kindle direct publishing Archives

How To Sell On Amazon Without Inventory

Starting an Amazon business can be highly lucrative, but one of the downsides to selling on Amazon is needing space to store the products you sell.

As your business expands, so do the requirements for space. The need to streamline the process of getting products shipped to customers.

In this post, I will explain how to sell on Amazon without inventory and the different ways to run an Amazon store that require little-to-no involvement with actual physical inventory.

Amazon FBA

FBA stands for Fulfilment By Amazon.

FBA is the process of selling and shipping products through the Amazon platform. It is the most popular way of running an Amazon business with 96% of sellers choosing the FBA business model.

How does FBA work?

The seller sends all inventory directly to the Amazon Fulfillment centers, and then Amazon handles all aspects of selling, storage, and shipment for you.

This allows sellers to focus on the more important aspect of the business, like sourcing more products to sell and launching them to increase their profits.

The Pros Of Selling With Amazon FBA

There are many benefits of running an Amazon FBA Business, here are some of them:

You’re able to sell private-label products online without having to hold any inventory yourself.
Amazon will keep your products in their Amazon fulfillment centers and send them out to the customer as soon as they order.
Over 200 Million customers are searching for products on Amazon per month. The FBA business model allows you to take a slice of the very large pie that already exists.
Amazon FBA requires very little time commitment after the initial setup, making it perfect for those just getting started with online businesses.
You can access powerful analytics tools to track the performance of your products.

The Cons Of Selling With Amazon FBA

Selling with Amazon FBA is a great way to generate passive income, but it doesn’t come without its problems:

FBA is a competitive business model, but there are many great FBA courses that can guide you to get an advantage over the competition
Starting an FBA business can require a high financial investment in wholesale quantities of inventory.
You are not in control of the customer service experience for your products (although the FBA experience tends to be world-class)
You may find it difficult to differentiate yourself from other sellers on Amazon.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business model where the seller doesn’t actually hold any inventory, but instead uses a third-party supplier to ship products directly to the customer.

Dropshipping is the best way to sell on Amazon without inventory. Not only do you not need to store inventory – you don’t even need to own any!

How Does Dropshipping Work?

You simply act as the middleman between your customers and the supplier who stocks the product.

Once a customer places an order on your Amazon store, you then forward the order to your supplier who will then send the product directly to the customer.

The Pros Of Dropshipping

• No need to purchase or store any inventory.

• Can offer a wide variety of products without investing in additional storage space or staff.

• You don’t need to worry about shipping or packaging orders.

• You can focus more on marketing and growing your sales rather than managing the day-to-day operations.

• Overhead costs are much lower as there is no need for additional storage space.

The Cons Of Dropshipping

• Less control over the quality of the products being shipped as you are relying on a third-party supplier.

• Highly competitive business model, so you may have lower profit margins in order to compete.

• The customer service experience is out of your hands and any issues relating to delivery or product quality must be handled by the supplier.

• There may be delays in getting orders processed

Use Third-Party Logistics Companies

Third-Party Logistics (3PL) companies are businesses that provide outsourced services such as warehousing, inventory management, and order fulfillment.

Essentially, A third-party logistics company would offer the same service as Amazon FBA.

3PLs help sellers save time, money, and resources by managing the shipping process for them and are a great way to sell on Amazon without inventory.

For some sellers, using a 3PL may not make the most sense. Amazon FBA could offer the same service, but more efficiently run and cost-effective for sellers.

Not to mention that a 3PL wouldn’t be able to offer the same next-day delivery service as FBA would to Prime members.

The best time to consider working with a 3PL is when you are a new seller. Especially a new seller who wants to increase their storage capacity during sales events, like Black Friday or Prime Day.

Sellers can add the FBM (Fulfill By Merchant) option to the product listing, and be able to offer higher qualities of products to allow for an increase in sales during the sales event.

The Pros Of Using 3PLs

Much like Amazon FBA, working with a Third-party Logistics company is a great way to run a passive Amazon business. Here are some of the benefits of working with a 3PL:

• No need to manage or store any inventory.

• Access competitive rates without having to pay for additional staff or storage space.

• Increased flexibility in terms of pricing. You won’t be paying for shipping costs upfront or storing your own products.

