make sure to do competitive analysis as a further crucial phase.
All those search terms from Amazon?
Try typing them in and searching for them to see what results you get!
This can help you determine how much competition there will be for that keyword.
You will be able to tell there is a lot of competition if you search in a term and see that many results appear.
Here, you’ll need to strike a solid balance between search traffic and competitiveness.
High search traffic and little competition are the perfect pairing, but the closest you can get is still desirable.
After entering the keyword and reviewing your competitors, you should determine how popular it is.
Fortunately, there are a few options for doing this.
Examining the reviews is the fastest and simplest method.
If you see that most of the books are receiving several reviews, it indicates that many people are purchasing them.
Additionally, be sure to look at each book’s BSR (best seller rank).
I’m not sure if KDP Spy provides this information, but I have another Chrome extension I adore called Helium 10 that displays each book’s BSR as well as the categories it is ranked in.
But judging the BSR’s quality only by its numerical value is difficult.
Fortunately, TCK Publishing offers a free BSR calculator online that you may use to determine how many books are selling each month given its BSR ranking.
Go for it if you believe there is room inside that term for your book to rank and begin bringing in sales.
Make sure to keep at least seven of the top keywords your book may rank for once you’ve done some research and identified them.
Later, you’ll use those!
Create the Cover for Your Book
The enjoyable part is now! You’ll really begin creating the low-content book you intend to sell.
Book Bolt and Canva are two distinct pieces of software I utilize for this procedure.
To put it simply, Book Bolt is a fantastic piece of software that gathers pretty much everything you’ll need to launch and develop your KDP company.
I personally wouldn’t advise attempting to create low-content books without it!
There is a free three-day trial period, after which it costs a few bucks each month.
But in all honesty, as soon as you start making regular sales on Amazon, your books will essentially start covering their costs.
We’ll now discuss Canva in order to explain the second piece of software.
One of the finest investments I have made for my company was Canva, which focuses entirely on design.
Although Book Bolt includes all the fundamental design tools you want, I strongly suggest checking out Canva if you truly want to create stunning, expert low-content books.
You’ll need to have a keen eye when it comes to the design process.
Observe your competitors once again to determine which designs are selling the best and take inspiration from those.
Or think about creating something even more original that you feel the market is lacking!
In the end, effective keyword research will be necessary to open doors, and stunning design will be necessary to close sales.
Don’t cut corners on either because they are both crucial components of the process.
Trim size and page count are the two factors you should focus on the most when designing your cover.
You’ll follow these rules to determine your book’s dimensions.
By providing your preferred parameters, you can simply have this design generated for you using Book Bolt.
But it’s not so simple for Canva.
I normally start with Book Bolt to acquire the design template while designing a book in Canva.
I’ll measure the PDF to ascertain its proportions, and then I’ll use those measurements to make a unique design in Canva.
Designing minimal content books for Amazon might be particularly challenging when you initially start out.
I kept coming back to modify my cover when I originally started because I kept getting the measurements wrong!
Because of this, I advise beginning with Book Bolt and simply taking the measurements from there.
In such case, you won’t have to worry about if your measurements are correct or not.
Additionally, be out when creating to avoid placing your design too close to the cover’s edge!
If it’s too near, the margins will probably chop it off.
Make sure you include some text on the cover of your low-content books when you start publishing them on Amazon, even if it’s simply “Journal” or a nice quotation.
I’ve discovered that Amazon KDP no longer accepts books with blank covers or poor content.
So make sure the cover of your adorable diary with butterflies says something.
When you’re done, save your cover as a PDF print. Next, let’s talk about the content.
Design the Inside of Your Book
You should utilize Book Bolt for this section, in my opinion.
You can select from a ton of fantastic interiors on Book Bolt; all you need to do is enter the specifics of your trim size and page count to obtain the precise number of pages your book requires.
Alternatively, you may use Canva to create these pages on your own.
Make sure your pages are the proper size and avoid placing anything too near to the edge.
Make sure to save the interior of your book as a PDF print once you’re done producing it or just downloading it from Book Bolt.
Your cover and inside should ideally be saved as PDFs.
After the design phase, it’s time to put everything together.
Upload Your Book to KDP
I’ll go through each step in detail so you can publish your low-content book on KDP.
I can attest that when I initially published a low-content book, the amount of data that KDP asked me to enter puzzled me a little.
But thankfully, after you figure it out the first time, it’s easy every time after that!
1. Create a New Title
Make sure you are logged into your account before continuing.
At the very top of KDP, there is a box labeled “Create”
You can select a paperback or a Kindle eBook from the options provided in that box.
The most common format to use for publishing low-content books on Amazon is paperback.
2. Language
Be careful to select the appropriate option from the drop-down box if your book is written in a language other than English.
3. Book Title
Make sure your book’s title matches what is on the cover and, if you can, include the term you are most attempting to target.
I could wish to write a “Cat Composition Book,” for instance.
Don’t skip this for your subtitle!
Include the trim size and page count of your low-content book after reusing that keyword and perhaps a few more.
