Many, many people have a go at publishing books on Amazon
On the surface, it seems a good idea. You can sell books that are out of copyright (i.e., Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes) and so on.
You can also sell what are known as ‘low content’ books. This covers journals, coloring books etc. These are easy to do, especially if you use AI images.
So there is plenty to have a go at.
I decided to try Amazon publishing, to give a review to my private circle of entrepreneurs. In fact, I bought a course for £12,000 from an Australian guy called Dan Pye, who sold a self-publishing course. Please understand that I investigate all types of home business ideas, for my private circle to access if the venture is profitable. So to me, the course would be worth it if it produced the results. And I simply did not have the time for me and my team to learn it all from the ground up.
For 6 months, we worked hard on the project, and published over 500 books that were 100% out of copyright. I also wrote and produced 4 of my own books, which were starting to sell well. The income was gradually building each month, so if that continued, we would eventually recoup our investment in the project.
Here is one of my book. As you can see, it is a harmless, interesting book, professionally put together, and promoting my website Grow your Own Secrets.com
Yes, i did the cover myself too…
We produced our own covers, created superb SEO descriptions for the books, and followed Amazon’s policy to the letter. Then one day, we received an email saying that our account was banned.
There was no explanation. I, of course, appealed and got an email back (again with no explanation) saying the decision was final. So months of massive investment, work, etc., went down the toilet.
I investigated this. The more I delved into it, the more horrifying the story became. Tens of thousands of accounts are banned every day without warning or reason, across the world. Some of these accounts were established sellers and had been publishing for years. Other accounts were accounts by authors, writing their own novels etc. One account was producing $50,000 of sales monthly, and it was banned overnight with no reason given. That person’s whole life was destroyed – they lost everything overnight. And there were similar horror stories.
From what we could gather, the algorithm that Amazon used to monitor accounts would pick up on a word in a description, or in the keywords used that it didn’t like, and the account would be immediately suspended. And of course, the staff who then had to trawl through these accounts manually to see what was wrong simply either couldn’t be bothered or had too much to do.
With the advent of AI to do fantastic images, hundreds of thousands of people are turning to producing coloring books etc. These accounts simply get banned because there are far too many of them.
On another note, my relatives ran a business selling eco-friendly products. They decided to try selling on Amazon. all went well for a while until Amazon banned their account because there was a surge in sales of a pet product that had been promoted by another company on social media. The reason given was that there was unusual activity on their account.
Amazon, I am afraid, is a law unto itself. Be warned.
Etsy
Etsy is a great platform for selling handmade items, vintage goods, and craft supplies. It provides a unique marketplace where sellers can reach a large audience of buyers who appreciate creativity and unique products. With its user-friendly interface, it is relatively easy to set up a shop and start listing items. Etsy also offers various tools and features to help sellers promote their products, manage orders, and communicate with customers. Additionally, the community aspect of Etsy allows sellers to connect with other artists, makers, and small business owners, creating a supportive and collaborative environment.
Unfortunately, Etsy does the same thing – it closes accounts without giving a reason!
Following our skirmish with Amazon, we decided to set up a couple of shops on Etsy, selling wall posters, and coloring pages/books. As usual, we put our hearts and souls into the project, creating fantastic wall art, and dozens of coloring books.
Take a look at one of our coloring books and judge the quality for yourself:
Not too shoddy, wouldn’t you agree?
We also produced a range of stickers, of animals. Again, high quality and investment into machines to cut out the stickers etc.
When someone purchased a product, we also gave them access to our website at https://ukpets.co
So everything as you can see, is professionally done.
Guess what?
We received an email saying our Etsy account had been closed. No warning, no reason. Our customer service was 100%, and our prices were extremely reasonable as we simply wanted to build up our customer reviews for good service.
I appealed twice – we never even heard back from Etsy. So again, we delved into possible causes, and one of them was if another seller put in a complaint! It didn’t matter what the complaint was. That’s one way to get rid of the competition I guess.
The same thing was happening to lots of Etsy store owners. Shops are shut down for no apparent reason, and from what we can ascertain it is again because of bots.
I am explaining all of this because you can see that we did everything professionally. I can assure you we did everything by the book too. I hope it serves as a warning for you not to put all your eggs in one basket, or pin your hopes on someone that has control over your future. It can be taken away in an instant. If our accounts get closed own, even with the facilities and resources that we have, what chance does the average work-at-home person have? About 0% I reckon.
If you are looking for multiple income streams, CLICK HERE to let me know you wish to access my private circle, where we release earn online programs that actually produce profits. I will never approach you.
PS Are we bitter? not at all. As Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”. Of the projects that didn’t work out, we have more than enough that have!