• You can focus on marketing and growing your business, rather than managing the day-to-day operations.

• You have access to powerful analytics tools to track performance and inventory levels.

• Scale quickly without having to invest in additional staff or storage space.

The Cons Of Using 3PLs

The downside to working with third-party inventory solutions is that Amazon already provides a world-class solution. This is very difficult to compete with.

Here are some of the other cons to working with a 3PL:

• You may not have as much control over customer service as you would if you were handling all of the processes yourself.

• Certain 3PL companies may require minimum orders, which could limit your ability to manage costs effectively.

• There is a risk that something may go wrong with the order fulfillment process and it’s out of your hands if it does.

Sell Digital Products

Selling digital products is the ultimate answer to “how to sell on Amazon without inventory”. Technically, your product doesn’t ‘physically” exist!

Digital products are any type of product that is available in digital forms, such as ebooks, video lessons, software programs, music downloads, etc.

Selling digital products is an attractive option for those who want to know how to sell on Amazon without inventory. It eliminates the need to purchase or store any physical inventory.

The Pros Of Selling Digital Products

• You don’t need to worry about shipping or packaging orders.

• You have access to a global market since you can easily deliver your product digitally in any corner of the world.

• No need to manage returns or defective products. You are simply delivering information rather than a physical product.

• You don’t need to worry about buying or storing any inventory, which reduces overhead costs.

• You can easily scale up your product offering without having to invest in additional storage space or staff.

The Cons Of Selling Digital Products

• Margins may be tight since customers are used to paying significantly less for digital products than physical ones.

• You will have to deal with digital theft, as it is easy for customers to copy and distribute your work without permission.

• There is a risk that the customer may not be satisfied with the product, which could lead to negative reviews or refunds.

• It can take time and resources to create high-quality digital products,

How To Get Started Selling On Amazon

Whether you decided to sell on Amazon leveraging the FBA model, or sell digital products, the process is similar in regards to set up.

If you’re a complete newbie and need some guidance on:

how to start an Amazon store,
how to source products,
how to launch your brand,
and how to scale your business,

Viral Launch has an incredible FREE course that will show you how to do all of these tasks and more:

In Summary

Hopefully, this post has shown you 4 ways how to sell on Amazon without inventory.

Selling on Amazon without inventory can be a great way to start or expand your business.

There are several options available, such as dropshipping, using third-party logistics companies, and selling digital products.

Each of these methods has its own pros and cons. It’s important to carefully consider which one is right for you before taking the plunge.

No matter what option you choose, with the right strategy in place, you can find success selling on Amazon without investing in any inventory.

Everything You Need To Know About Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

Making money through writing has never been easier or as accessible thanks to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing!

Do you have a passion for writing that’s gone unfulfilled due to the logistics and concerns with publishing your work? Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing may be your saving grace!

Like how Amazon’s FBA program streamlined the opportunity to create your own full-scale online business, Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP, works similarly for creators to publish and own their own work without many of the roadblocks associated with traditional publishing houses.

Does this money-making opportunity sound like it might be for you? Let’s dive in deeper to learn the ins and outs of KDP.

What is Kindle Direct Publishing?

Kindle Direct Publishing is a program that allows anyone the option to self-publish eBooks, paperbacks, and hardcover books for free.

This gives anyone direct access to publish on Amazon, including a product detail page for your book and options to expand your book’s availability globally.

A product detail page for a KDP-published book.

What type of content can be published using KDP?

According to Amazon’s KDP Help page, the following content types typically published using KDP include but are not limited to the following:

Book Series
Children’s Books
Comics
Cookbooks
Journals
Novels
Poetry
Textbooks

Magazines, periodicals, calendars and spiral-bound books are prohibited regarding KDP. If you have questions about whether or not a content type would be allowed, you should contact KDP to clarify the subject.

How much does Amazon self-publishing cost?

Publishing through KDP is absolutely free!

In contrast, traditional publishing in the United States typically ranges from $500 to $5,000! Much of these fees go towards editing, book design services and marketing. Through KDP, these costly elements are thrown to the wayside.

While there’s no fee to publish, Amazon does receive a cut of the revenue created with your content.

How do authors get paid with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing?

