College is great. The parties, frats and sororities. The new friends. Living away from your parents for the first time. And, oh yeah, the studying and education part.

But college in the United States in 2023 is also ridiculously expensive. Like Gucci-bag expensive.

In 2022, the average student could expect to pay $27,560 for an out-of-state four-year degree. Room and board costs added another $11,950, with another $6,470 of subsidized and unsubsidized loans during their college stay.

Just wow. That’s a pretty penny for a four-year degree.

And if you don’t have a rich uncle, flipping burgers at your local fast-food joint might not cut it when it comes to paying for your education.

Maybe it’s time you explored other sources of revenue.

That’s where we come in. Our student’s guide to making money online will walk you through what we think is the best way to boost your bank account. And it has everything to do with self-publishing tools like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Have you always wanted to start an online business but have been afraid to lose money or are too skeptical? Maybe you don’t have the confidence yet—or you simply don’t have the right education or tools.

You can do this! And we’ll show you how.

The Best Way to Make Extra Money

If you’re in college, you can always use extra money, right? Maybe it’s to pay for some books or courses. Maybe it’s to buy some new sneakers or clothes to stay up on the trends. Or maybe it’s just to have money to eat and buy groceries. Eating is good.

Well, we’re going to show you what we believe is the best way to make money online. Self-publishing books using Amazon’s KDP.

But before you say, “Wait a second. I’m no author! The last thing I wrote was an emoji text to my brother.”

Tons of people just like you are learning that creating a book and self-publishing is way easier than you might think. You don’t need a Master’s Degree in business and marketing—even though you might even be going to school to get one.

Think about it. Even if you’re in your early 20s, you’ve most likely already written 100,000+ words worth of emails, text messages and school papers. Why couldn’t you put that same energy and time into your first self-published book? Your first eBook could be as short as 5,000 words, which is basically just a few longer essays like you’ve probably already done in high school.

Be careful of limiting beliefs. Believe in yourself and have confidence that you can do anything you set your mind to.

What Exactly Is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing?

We’ll give you a quick definition of KDP. First, Amazon loves books. And they need books to sell on their giant ecommerce platform. So they’ve invested a lot of time, resources and money into giving authors an easy-to-use platform to publish their work.

Amazon’s KDP platform is a powerful tool you can tap into to make extra dough. You might even be able to build your dream life earlier than expected and even drop out of college.

Here’s a quick summary of how it works. Once you have a book to sell—and you can even hire a ghostwriter to write one for you—you’ll need to edit and format it. Then hit “publish” and away it goes. In less than three days, your eBook will be available and you’ll start making your first profits.

In fact, Amazon’s reach is so big that millions of potential readers will be able to buy your book through the Kindle store. Some estimate that there are over 30 million active Kindle users in just America and 150 million Kindles sold around the world. That’s a huge potential audience for your eBook!

And did we say it’s free? Yep. The cost to publish a book on Amazon is ZERO and you can get up to 70% of each sale. That’s a big cut.

Choosing a Niche

The first place to start when setting up an online publishing business is to find a niche to write about. Since you’ll need a book to sell, think of something you know a lot about. Or a passion you have. Maybe it’s all the top spots in your area for fly fishing. Or 25 ways to braid your hair. Pick a topic you love and can talk about forever. Something you’re an expert in or are just really curious about.

There’s really a market for anything these days. Find a unique niche you can focus on with a target audience instead of choosing a broad category, like self-help or something. If you pick too broad of a category, you could accidentally end up competing against top authors and your book would get lost in the mix.

Research some of the most popular book genres on Amazon right now and see if you can find an idea that would make you stand out from the crowd.

And be sure to check out our longer guide on how to publish on Amazon to see more detail of the steps. From proofreading, editing and formatting to actually publishing and marketing it, we walk you through everything you need to know.

Make Some Ugly Pancakes

Another tip. Publishing books is a lot like making pancakes. This analogy will help you understand more of how to be successful with self-publishing (and also probably make you a little hungry for flapjacks).

If you’ve ever tried making homemade pancakes, the first pancake you put in the pan doesn’t always come out that great. You’re still trying to figure out how hot the pan should be, how long you should leave the pancake on the pan and if the batter is right. So your first pancake is usually the worst one—maybe a little burnt or undercooked.

But then, once you learn, the rest come out much better. Maybe they’ll be so good your friends and family will even want to try one!

This is the perfect self-publishing analogy. Your first book you publish—since it’s the first time you’ve ever done it—is not going to be perfect. It might not even be that good—and that’s fine. At least it’s something. A start. Get the first book out of the way and then move on to a longer book, maybe using a ghostwriter to help.

This is why our AI Publishing Academy starts with a 7-day challenge. The best thing to do is start small, practice making your first pancake (book), and prove to yourself you can make money from this. Don’t invest that much time and money into it and just learn how the process works. You can carry those learnings into your next books and you’ll be making money in no time.

Again, the point of creating your first book is not to get rich. It’s to practice, to start down the road, and to prove to yourself that it’s possible. To make money from publishing even if you’ve never considered yourself as an author. Over time, your books will bring in profits and these profits will add up.

Remember, the first book sale is the hardest one to make, but it’s the most life-changing!

Bet on Yourself

So much more could be said about the ins and outs of self-publishing with KDP. That’s why we’ve created an entire course that shows you how to do it.

Now is the best time for you to place a bet on yourself and take some risks. When you’re young, before you don’t have all those bills piling up and you’re really adulting.

But the reality is that starting a self-publishing online business isn’t even that risky. Once you dig into it, you’ll be shocked at how quickly you start to bring in some real profits. By self-publishing with KDP, you’ll unlock more time in your busy college schedule and also have more flexibility and control over your income. Everyday people around the world are creating and selling digital products on Amazon and building their dream life.

To get started, check out our free webinar and tap into the power of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.