Amazon FBA or Amazon book publishing… which one is better?
Both business models are great. However, I want to compare them in detail so that you can decide which one is best for you to pursue.
If you want to work from home and build an online business, Amazon is one of the best opportunities to make money online.
Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, making it the marketplace of choice.
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Amazon sales are surging right now.
If you thought that you missed the boat to start making money on Amazon, don't worry. You didn't. Amazon's stock has remained resilient throughout the COVID-19 crisis since its core e-commerce and cloud businesses are separate from the pandemic.
More and more people are now shopping online, while a lot of retail stores are dying off. There has never been a better time to start selling on Amazon, as it presents a great opportunity to make money online. It's just a matter of deciding which model you want to pursue.
Amazon FBA stands for fulfillment by Amazon. It involves the process of private labeling a product and selling it on Amazon. Conversely, Amazon book publishing is the process of creating a Kindle, paperback, or audiobook and selling it on Amazon.
I started with Amazon book publishing nine years ago and transitioned to Amazon FBA five years ago. I've experienced a lot of success with both business models and I've coached thousands of people on how to make money on Amazon.
In this blog, I'm going to compare each of the business models in detail and explore their level of potential, competition, difficulty, as well as their start-up cost, the time frame that it will take to launch the business, and the level of risk involved. Let's dive in!
Potential
When you're publishing books on Amazon the one challenge that you will face is that you're selling low-ticket products. A Kindle book sells for $10 or less. You may sell a paperback book for $20, but it would have to be a best-seller book or have a lot of reviews. If you wanted to create a 7-figure business, you would need tens of thousands of customers to buy your books.
If you want to make some money on the side, Amazon book publishing is the best option. What a lot of people don't realize is that a book is just a means to an end. It's the backend that leads to more potential to make money. The goal is to funnel people from reading your books to subscribing to your email list.
This is what allows you to build long-term relationships with people, at which point you can start selling courses, doing affiliate marketing, or selling physical products.
Conversely, Amazon FBA has a lot more potential. There are more niches and types of products that you can sell. Not only can you charge more money for products, but there are a lot more buyers at your disposal. I can list hundreds of people who are making 6-7 figures with Amazon FBA.
Also, if you want to build an asset that can be sold one day, Amazon FBA is the way to go. If you're interested in getting started selling on Amazon, I recommend that you check out my FREE Amazon FBA Training where I teach you, step-by-step, how to leverage the power of Amazon to generate financial wealth.
Winner: Amazon FBA
Competition
It doesn't matter which product or book you sell, both models are very competitive. Competition is actually a good thing. Part of what helps you identify what product you should sell on Amazon involves researching your competition and doing product research.
By looking at what products or books are selling well on Amazon, it helps lower your risk. If others are making money with a product or book, it's showing you that there is a high demand for it. I don't enter into any market if it doesn't have competition.
With Amazon book publishing, you have to market your book outside of Amazon if you want to get more sales. This is what will give you a competitive advantage. Book publishing has a lower barrier of entry, meaning that there's not a lot of money involved to get started. This means that there will always be more competition.
Conversely, because there is a higher barrier of entry with Amazon FBA, the competition is less. The mere fact that the physical product side of Amazon is so much bigger means that you can stand out and still do really well, despite the competition.
Winner: Amazon FBA
Difficulty
One of the reasons why I love Amazon book publishing so much is that it's newbie-friendly. If you are a complete beginner to the online world, this is a great business model to get started with. The process of publishing a book on Amazon is very simple.
You can set up a free account via Kindle Direct Publishing, upload a book file and cover, and have your book live on Amazon in less than 24 hours. However, the difficulty with this model comes with scaling your business. This is why I suggest that you invest in a great course that will give you a proven system for how to master the book publishing and marketing process.
I have recently created a new and improved Kindle book publishing course called Mastering Book Publishing, as well as a book marketing course called Mastering Book Marketing.
Amazon FBA is a more complex process than Amazon book publishing. When it comes to private labeling a product, you have to do research and find product opportunities that are high in demand on Amazon. Before you pursue a product, you have to determine what your costs and expenses will be in terms of manufacturing your product and what your profit margins will be.
All of the numbers need to make sense.
