How To Make Money Selling Journals :Personal Experience![2024]
Are you wanting to know how to make money selling journals in 2024?
Back when I first looked into how to start a business selling journals, I had no idea where to begin.
But just like you, I wanted to find a way of making a passive income SO BAD without having to deal with any inventory.
Once you know what you gotta do, it isn’t hard selling journals. But there’s a few things you need to do first:
- Finding a niche
- Doing keyword research
- Creating a journal to sell
These tasks can be quite overwhelming when you haven’t done anything like this before.
Side note- I LOVE journaling, I often sit on my balcony in the morning and write in my gratitude journal. The I decided to make and sell my own!
Instead of doing hours and hours of research like me, you simply need to read my article to get started.
I’ll give you a step-by-step rundown about how to make money selling journals.
Let’s jump into it!
Summary
- How to make money selling journals (in just 4 steps)
- Selling digital journals on Etsy
- Selling journals on Amazon
- Amazon KDP journals
- How much money can you make selling journals on Amazon
- Best selling journals on Amazon
- How to market your journals
- FAQs on how to make money selling journals
Affiliate Link Disclosure
Some of the links here are affiliate links, and I may earn if you click on them AT NO EXTRA cost to you. I hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.
Helpful Courses To Make And Sell Journals on Etsy
Note: If you are super busy and you want to start making money selling on Etsy fast, you can check out this Etsy course.
It will help to step up your Etsy game and start earning within 3 months!
Alternatively, you can also check out this free Etsy Ebook that will share a list of best-selling products by month and teach you how to capitalize on seasonal trends to make sales.
How To Make Money Selling Journals (In Just 4 Steps)
Whether you want to make and sell journals on Amazon or Etsy, the first 3 steps of the process are the same.
I’ve started a few digital businesses over the years, and the first two steps are the most significant ones. Take some time to sit down and work on them properly.
- Find Your Niche
Please don’t create something that’s already out there in the thousands!
If you want to be successful in making a passive income on Amazon (or Etsy), you need to brainstorm and go for something a bit more special.
Is there any market gap you can fill with your journal?
There are certain ways to find out:
- Listen to people and the problems they have in their everyday lives
- Go on Google and check the FAQs
- Go through Facebook groups
- Go on Amazon & Etsy and analyze your competition (what are they doing well and what can be improved?)
Then think about:
- How can you help your audience with a certain type of journal?
- What problem can your journal solve?
- How can you make your journal stand out from others?
- Who do you want to sell your journals to?
Apart from the above, the niche you pick should be one that you’re truly interested in. Otherwise, you will have trouble selling journals (you kinda need to know what you’re talking about).
Different niches (if you need some inspiration):
- Personal growth
- Productivity, routines & schedules
- Self-Care
- Prayers, Affirmations, Quotes
- Parenting
- Wedding
- Animals
- Home Decor
- Hobbies
- Diet
- Business
I find it way easier selling journals in the niche I am passionate about
. So don’t go for one too quickly, but rather have a good think about it (it took me about a week, including research, to decide on a niche).
Guided journals are also very popular at the moment. This means you shouldn’t just create a beautiful cover with empty white pages inside.
Your readers need help to improve their lives. That’s why they’re buying your book.
They want to open the journal and be guided from start to finish so they can benefit by the end of having worked through it.
Another tip from me:
Don’t go too broad within the niche (my recent Amazon search shows about 80,000 (!) ‘journals’), but at the same time, don’t limit yourself in a way that you could only create a handful of journals.
You don’t want to run out of ideas on making journals to sell.
And pick a niche that is evergreen; meaning don’t go for seasonal topics but something that can be sold all year around and for the next years to come.
- Do Keyword Research
How to make money selling journals online if you don’t know that people will buy them?
You found the perfect niche (at least that’s what you think) and created tons of journals, only to find out that people are not interested in buying them . . . that would be super frustrating and a huge waste of time!
So, how can you prevent this from happening?
By doing keyword research!
I use Keysearch for all my online businesses and am a big fan. It shows me:
- What people are looking for (& on what platforms – Amazon, Etsy, Google, Pinterest & Co)
- The location of my audience
- The specific keywords people are using
- Who my competition is
- The search volume of the keyword
- The search trend of the past 12 months
Using Keysearch helps you target the right words for selling journals so you don’t go for something that people aren’t looking for (look out for the blue and green keywords; this means that there isn’t much competition).
