How to Make Money on Amazon KDP Without Writing a Single Word

No, this is not clickbait. Ok, maybe it is a little. But still, hear us out. We’re being real with this one. Technology has come a long way since your parents first logged onto that revolutionary Apple I desktop computer that Steve Jobs and Wozniak created in their garage and sold for $666. Now we don’t even use the word “desktop” anymore. And supercomputer smartphones are in the hands of billions of people around the world.

The latest tech trend is artificial intelligence (AI). We’re sure you’ve heard of it. But do you know all the ways it’s revolutionizing the publishing industry? Well, we’re going to show you what’s happening with AI and how you can make money on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) without writing. Yes, you read that right.

Put your pen down and let’s dive in!

AI—In Everything Everywhere All at Once

Before looking into how AI is being used by authors, let’s take a quick stab at defining AI. First, it’s in everything now—from the cars we drive to airplanes, from data centers to online chatbots. It’s even found a way to sneak into our refrigerators. (Cool!)

AI is one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in our time. So no wonder it’s being used everywhere. AI has broken out of science fiction books and into the mainstream with popular tools like ChatGPT, Frase and Jasper.

But how does AI actually work?

Artificial intelligence is essentially computer software that humans program in such a way that the computer learns by itself what to do. Machine learning or deep thinking are just two of the terms associated with AI.

But before you run to your underground bunker due to the machines taking over, AI still can’t actually think for themselves the way human beings think. Even most experts agree that’s a long way off.

Still, AI has become a lot more sophisticated recently and has even made big headlines with OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT 4.0. People are getting really excited about the potential time-savings and efficiencies that AI has unlocked.

Now, let’s learn how you can put AI to work for you to make money online with Amazon Publishing.

Amazon’s Amazing Self-Publishing Platform

Amazon isn’t just a place to buy an ostrich pillow, lightsaber chopsticks or bacon bandaids. It also offers writers like you a great place to make money off your work. Amazon’s KDP platform allows you to publish your book for free, pays up to 70% royalties on eBooks, and has a marketplace available to billions of readers around the world.

Today’s authors are tapping into the power of Amazon’s book publishing platform to share their work and build a passive income stream. (Passive income is money you make while just sitting around. In other words, it comes in while you’re being passive.)

In the olden days—before they first plugged in this thing called the world wide web—authors had to try to find an agent and then that agent had to try to find a publishing house. Sounds exhausting! Now with just the click of a few buttons, you can get your work out to the masses plus have much more creative control. The Internet has burst the dam and now anyone with a manuscript and a dream can become a published author.

But how can you actually make money on Amazon’s KDP without writing? Isn’t that what authors do—write? Keep reading.

AI Writing Power Tools

Writing is not for the faint of heart. Staring at that blank page with a deadline looming is one of the worst feelings—right up there with root canals. So wouldn’t you want to find a tool that can help take this burden off your plate?

Authors around the world are finding they can hack their writing process by leaning more and more on AI tools. This cutting-edge writing software is being used to write original content, help with research and even with proofreading and editing.  It means less time spent on writing and editing, allowing your content to be published faster. Some writers are reporting that they are doing their work in half the time it used to take them.

With AI authorship, you won’t have to spend so much time on brainstorming and drafting. AI can help you come up with new ideas for your book and help you choose a topic and the tone. It adapts to your subject matter to create high-quality content that will still connect with your readers.

Here are some of the most popular tools being used today:

• Frase
• Jasper
• ChatGPT
• Rytr

These tools can streamline your writing process, help you maintain consistency in your work and save you a ton of time and effort. AI dictionaries and thesaurus tools can help you take your vocab game to the next level. They can identify the best keywords and phrases for the best search engine optimization (SEO) so your work reaches the right audience. Finally, AI tools can also analyze data and trends. So you’ll have your own research agency dedicated to finding your next topic.

While AI won’t be completely replacing human writers in the near future, writers who leverage AI will have a huge advantage over writers who don’t. Let’s look at a few examples of entire books that have been written by AI recently.

Robot Fiction

A Japanese AI program wrote a novel called “The Day A Computer Writes A Novel." (Real original, guys.) But here’s the kicker. It made it past a literary contest’s first round! Another AI algorithm wrote a sci-fi thriller called "The Unseen." And a team of researchers created an AI that wrote a cookbook featuring some really good recipes! And check out this New Yorker piece by a writer who put ChatGPT to the test with some fiction writing.

But you might be wondering if readers actually liked these robot books. Well, so far, reader reviews of the books have been positive. Some readers report that they can't even tell a computer wrote them. And "The Day A Computer Writes A Novel" sold over 10,000 copies in Japan! Unbelievable.

And these examples are just the front edge of all that’s possible. AI is already transforming the publishing world and it’s time for you to grab a piece of the pie.

Who Gets Credit?

A real ethical question comes up with the rise of AI authorship. If an AI tool did much or most of the work, who really wrote it? Who gets credit for a book written by a computer? Does the author who prompted the work take credit still? Or does the computer get credit? Or what about the team of programmers or company behind the AI software? Will software engineers suddenly start accepting the National Book Award?

Is it ethical for a human writer to be given credit or receive an award or prize for something an AI computer model created?

Lots of questions here and it will be interesting to watch how all this plays out. For now, these concerns are still up in the air, so you have plenty of room to experiment and try new things with AI tools.

How AI Can Help You

We’ve already mentioned a bunch of ways these AI writing tools can help you publish on Amazon without even writing a word. Let’s summarize the benefits before wrapping up.

• Researching topics 
• Generating new and creative ideas
• Breaking through writer’s block 
• Creating outlines for articles, essays or books
• Develop characters, plot, dialogue and world-building
• Helping with proofreading and editing
• Writing content from scratch with your prompts

If you’re banging your head against the wall trying to come up with new plot ideas for your book, try giving that work to an AI tool. Provide it with an overview of your story and ask it to give you ideas for “what happens next.” You don't have to stress about writer's block or lack of inspiration anymore. AI allows you an infinite pool of information for your work.

Don’t let yourself be left behind when it comes to these cutting-edge tools. Instead, embrace the brave new world of AI writing.

By leaning into human and AI author collaborations, a whole new era of innovation and creativity is being unlocked.