This means that you have to first reach out to suppliers and communicate back and forth with them. You will need samples so that you can determine the weight, size and shipping cost of your product. Lastly, the logistics of getting your product manufactured, getting your packaging done, and shipping your product from your supplier to an Amazon warehouse needs to be taken into account.
As you can tell, there are bigger decisions that need to be made when it comes to selling on Amazon FBA. In my experience, this is why it's so helpful to invest in an Amazon course, like Amazing Selling Machine. It will help you navigate all of the moving parts with an Amazon FBA business.
If you join the new Amazing Selling Machine, I'll personally give you $9,482 worth of bonuses, for FREE, at no additional cost. If money is an issue, another great Amazon FBA course that I recommend which is slightly cheaper is called Marketplace Superheroes.
Tie: Amazon FBA & Amazon Book Publishing
Start-up Cost
The great thing about Amazon book publishing is that it doesn't cost a lot to get started. You can write your own book which won't cost you any money. However, it will cost you your time. Alternatively, you can hire a ghostwriter to write a book for you.
The cost depends on the level of quality that you want. What a lot of people don't realize is that a book doesn't have to be 300 pages. I recommend writing a book that is only 40-50 pages. Amazon has a category on its platform called, Kindle Short Reads, where people publish 20-30 page books and sell them at a lower price point.
The only other cost that you need to worry about is a book cover. You can get this created fairly inexpensively by a designer on Fiverr.com. I like to hire three different designers and choose the cover I like best.
With Amazon FBA, there is a greater start-up cost because you have to invest in inventory. It will cost you roughly $2,000. That will get you about 500-1,000 units. That cost doesn't include a course.
You will get a better price if you order a larger quantity. Every supplier will have a minimum order quantity. You want to make sure that you invest in enough stock so that you don't run out of it. You also don't want to have too much inventory so that if your product isn't selling well, you don't end up losing money.
As you can see, there are more costs involved with Amazon FBA when it comes to inventory, creating product packaging, shipping your product, and marketing.
Winner: Amazon Book Publishing
Time Frame
The great thing about Amazon book publishing is the speed at which everything can be done. Once you write your book, you can set up a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account, upload your book file, and publish it so that it's available for sale within 24-48 hours.
One the main reasons why it takes some people such a long time to write a book is that they are perfectionists. I believe that the way you perfect something is by putting it out there, getting feedback and then going back and making it better.
The great thing about Amazon book publishing is that you can edit a book that you've already published. Depending on the length and quality of your book, it can take roughly 1-3 months to start making money with your books.
Conversely, selling a physical product on Amazon FBA takes longer. You may spend one-week doing research. If you use a tool like Jungle Scout the research process will be quicker. You will need to reach out to suppliers and get them to send you samples so that you can decide which one is best.
If your supplier is from China or somewhere overseas, it will take 1-2 weeks to receive a sample. After that, you will have to create the packaging for your product and then make an order with your supplier who will end up manufacturing your product.
The time you will have to wait for that depends on the nature of your product. Shipping your product to Amazon fulfillment centers by boat is slower, but cheaper. By plane, it will be faster, but more expensive. Once you set up your Amazon Seller Central account and get your Amazon listing published, you're ready to start selling! The entire process usually takes 3-6 months.
Winner: Amazon Book Publishing
Risk
The level of risk involved with Amazon book publishing is relatively low if you don't invest a lot of money and time into the writing of your book. I suggest that you start with writing a short book, see if it sells, and then go back and make the book longer.
With Amazon FBA there is more risk. If launch your product and it doesn't sell, you could potentially lose a lot of money. This will mean that you may have to sell off your product inventory, at cost, to get back your investment. This is why I think it's great to invest in a course because it mitigates your risk. You will know what to avoid and how to do things the right way.
Winner: Amazon Book Publishing
Amazon FBA & Amazon book publishing are great business models.
I know a lot of people who start publishing books on Amazon and then transition into selling physical products on Amazon FBA. The model you end up choosing will depend on how much money you have, which model interests you more, what your level of risk tolerance is, and whether or not you can invest in a course.
That being said, if you have the money and want to build a bigger, more sustainable business that you can eventually sell, I think the winning business model is Amazon FBA. At the end of the day, both models have potential but you have to decide which one excites you most. That is the model you will get the most results with.
Which business model will you choose?
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