Authors receive royalties that are dependent on the type of royalty plan selected. There are two royalty rates: 35% and 70%. Before you do the mental math and choose 70% because you receive a larger cut, you should know there are stipulations to qualify for the 70% royalty plan.

The stipulations for each of the two royalty plans.

As for getting paid, authors just need to verify their identity and include their banking information to receive their monthly royalties.

As for how much do self-published authors make on Amazon? It depends!

At the most basic level, the KDP structure rewards success. If you write the next smash, you can earn royalties well over $1,000 monthly. Most authors earn anywhere from $0 to $500 monthly for their work, which is completely up to the popularity of the created content.

While extremely rare, it can also be rewarding to own the rights to your work, an option that isn’t always the case when submitting work to a publishing house. For example, author E.L. James wrote the best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey and actually self-published using KDP.

On top of the revenue generated by its popularity, James sold the rights for what would eventually become a trilogy of movies for $5 million while maintaining some control over the making of the films. Of course, the chances your book becomes a New York Times bestseller and multi-million dollar movie franchise are slim, but it’s equal parts security and motivation to know what the ceiling can be financially if your work succeeds.

Self-Publishing on Amazon Pros and Cons

When weighing the self-publishing on Amazon pros and cons, it’s essential to consider where you’re at with your writing career.

For established authors, the fees incurred by a publishing house may be worth the trouble. After all, these publishing houses offer services such as editing and promotion to help the quality and visibility of the work. Also, publishing houses often offer an advance payment to the author upon completion if the work is likely to earn significant fanfare.

However, this is such a small group that it likely isn’t the case for many with a story to tell.

KDP democratizes authorship by offering to self-publish with zero upfront fees. The speed of publishing (often less than 5 minutes) through KDP is a modern miracle. Additionally, self-publishing on Amazon ensures your book can be promoted and displayed in the Kindle Store. With estimates often ranging around 20 million or so active Kindle readers, this massive audience is alluring for upstart authors.

In short, the pros of KDP are more beneficial for lesser-known authors. The option of publishing work in the first place, visibility from a massive worldwide audience, zero upfront fees, full content ownership, and royalties based on success make it appealing for aspiring authors to get their writing careers off the ground. On top of the digital versions, you can wholesale paperback versions, although you’ll have to pay for the printing cost of each book.

A con for KDP would be the lack of editing and graphic design. If you’ve read books on Kindle and noticed misspellings, poor grammar, imperfect punctuation, or a general lack of professionalism, the lack of editing or approval process can likely be attributed to this. Long-term revenue sharing can also be a drawback, although that’s often a concern with traditional publishing.

How to sign up for Kindle Direct Publishing

Signing up for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is a very simple and straightforward process. And once you’ve signed up, you’re virtually 5 minutes away from being able to publish your work.

Select the “Sign Up” button on the Kindle Direct Publishing main page.
Agree to the KDP Terms and Conditions
Fill in the basic information necessary for your profile, payment information, and tax information

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can start publishing your work! The upload process is also quite simple, as Amazon requests information about your work to be visible in the Kindle store and grouped properly to be discovered by readers. In this procedure, you’ll include details about your eBook, content such as a book cover design, and set pricing.

After submitting all this information, your work is ready to be published. Congratulations! You can now update your resume with the accurate claim that you’re a published author.

Your work will be included in the Kindle Store, and you can share your work on social media or advertise with options like KDP Select to boost the visibility of your content.

For more about KDP, check out our post from an author who shared his journey of Amazon self-publishing.

How To Self-Publish Through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

There are plenty of ways to make money on Amazon, with Kindle Direct Publishing standing out as an opportunity for those with a passion for writing. Fresh off the release of his debut book, Dylan Hughes shares a four-step guide based on his recent experience with Kindle Direct Publishing.

Going back to my third grade days, writing and coloring in blank hardback books, I have always loved writing. When I was even younger than that, I would take my kids books and write down their contents onto blank sheets of paper (someone should have taught Young Dylan about copyright infringement).

When I was about 14, I finally took my talents to the internet, blogging about sports. Once I started, I fell in love and have been at it ever since.