It is 17$ per month but if you use my discount code and referral link, (OUTANDBEYOND), you get 30% off!
If you need help with your keyword strategy, I highly recommend Sale Samurai!
This all-in-one tool shares with you insights and analytics so you know what Etsy shoppers are looking for and where to put your keywords so that people find your products.
As my reader, you get a discount coupon that has to be used in the Sale Samurai sign up page. The code is outandbeyond (all in lowercase). This will give you 20% OFF for life.
- Create Your Journal
How to create and sell journals if you haven’t done anything like that before? Don’t worry, we all start somewhere, and there are great tools out there to help you.
You don’t have to do everything from scratch.
A lot of people ask me: how to sell journals on Amazon using Canva. Canva is an awesome tool you can create beautiful designs with to either print or share:
- Journals
- Printables
- Planners
- Flyers
- Pinterest pins
- Facebook posts
- Instagram stories
- Posters
- And so much more
You can either go for the free version or the pro version (which doesn’t cost that much but has many helpful features).
If you have a small budget, you can start with the free version, but as you progress, you might find that the pro version gives you more flexibility and advantages in creating your journals.
Take some time to get to know all the tools, templates, and elements of Canva so you can create special journals that stand out from your competition.
You can also use Affinity Designer or Photoshop to design your journals. However, as I only use Canva, this is what I recommend.
Create a cover for your journal.
Another important step you shouldn’t miss is: the cover of your journal.
This is the first picture that will pop up on Amazon or Etsy when a customer is looking for a journal. It should be beautiful, and want to make people click on your listing.
- Sell Your Journal
Now you know what you have to do to get started and creating a journal to sell, we are getting to the part you’re most interested in: how to make money selling journals!
Journals on Amazon do very well, but there are other platforms you can also sell your products on:
I started by focusing on one platform, and I recommend you do the same. Otherwise, it can get too overwhelming as the two are quite different.
The main difference between Etsy and Amazon is that on Etsy, you only sell digital downloads, whereas on Amazon, you can sell a hard copy of your journal (if you wish to do so).
Amazon does all the work for you – they print and ship your printable to your customer.
Let’s start with selling journals on Etsy, and after that, we’ll focus on Amazon and on the thought that has tickled you since you started reading: how much can you make selling journals on Amazon?
But first, a quick round-up of how to make and sell journals:
The Key Elements Of How To Make Money Selling Journals
- Pick your niche & target audience
- Do keyword research using Keysearch
- Create unique journals using Canva
- Sell your journal on your preferred platform
Selling Digital Journals on Etsy
If you plan on selling journals on Etsy, you will need to open an Etsy shop.
Here are the steps of how to open an Etsy shop:
- Create an account (you only need a few details to register or sign in with Google, Facebook, or Apple)
- Go through the onboarding process
- Name your shop
- Create your listings
- Decide on how you want to get paid (check Etsy payments)
- Enter your credit card details (yes, Etsy charges you fees)
- Open your Etsy shop
Creating an account on Etsy is free, but you get charged for listing and selling an item:
- Listing fee ($0.20 USD for each listing)
- Transaction fee (6.5% of the product price per sale)
- Payment processing fee ( $0.25 USD plus 3% per transaction in the US)
Nothing is for free, eh?! I know how you’re feeling – I was actually a bit shocked back when I first looked into how to make money selling journals.
I was thinking to myself: I want to make money, not spend any!
Don’t give up, though. You can still make money from selling journals online – you just have to find the right platform for you.
If you feel that it will cost you too much to sell your journals on Etsy, let’s find out if selling journals on Amazon is a better option for you.
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Selling Journals On Amazon
Now, let’s look at how to sell journals on Amazon.
Selling low-content books (such as journals and planners) on Amazon is a great way for you to make passive income.
But how to make money selling books on Amazon? The answer: with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).
Let’s look at this in a bit more detail.
Making Money With Amazon KDP Journals
How to make money with KDP journals requires a few steps and skills.
After having created your journal on Canva and downloaded the PDFs, you need to:
- Open an account with Amazon KDP
- Choose whether you want to sell a paperback or a hardcover
- Decide on the book title, subtitle, and description using relevant keywords
- Fill in the author’s name (your name), any contributors, and that you own the copyright
- Select the category of your journal
- Upload your design & your cover
- Set the pricing
- And then let Amazon do the work for you!
