I Tried the $10,000/Month Side Hustle

Business Summary (Amazon KDP Side-Hustle Execution)

The creator tests whether an “up to $10,000/month” Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) model is realistic by building and publishing 4 low-content/high-content books in one niche/theme cycle. The work follows a repeatable 5-step workflow:

1. Research
2. Design
3. Upload
4. Wait
5. Review results

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Framework / Process Playbook Used

5-Step Game Plan

1. Research: Find sellable keywords/niches and validate demand.
2. Design: Choose trim size + interior style; create cover/interior.
3. Upload: Format files, fill metadata/keywords, set pricing.
4. Wait: Wait for Amazon review and monitor live sales.
5. Results: Check orders by tab/organic discovery signals.

Validation Method (Demand + Competitiveness Checks)

• Uses BookBolt “cloud product + keyword modules” to identify:
  • Top bestsellers in the category
  • Sales volume estimates
  • Best Seller Rank / publication recency
  • Price ranges and keyword trends
• Prioritizes niches where books appear frequently as recent/current-year publications, with strong ratings and best-seller ranks.

Product Segmentation (Difficulty Ladder)

• Planned 3 difficulty tiers, then expanded output:
  • Easy: notebook/journal (fast to create)
  • Medium: puzzle/maze book (moderate formatting/production)
  • Hard: fully hand-drawn coloring book (~50 pages)

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Key Metrics, KPIs, and Targets Mentioned

Income Benchmarks (Industry Claims)

• Side-hustle income claimed by others: $10,000/month minimum, up to $360,000/month (not verified in the video).
• YouTube claims referenced: “5 to 6 figures a month.”

Sales and Pricing Metrics (Creator’s Experience)

• Example pricing shown:
  • $7.99 retail price (for the coloring book or one of the books shown in the upload flow)
• Amazon royalty estimate displayed:
  • Approximately ~$2 per sale

Launch results (about ~1 month / 1 week+ live period):

• Total orders remained low: “barely hit double digits in terms of sales.”
• Best performer: the coloring book
• No orders observed for:
  • Maze
  • Koi clouds notebook
  • Science notebook
• Later organic discovery is mentioned, including “two orders” at one point, but exact totals beyond that are not fully specified.

Timing

• Research time: < 1 hour
• Overall production + upload to live: ~1.5 to 2 weeks
  • Coloring book took longer
• Coloring book creation: ~1 week of drawing
• Amazon publication review: up to 72 hours to go live

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Concrete Examples / Product Decisions

Book Formats Created (4 Total)

Easy-Tier Notebooks (2 variants)

1. Composition notebook (science leaning)

   • Theme logic: keyword research indicated interest (e.g., biology/science wording like “mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”).
   • Interior: started with wide-ruled lines, later described as using graph/grid paper for the science notebook interior.

2. Koi clouds notebook

   • Created as a second variant (design reuse preference; not perfectly aligned with “science,” but executed quickly).

Medium-Tier Puzzle

• Maze book
  • Includes two mazes per page to save paper
  • Uses lightweight coding/randomization to generate mazes
  • Cover designed to visually tie into a “brain” concept

Hard-Tier Coloring Book

• Hand-drawn coloring book
  • Explicitly described as “50 coloring pages”
  • 40+ pages (also referenced)
• Theme: cute/cozy/simple/cozy-comfy, with a calendar-year concept
• Content structure:
  • 4 national holidays per month
  • Example (January):
    • New Year’s (1)
    • National Sleep Day (3)
    • National Pie Day (23)
    • National Hot Chocolate Day (31)
• Strict quality/production stance:
  • Creator states they avoid AI art and instead draw pages by hand for the coloring book.

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Actionable Recommendations Implied by Their Experience

• Research first, because Amazon “markets for you”—but only if the metadata and niche alignment are right (keywords matter).

• Validate demand using:

  • bestseller rank
  • price range
  • recency of recent publications rather than assuming demand from the idea alone.

• Start with multiple products in the same niche, then double down on what performs.

• Don’t rely on social posting alone:
  • Orders came more from tags/keywords/organic discovery than from Instagram story promotion.
• Higher production effort correlates with better returns:
  • The hand-drawn coloring book outperformed the easier/medium products.

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Organic Discovery Signals / Outcomes

• After publishing, the creator initially saw zero orders.
• Later, orders appeared via the correct Amazon tab and discovery flow:
  • One order for the coloring book
  • Another order for the science composition notebook
• Over time, they concluded only the coloring book produced meaningful results; other variants lagged.

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High-Level Investing / Markets Note (Minimal)

• The video is primarily a test of a business execution model (creating and listing products).
• Reported “side hustle income” claims are used as motivation and compared to real results.
• It’s not presented as a deep market/investing analysis.

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Presenters / Sources

• Presenter/creator: Viora (referenced as “Viora,” “Viora Doco,” or “Viora Co” for author naming)
• Tool/source referenced: BookBolt
  • BookBolt “cloud product” and keyword modules
  • BookBolt Studio trim size templates