Can I Succeed on Amazon KDP in 2025? My 90-Day Challenge to Find Out
Hey there, beautiful people! It’s been a minute, but I’m back, and I’m diving into something I’ve been toying with for a while—Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). For the next 90 days, I’ve got a challenge lined up. I’ll be documenting everything in real-time to see if I can finally get some real results, and hey, if you’re curious about making some money online, this could be something to learn from.
Earlier this year, I talked about Amazon KDP and how it’s a legit side hustle for people who want to make money online. Even though I haven’t been wildly successful (I’ve only made $16 so far), I knew I wasn’t giving it my full attention. That’s about to change. I’m setting up a 12-week challenge to go all in and see if I can finally break through in this space.
Why 90 Days?
I decided to really focus and dedicate 12 weeks to crank out more books (well… low-content books). Why? First, the 12-week structure is straight from a book I read called “The 12-Week Year.” It encourages setting short-term goals and pushing hard to meet them. Second, the timing couldn’t be better—Q4 (October through December) is a great time for sales with all the big holidays. People spend more money, so it feels like the perfect time to get serious about Amazon KDP.
What’s the Goal?
Starting October 1st, my goal is to publish 90 new KDP books in the next 12 weeks. Before you freak out, no, I’m not insane! That number is a bit of a stretch, but it’s definitely something I can aim for. Realistically, I’ll probably land under 270 books (which I would need to hit if I uploaded 3 books a day, the max Amazon KDP allows). Still, my plan is to focus on hitting that 90-book target and making sure the content is high quality.
My Weekly Strategy
Here’s how I plan to break down my week to hit that goal:
- Monday: Research keywords and markets to target.
- Tuesday: Work on interiors for the books.
- Wednesday: Design the covers.
- Thursday: Write compelling descriptions.
- Friday–Sunday: Upload books to Amazon KDP.
This way, I’m not worrying about every step at once. It’s broken down in phases. I already did a test run this week to see how this would go, and while I did get distracted (shiny object syndrome is real), I feel confident that this structure will help me stay on track.
Tools I’m Using
To succeed on Amazon KDP, I’m using a handful of tools that I think are absolutely essential if you’re trying to break into this space:
- Creative Fabrica: Great for graphics and book templates.
- Affinity Publisher: My go-to for designing interiors and covers. It’s a great alternative to Adobe InDesign or Canva.
- Wise: Especially useful if you’re outside of the US. It helps me get paid.
- Pinterest + Pin Generator: I’ll also be using Pinterest to market my books and increase visibility.
- Ideogram and Midjourney: To create high-quality graphics that’ll make my books stand out.
Running Ads for Visibility
One big change I’m making this time around is running ads on Amazon. Competition on KDP has grown, so just relying on organic traffic might not cut it anymore. I’ve never really invested heavily in ads before, but I think this could give me the boost I need to get more eyes on my books, which is critical if I want to hit my sales goals.
Challenges I Expect to Face
I’m not going to sugarcoat this—there are going to be some tough spots.
- Finding the right niches and keywords: Keyword research is everything on Amazon. If your book doesn’t rank, people won’t find it. I haven’t mastered this yet, but I know it’s crucial.
- Staying consistent: I have ADHD, so sticking to a regimented timeline can get tricky for me. But this 12-week timeframe feels short enough to keep me focused.
- Balancing with my full-time job: I only have about 1 to 2 hours a day to dedicate to this after work. It’s going to get tight, but with the structure I’ve set up, I feel like it’s doable—if I stay disciplined.
What Happens Next?
Now that I’ve spent some initial time setting things up and creating accounts for different tools, I’m ready to hit the ground running. I’m giving myself a slight grace period until October 1st, but once that hits, it’s game on.
I’ll also be sharing periodic updates here and on my social channels, so if you’re curious about how this all unfolds—or just want to see if you can live vicariously through my failures (or successes)—stick around. I’ll be making videos or posts every week or month, depending on how much energy I have left by then.
If I can do this with just a couple of hours after my 9-to-5, trust me, you can too. By the end of this, I hope I’ll have some insights to share. Maybe it’ll help someone else crack the code of Amazon KDP, or maybe it’ll help me finally hit my own personal milestones.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been talking about Amazon KDP for a bit, but this time it’s about following through. The tools are there. The knowledge is there. The only thing left is execution. Will I make money and finally build a side hustle that works? I hope so. Will it be worth all the time and effort? Stick around, and we’ll find out together over the next few months. Let’s see if 2025 will be the year for Amazon KDP success, or another year of learning.
For anyone curious, you can check out my Notion document where I’m keeping notes on everything!
Stay tuned, and I’ll hit you with updates next week. See you then!