For instance, “Dog Composition Book, Dog Composition Notebook for Kids, 7.5 x 9.25 Wide Ruled 200 Pages” maybe what I’d like to accomplish.
4. Series
You should probably skip this. You can include series information here if your book is one of a series (usually just something you should think about if you’re not publishing a low-content book).
5. Author
Enter your name here! Or, if you want to be fancy, adopt a pseudonym.
6. Contributors
Anyone else you’d want to give credit for helping you with your book? Specify their names if applicable.
7. Description
This is where you’ll put the book’s Amazon description, which readers may read to learn more about what to expect.
The trim size, page count, and any other information I believe is crucial for my consumer to know in order to feel confident about buying my low-content book will all be included in this part.
However, I try not to overdo it.
8. Publishing Rights
The top response, “I own the copyright and I own required publication rights,” is the one you should nearly always pick.
9. Keywords
It’s time to enter all of the keywords you’ve gathered! To give your book the best chance of ranking and generating sales, use all seven of the keyword spaces that are available to you.
10. Categories
You have two options for your categories. Personally, I’d advise using both.
I nearly always select “Diaries & Journals” under “Literary Collections” as my first category.
Simply browse your other category and pick an item you believe is best relevant to your low-content book.
11. Adult Content
Is there anything in your novel that young readers shouldn’t read? Then choose “Yes.” Most of the time, you should select “No” for this area.
12. Print ISBN
Select the option to get an ISBN for nothing from Amazon.
Just keep in mind that only Amazon KDP will be able to utilize this ISBN.
You might wish to obtain your own ISBN if you intend to publish your book in other places as well.
13. Publication Date
I never look at this part.
Your low-content book’s publishing date will be taken as of the time it becomes available on Amazon.
If you choose, you may substitute a different date there.
14. Print Options
There are four different types of ink and paper, so we’ll start there.
I wouldn’t suggest that choice; a black-and-white inside with cream paper is normally used for books.
I nearly always choose white paper inside with black and white accents.
If your book has color, you may also decide between a regular color inside and a premium color interior.
The most expensive choice is premium, however, keep in mind that using one of these will increase the price of publishing your book.
Finally, the trim size. Put the details there, regardless of the trim size you’ve chosen for your book.
I often select the option to have bleed when setting up my bleed settings.
Simply said, it implies that the interior of your book will reach the paper’s edge.
I would advise using this choice, provided that you utilize a PDF.
Finally, the paperback cover is finished.
Although you might pick glossy, I generally always opt for matte.
When picking this choice, keep in mind your readership and the mood you want your book to evoke.
Both of these lovely selections will look fantastic on your low-content book.
15. Manuscript
You should submit the PDF of your interior here.
16. Book Cover
And this is where you upload the cover of your book.
Don’t start the cover creator; instead, select the option to upload an existing cover.
Also, don’t click the box that claims your book already has a barcode.
You may get one from Amazon right away.
17. Book Preview
Launch the previewer to check that your book appears okay and doesn’t expand over the margins before moving on to the next stage.
Be patient; it can take a little time for Amazon to display the book preview.
Press “Approve” when you are pleased and satisfied with the way your book turned out.
If things didn’t turn out as you had anticipated, simply go back, make a few minor design changes, and then re-upload the piece.
Once it has been reuploaded, you must run the previewer once again before approving it if you’re pleased.
18. Summary
Once your book has been accepted, you will receive a summary of your specifications as well as the price of printing it.
The more you price your book to turn a profit, the more expensive the printing will be.
Take that into consideration, especially if you decide to paint the inside a certain color.
At that point, the price of printing your book will just soar.
19. Territories
Don’t modify this part unless you only have distribution rights in select regions, as you’ll probably want your book to be available in all territories.
20. Primary Marketplace
I always decide to make Amazon.com my main marketplace.
Make careful to modify the drop-down selection if you anticipate that sales will primarily come from somewhere else.
21. Pricing, Royalty, and Distribution
You should enter your book’s list price here.
The lowest price your book must be sold for after printing, shipping, and royalties is indicated below the box.
Make careful to provide reasonable prices and avoid going overboard!
After royalties, I often only receive a portion of one or two bucks.
Although it’s not much, if you can expand and begin to sell many low-content books on Amazon every day, those few bucks will undoubtedly start to pile up!
22. Terms and Conditions
You’ve reached the conclusion, yay!
Just keep in mind that Amazon will take a few days to evaluate your book, but after it has, it will be available on Amazon!
All that’s left to do is hit the publish button. Congratulations!
Promote Your Book
Naturally, releasing your book doesn’t guarantee that it will sell, so once it has been formally published, you need to engage in some promotion to promote sales.
Final Thoughts
When you initially start writing low-content books and are unfamiliar with publishing, it may seem frightening.
The good news is that once you publish one book, it will only grow simpler to publish your subsequent novels.
I hope this information is useful to you, and I’ll attempt to post additional materials on how to format books and create book covers soon.
And perhaps that will enable you to publish your first low-content book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
Please pass this along to others if you find it useful.
Further Reading: