IT could be easier than you think to start making thousands of dollars extra per month.
There’s a new, unique side hustle that requires little work and could prove extremely lucrative with the right steps.
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The gig, which works through Amazon, was highlighted by experts Angelina and Chris (@publishingprosofficial) in a recent post to TikTok.
Angelina and Chris noted that they invested in the side hustle because it required “no social media, no dealing with customers, and no physical products.”
It also “doesn’t take thousands of dollars to get started with,” and there’s still “super low competition,” as few know about it.
Now, they make around $13,491 per month from it, according to receipts they showed viewers in the clip.
Read More on Side Hustles
So, how did they get there, and what is the gig?
The pair explained that it revolves around Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
READING REWARD
KDP is a platform through the e-commerce giant that allows authors to self-publish digital and print books for free to a global readership.
Those who self-publish can determine their content, audience, price, advertising, and more.
They also get to keep ownership of titles, publish on their own determined schedule, and keep 70% of royalties.
Amazon takes a cut of the profits for the printing and shipping costs of the titles.
The $13,500 in extra money comes from those royalties in Angelina and Chris’s side hustle, but they aren’t taking the time to write all their books, and neither should you.
“These aren’t books that you actually have to write yourself,” Chris emphasized in the video.
“You can outsource most of the leg work to other people, and you can take that and then publish it to Amazon.”
Essentially, you facilitate the publishing of books to KDP from other authors and keep a portion of the earnings.
Side hustles and tax implications
Extra income you make from side hustles may need to be reported to the IRS.
If you receive more than $600 in gross payouts from a selling platform like eBay, the site will issue you a Form 1099-K to use in your tax return.
Individuals should calculate their adjusted gross income, taxable earnings, and deductions for the year.
Once they have that, they can use the 1040-ES form to calculate estimated taxes.
STEP BY STEP
To get started, all you’d need to do is follow three simple steps, according to Angelina and Chris.
First, do keyword research around what’s selling best on Amazon in book genres, titles, and topics.
Secondly, after you’ve found some of the most “profitable topics,” begin the book production process by finding ghostwriters or authors and hiring them through freelance platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.
That will cost anywhere between $800 and $1,200, depending on what the writer charges, and is the bulk of the costs to get the side hustle started, per another clip from Angelina and Chris.
They’ll produce the copy you’ll then format and edit for publishing through Amazon KDP.
Using other platforms like 99 Designs for designing covers and Publisher Rocket for software are other necessary upfront book production costs to consider.
MAKE IT KNOWN
The third and most time-consuming aspect of the side hustle is marketing the book you’re going to publish to make sure audiences are aware of it before it goes live.
Angelina and Chris said using Amazon Ads would be the most beneficial for the side hustle, as it gets the most eyes on the books and provides great opportunities for reviews to increase popularity.
It costs around $5 to $10 per day.
With these steps, Angelina and Chris used the Amazon KDP side hustle to leave their nine-to-five jobs for good.
If it sounds too complicated, there are plenty of other side hustles with no cost to get started, and they don’t even require you to leave your neighborhood.
Dog lovers could start a babysitting and walking side gig that brings in around $600 per day.
Sharing your opinion on certain products could also get you $60 in just 20 minutes.