Six-Month KDP Notebook update

This past December, I wrote a post about how I created several notebooks using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). I was inspired for the idea by a number of TikTok and YouTube videos that suggested I could make passive income (thousands of dollars according to the creator) and figured, what the hell have I got to lose?

Well, almost six months have passed since I uploaded the original batch, so here’s an update:

When I started this experiment, I needed to start with a baseline of how I define idle income. The original creator mentioned he invested hundreds of dollars in ads on Amazon to sell his products. But I wanted to see if true idle income was possible, so I opted to upload the notebooks and step away.

I’ve studied the Amazon algorithm and knew it would be difficult to find success with this tactic, but notebooks are popular (especially among writers) so the only thing this was going to cost me was a little bit of time to design the books.

If you’re curious how I created these notebooks, go check out the original post.

So, after six months, how much money have I made off my notebooks?

Drumroll please …

Nothing. I have not sold any notebooks in six months.

Okay, so you’re probably thinking this experiment was a bust and you’re right (kind of). By my definition of idle income – investing no money or time into the product after its created and uploaded – this appears to be a failed endeavor. However, I can’t dismiss the alleged success of the original creator.

Want to see my notebooks? Click here.

To the best of my knowledge, he did not do any active promotion of his notebooks outside of ads. He still achieved idle income, he simply added one more step of establishing an ad campaign so Amazon would promote the books on his behalf.

I think the next logical step in this experiment is to build my own ad campaign to see if passive income is possible with investment. What do you think? Are you interested in the possibilities of passive income using KDP notebooks? Let me know in the comments if you think I should go this extra step.