14 Jan My First KDP Coloring Book (Part 2) – The Launch and Failure
This is the second part of ‘The Story of My First KDP Coloring Book: From the birth of the idea to its eventual failure.’ In PART 1, I discussed the creative evolution of the idea and its execution. In this part, I’ll share how I launched the book on Amazon, why it didn’t succeed, and the hard lessons I learned along the way.
The Push to Publication
Since August, I had been drawing almost daily. I was in full creative flow, like never before. Or I had forgotten what it was like. I was so energized, even after a night of very little sleep. I think the kick I got out of the work somehow drew energy from the air. It felt like magic!
By the beginning of October, the coloring book was almost ready. I thought it would take just one more week for the cover design and other Amazon KDP preparations, but things took longer than expected.
The cover design dragged on because the vision in my head didn’t translate well to the page. I had to experiment with many different layouts and fonts. In the end, it still didn’t look quite right, but I knew I couldn’t spend forever on it, so I decided to move on. Progress before perfection, right?
Opening the Amazon business account wasn’t smooth either. The formal English was challenging, and navigating the technical business terminology made the process slow. After opening the account, a good product description also required significant time and attention.
Ultimately, it took another full month before I finally got the coloring book listed on Amazon.
No Sales and Bad Decisions
At the end of October, my coloring book was listed on Amazon with a proper description and A+ content. Everything seemed just right for a successful product launch. I was realistic, and I didn’t expect sales in the first few days, but I thought something would happen within a few weeks.
After two weeks had passed, there were still no orders. I was a little confused, but still hopeful. But after watching videos on product launch, I was convinced that I should use the help of ads. So I watched some “Amazon PPC for beginners” videos on YouTube, and jumped right into advertising.
To increase visibility and secure those first vital reviews, I decided to turn on Amazon ads. A few weeks passed by while I experimented with PPC. I tried different keyword combinations, but I couldn’t make them work profitably. I was definitely doing something wrong, but I had no one to ask for help from.
Attempting to Fix Mistakes
By halfway through November, it already felt like it wasn’t worth spending more energy on this book, in any way, so I decided to move forward with my next coloring book project. However, the ads for the first book were still running. During this time, I invested in a Publisher Rocket license to map out keywords for my new project. Out of curiosity, I looked up the keywords for the first book and realized that my entire SEO and PPC strategy had been done incorrectly. I couldn’t help myself, I had to try and fix the keywords and descriptions.
A Brief Moment of Hope
I spent a week or two writing a new description and A+ content. After implementing these updates, my coloring book unexpectedly rose to #83 in the Top 100 for the Home Decor category. I was surprsed! It actually was not the category I chose, but it was showing that my new texts and SEO were kind of working.
It seemed like everything was finally moving in the right direction. However, actual sales never followed, and without them, the product dropped lower in the rankings with each passing day. And to be honest, at that point I was out of ideas how to make it work on Amazon alone. Today, my coloring book sits somewhere around rank 4 million.
The High Cost of Advertising
In total, the learning curve resulted in about 40 euros of ad spend. From that, I made four sales, leaving me with a profit of less than 5 euros. A significant loss. At the end of November, I finally turned the ads off. By the beginning of December, I had to accept that this project was a failure
Analyzing the Failure
Because I didn’t treat this project as a serious product from the start, several factors came into play regarding its performance:
- Low Niche Demand: Keywords related to houseplants have a very low search volume on Amazon. I based my coloring book topic on my own interests and gut feeling, not on data. That was “stupid”.
- Keyword Guessing: I relied on guesswork and ChatGPT keywords. Don’t ask me why I thought this was a good idea – Another “stupid” moment.
- Highly saturated market. (A lot of AI coloring books): Amazon KDP is flooded with tens of thousands of AI-generated coloring books. And hundreds of new products are uploaded daily. Because competition is so high, there is no chance of standing out without reviews and external marketing!
- Lack of Social Media Marketing: I did not promote my product on social media. I didn’t have time for it.
- Outdated Knowledge: Despite having previous Amazon experience, my knowledge was rusty, and I relied too much on intuition. When I left my Amazon-related job, the AI was beginning to get notoriety. Since then, the marketplace has undergone significant changes.
- Solopreneur Struggles: Doing everything alone limits what and how much I can do.
Key Conclusions and Future Plans
I’m not 100% sure I missed the mark with the coloring book’s subject itself, because I created a high-quality product. Due to today’s market being overly saturated, you have to do some form of marketing outside the Amazon platform to stand out. A well-constructed product launch plan + social media marketing can drive buyers even to a product with a “boring” theme. It’s not too late to start marketing the first book, but I feel so much time has already gone into the first project without any payoff. There is no point in trying to do everything perfectly. It was time to move on. I made many mistakes to learn from, and I will approach the new book with a base of improved knowledge.
Looking Forward with Peace
At first, I was disappointed and asked myself many times why I was doing this and if it was even worth moving on. It was quite hard for a moment. But then, when my daughter caught a seasonal flu, I had to take time off from work, which unexpectedly gave me the space to look at things with fresh eyes.
I understand my mistakes now. I see that the first project was a learning experience, and I know it is possible to do better with the next one. My gut feeling tells me this is not the end, although my gut didn’t help the first time xD. I guess I am a bit crazy, but I have to try a few more times before making any final decisions.
I feel optimistic about the next book. The idea has been brewing since August, and both my intuition and keyword analysis are promising. I won’t reveal the topic just yet to maintain a market advantage, but I believe it will be something quite special if executed well and marketed effectively on social media.
And that is how my first coloring book journey unfolded. Let’s see what’s coming next.
Till next time!
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