The great thing about selling journals on Amazon is that the platform markets your products for you. You don’t need to have any social media accounts promoting your journals (although I find it helpful to have them in addition).
Amazon’s advertising platform helps people find your listings – you just need to make some beautiful designs and use the right keywords in the right spots.
How Much Money Can You Make Selling Journals On Amazon
Are you still wondering – how to make money with books on Amazon? Does Amazon charge you as much as Etsy for selling journals?
Amazon takes a fee from your sale for printing and shipping. Their formula looks like this → Fixed cost + (page count * per page cost) = printing cost.
The cost of printing depends on the following factors:
- Ink (black or color)
- Trim size (regular or large)
- Page count
- Location of the client ordering the book from
You can use the KDP Printing Costs and Royalty Calculator to estimate your printing cost and the royalty you would receive.
Example: How To Make Money Selling Books on Amazon KDP
If you sold a journal for $9.99 USD with the following features
- Paperback
- Black and white interior with white paper
- Trim size: 12.7 x 20.32 cm
- 28 pages
you would earn an estimated $3.69 USD per unit.
Best Selling Journals On Amazon
Now you know almost everything about how to make and sell journals on Amazon, but it’s also important for you to know what kind of journals sell well.
This is so that you don’t waste your time creating a beautiful journal that won’t sell.
Selling journals on Amazon in the following categories is the way to go:
- Creating a happy life
- Family stories & keepsakes (mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, etc.)
- Memory diaries (1 year – 5 years)
- Showing gratitude
- Empowering yourself
- Healing & reflection
- Mindfulness
- Shadow work
- Budget trackers
- Food diaries
How To Market Your Journals
How to make journals to sell on Amazon (or Etsy) is one task you need to master, but you also need to have a marketing strategy in place.
You can’t just create a few journals, list them, sit back, and think you’ll get rich from them.
As mentioned before, Amazon does promote your products, but I wouldn’t solely rely on them.
I’ve been more successful in selling my journals if I market them myself through a few different avenues, such as:
- Social media accounts (like Instagram and YouTube)
- A blog (I highly recommend wpx for building a website)
- An email newsletter
You don’t need to go crazy, but having a place away from Amazon makes you independent, and you can reach more potential clients.
Your readers can put a face to your name, and you can show them the pros of your journals and the different ways of using them. A good way to start is to also offer a freebie and ask for a review in return.
In addition, you can stand out from your competition by being authentic, helpful, and responding to customer inquiries within a reasonable time (about 24 hours).
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Marketing Idea For Introverts
Now, if you’re great at making journals to sell, but do not want to put yourself out there, I have an idea for you.
Reach out to bloggers or YouTubers in your niche and ask them what it would cost to review your product. They can then showcase your product to their followers and refer them to your listing.
That way, you don’t need to show your face, you don’t need to speak, and you don’t have to fiddle around with recording any videos or taking pictures.
There you go! This is all you need to know on how to make money selling journals.
I hope you will have as much fun as me creating a journal to sell. Good luck!
Helpful Courses To Make And Sell Journals on Etsy
Note: If you are super busy and you want to start making money selling on Etsy fast, you can check out this and this Etsy course.
It will help to step up your Etsy game and start earning within 3 months!
Alternatively, you can also check out this free Etsy Ebook that will share a list of best-selling products by month and teach you how to capitalize on seasonal trends to make sales.
FAQs on How To Make Money Selling Journals
Do Journals Sell Well On Etsy?
Are you wondering, do journals sell well on Etsy? Yes, they do. Personal growth has become very popular, and people enjoy journaling.
Journals and diaries are also great gifts for weddings, birthdays, and Christmas, so starting an online business selling journals on Amazon or Etsy is a good idea.
Is Selling Journals On Amazon Worth It?
Are you asking yourself, is selling journals on Amazon worth it? Amazon is one of the biggest online retailers and has a broad customer base all around the world.
Selling journals on Amazon is a great way of making a passive income and turning your passion into profit.
What Is The Number 1 Thing To Sell On Etsy?
So, what’s the number one thing to sell on Etsy? Handmade and personalized items are the most popular things that are being sold on Etsy.
This could be anything from home decor, arts & crafts, bags, purses, t-shirts, journals, jewelry, pet accessories, birthday & wedding gifts, etc.
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