How Much Money Can You Make With Low-Content Books?

Self-publishing low-content books has often been labelled as a way to get rich quick. But this is not the case anymore.

It may have been a good way to make quick cash, – several years ago – but now the market is too competitive. So here’s the short answer:

You should not self-publish low-content books. The market is far too competitive, and so is not worth your time.

However, it is still possible to make money using this strategy nowadays. And I will teach you exactly how you can, and why it works.

But first, what even is a low-content book?

According to Amazon KDP, “A low-content book has minimal or no content on the interior pages. Low-content books are generally repetitive, and designed to be filled in by the user. This does not typically include activity books, such as puzzle books or coloring books, which generally do not feature repetitive content on each page.

So low-content books are books that feature repetitive content on each page, according to Amazon KDP.

Something interesting about that definition is that it doesn’t “typically include activity books”. This is interesting because most people’s idea of a low-content book includes them as well.

But KDP classes these books as medium-content. Meaning they get a free ISBN, plus a host more things – just because they aren’t low-content books.

Many people can churn out ten diaries or journals every day – only changing the cover – which is terrible for the quality of the books. This is part of the reason why Amazon KDP has now limited authors to only uploading three books a day.

Yes and no. For KDP’s definition of low-content books, I would say no. Here’s why:

KDP removed ISBNs for low-content books because there were too many on the market. So not only do you miss out on an ISBN (and more), you also have a ton of competition.

However, activity books still get to keep their ISBNs, which also implies that there is less competition. Which is true. There is significantly less competition for medium-content books compared to low-content books.

So I would recommend choosing medium-content books if you want to avoid full-length novels and non-fiction. It strikes a good balance (for now) between competition and ease of creation. Things like Sudoku books, crosswords and wordsearches are the type of thing that would fall under this category.

But now, you might be wondering, how do we make these types of books?

To know how to make medium-content books, we first need to know exactly what we’re actually trying to make. Here’s a list of different types of medium-content ebooks:

1. Sudoku books.
2. Crossword books.
3. Wordsearch books.
4. Colouring books.
5. Colour by numbers.

There are obviously more, and if you would prefer doing a different one then this may not be helpful to you. However, I will show the process for creating and self-publishing a book for each one.

1. Sudoku books. Go to an online Sudoku generator and create however many you would like. Make them the difficulty you are aiming at. Add the images, probably using the snipping tool on Windows and the equivalent on other computers, into a document. Format it nicely and try to add about 250-300 puzzles, as this is the sweet spot for customers. Create a nice cover, I recommend using Canva. Make sure there are page numbers, otherwise you will get rejected by KDP. Upload it and you’re done!
2. Crossword books. Go to an online Crossword maker and try to get used to the interface. This requires a little more effort per puzzle, so try to aim for about 100-200 puzzles, ideally on the high end. Add your puzzles into a document, again using the snipping tool (unless you find something better). Make sure to add page numbers, and make it look nice with even borders. Create a good cover and upload it to KDP.
3. Wordsearch books. Got to an online Wordsearch maker and put in your words. I would recommend using a larger size, as they can take up one page rather than having to put multiple on a page, and it makes it harder. I would recommend using about 20-25 words. Try to make it a multiple of the number of columns you have, otherwise you will find you have trailing words at the bottom (you’ll understand what I mean when you make the puzzles). Add them into a document, add page numbers, a nice cover, and all the other stuff you might need. Make it look nice and upload it to KDP.
4. Colouring books. For this one, I have a slightly different way of making them. Basically, just use a generative art AI. Ask it to create a simple image with outlines and no colour, or something else if you can work out how to make it work better. Sometimes you will have to modify the prompt, or redo it as it might mess it up the first time, but what you end up with is a ready-to-go colouring activity. Repeat this about 50-100 times, and you’ll end up with a book. Add page numbers and a nice cover and you’re all good to go! Follow a similar process for colour by numbers books.

These processes can be modified for any other kind of medium-content book, but the ones above are some of the most popular.

Thank you for reading this post, and any other support can be found on my blog. Have a good day!