I have known for a long time that I want to become a professional writer. I knew I wanted to go to college for journalism and I did that, graduating last year with a Sports Journalism degree from IUPUI. While I was a little lost career-wise after graduating, the end-goal remained clear: I wanted to write professionally.

After months of struggling to find even an entry-level writing job, I threw in the towel and took matters into my own hands. First, I began my Substack newsletter, Heavy Pockets, where I write words weekly on what is interesting to me in the business world—as well as personal development stuff here and there. I also publish at least weekly on Medium.com on the same topics.

I have enjoyed doing that for the past five months. In late November, however, I didn’t feel like I was doing enough. So I made a snap decision: I was going to publish a book.

I have dabbled with the idea of writing a book for years now, but it was always something I looked forward to doing in the distant future. I had no idea what to write about, the process to go through to get it published, or how long it’d take. It felt like I was best suited to stick with blogging about dumb sports stuff online.

On that November night, though, I wasn’t willing to just toss the idea out. It felt right. Before thinking about anything else, I just started writing.

Step 1: Write the Darn Thing

Whether in writing or elsewhere in life, a lot of people get held back by the minutiae. Writing a book sounds hard. Editing it, making a cover, and finding a place to publish it is just too much to stomach, especially considering that stuff comes after actually writing all of those words.

So don’t worry about that other stuff! Write the book and worry about that stuff later.

You don’t have to write the entire book before researching how to publish it. But at least get the ball rolling and build some momentum. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can write 1,000, 2,000, or 5,000 words. A handful of sessions like that and you’re either done with your book (if it was short like mine) or making great progress to getting to that finish line.

Step 2: Edit and Prepare

In the self-publishing world, this may be one of the more difficult steps. In my case, I was lucky enough to have a friend—who happened to edit our college newspaper—and my mom—an English major—edit my book. Alongside myself, a perfectionist when it comes to my writing.

If you are not as confident in your editing skills and/or don’t have the supporting cast to help you out, there are surely editors available for hire on places like UpWork and Fiverr. If you aren’t looking to spend money, though, having a handful of friends read a chapter or two each and giving light feedback is better than nothing.

Once you feel confident in your words, it’s time to move over to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Step 3: Prepare the Manuscript

Amazon makes the remaining steps fairly easy. Which is great, since you just spent all that time working on the hard part: writing the book.

Head over to the KDP website, click “Your account” in the top right-hand corner of the screen (after creating an account, of course), and navigate to the “Bookshelf” menu located towards the top of the screen.

You will then see the “Create a New Title” section, which lays out your remaining steps in publishing your book—whether it be an eBook or paperback (it will later give you the option to do both).

After choosing your desired form of book, you will then start filling out the necessary information for the book, such as the title, subtitle, description, keywords, and categories, among other things.

Once that step is complete, you will be asked to upload your manuscript and cover.

For the manuscript, I would recommend using Kindle Create (download here). This makes it easy to format your book to properly satisfy Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing standards and make it look as good as possible. You can also make edits to your writing through this tool if necessary.

For the cover, some people like to use Canva (which has a free version but more options through its subscription). I personally just used Kindle Cover Creator, which gives you some basic and decent-looking options. They also give you some options that they created on their own (I chose this option after doing a bad job making my own cover). It may not help your book stand out, but it that doesn’t concern you, it is a very easy option.

After that, set your price and you’re ready to roll!

Step 4: Start Sharing!

Once everything is complete and submitted, Amazon will review your submission and publish within 72 hours (or get back to you if there is something wrong). My submission took less than 12 hours to go live.

After it goes live, congrats! You’re finally done and you can now share your awesome work with your friends, family, and followers.

Want more helpful Amazon news, updates, and tips and tricks sent directly to your inbox? Drop your email below!

Now that you’re done writing your book, take a look at mine: From One Young Soul to Another.

2020 was hard for most people, and it wasn’t any different for me. While I didn’t lose my job or a loved one to the virus, I still faced many challenges that hurt my brain and heart for the majority of the year. After I felt mostly recovered, I took the lessons I learned from those challenges and turned it into a book, hoping to help young people struggling with similar issues. I feel that anyone struggling with relationships, employment, identity, or self-confidence could take something positive away, no matter the age.

And if not you, maybe a loved one would benefit.

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