Professional Documents
Culture Documents
3 Step System To Low Content Publishing
3 Step System To Low Content Publishing
3 Step System To Low Content Publishing
To Publishing Your
First Low-Content Book
—in Less Than a Day
I’m Rachel Harrison-Sund, and after successfully creating my own 6-figure passive
income stream through self-publishing low-content books, I’m here to get you
started on your own self-publishing for passive income journey.
As a quick reminder, low-content books are books that contain little to no text or
images and are mainly repetitive in nature, such as:
• Journals
• Notebooks
• Diaries
• Daily Planners
• Guest Books
• Bullet Journals
• They’re quick to produce. You can go from idea generation to sales within just
a few days or less.
• They require no special technical knowledge, writing or design expertise
to create. You don’t need a website or an email list, there’s no writing
involved, and you can easily create your books without learning any
complicated software.
• They require little to no upfront investment. It’s possible to create low-
content books at zero cost, and even if you decide to outsource their creation
it’s incredibly cheap to do so .
• There’s no paid advertising, marketing efforts or major upkeep required.
After publishing your book, the income you generate is completely passive.
2
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
• You don’t need to carry any inventory. Your low-content books will be printed
on demand and shipped straight to the customer, meaning you won’t have
to store piles of books in the corner of your living room or deal with shipping
hassles or customer service.
Lined journals, diaries, and notebooks are by far the simplest type of low-content
book to create because they contain nothing but page after page of blank lines.
That’s why they’re the type of low-content book I recommend everyone get started
with, and why I chose to focus on a lined journal for this guide.
Before we dive straight in, I want to make clear that this guide is not to help you
create an instant bestseller that will allow you to quit your job tomorrow. It’s to get
you nice and familiar with the process so that you have a solid foundation on which
to build a real passive income business over time.
With that in mind, don’t spend any time over-thinking any step of the process for this
first run-through, or worrying about if the book you create will sell any copies right
out of the gate. Just get that first book published so that you can prove to yourself
that you can do this.
3
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
3 Steps to Publishing Your
First Low-Content Book
Idea Generation
1.NICHE RESEARCH
Idea Validation
Interior File
2.BOOK CREATION
Cover File
Paperback Details
Paperback Content
3.PUBLISH
Publish!
4
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 1 «
Niche Research
The niche research stage can be divided into two distinct parts that go hand-in-hand:
Idea Generation and Idea Validation.
Idea Generation
Once you’ve decided on a low-content book type—in this case a lined journal—take
a few minutes to brainstorm some ideas, thinking as broadly as possible. How many
different variations on a lined journal can you come up with?
After you’ve come up with at least 5 possible ideas for lined journals, you’ll then
validate each of your ideas to ensure they’re worthy of pursuit.
Idea Validation
The reason you want to validate your ideas is to avoid spending time creating a book
that no one will buy.
Firstly, you’re going to generate a list of keywords surrounding your book idea. This is
a list of words or short phrases that a real customer would type into Amazon’s search
bar if they were looking for your book. Think of as many as possible.
5
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 1 «
If I were a customer searching Amazon for a nature-themed journal, here are a few
keywords that I might type onto Amazon’s search bar:
As you can see, I’ve also used the words notebook and diary, as journals, notebooks
and diaries are similar, and the words are oftentimes used interchangeably.
Once you have a list of at least 15-20 possible keywords, begin validating each one
separately by asking the following questions:
Do you see any other related keywords in the drop-down? If so, jot those
down too, so they can also be validated and potentially used.
related keyword
6
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 1 «
2. Do any similar books already exist?
Once you’ve entered your keyword, what results do you get? Seeing similar
books can be further validation that a market exists for your idea. If you don’t
see any similar books, but you know that people have typed in your search
keyword from the previous step, then you might have found an untapped
market that is ripe for a book like yours.
books similar
to your idea
7
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 1 «
8
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 2 «
Use these four questions to validate each of the keywords on your list, as well as
any other related keywords you discovered in the drop-down menu. Scrap the more
competitive keywords and keep the more promising ones for later.
Once you’ve gone through the process of generating and validating a set of
keywords for each of the initial 5 ideas you came up with, pick the one that you think
has the most potential and move onto the book creation step.
Don’t over-think things or spend hours in this first stage. Remember: this is your
very first book and your main goal is to get familiar with the process without
worrying about the outcome.
9
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 3 «
Book Creation
Your finished book requires two separate files: the manuscript—the interior of your
book—and the cover. Both of these files can easily be created in the program of your
choice, as long as you have the option to export the files to PDF.
Manuscript File
For the interior of your first book you can create your own or use the standard-sized
6” x 9” lined journal template included with this guide.
Cover File
This is probably the most intimidating step for anyone who’s not a professional
designer, but you’re going to make it a cinch by using a few amazing and totally free
resources.
First, you want to decide on a title for your book. The title you choose must appear
on the front cover of your book. Choosing a subtitle is optional, and you don’t have to
include that on your cover.
Staying with our example, you might choose Nature Diary, Nature Lover’s Journal, or
some variation of one of your keywords.
After choosing a title, find some attractive imagery for your cover by browsing the
free stock image resources that I’ve listed at the back of this guide. Be sure to read
the license for each image so you’re not violating anyone’s copyright. If the image
requires attribution, you can include this in small letters on the back cover of your book.
Once you’ve downloaded the images you’d like to use, you can then download a free
cover template from KDP, entering the following details:
10
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 3 «
If you’re already comfortable with a particular design software, you can now open
your cover template in the program of your choice and begin creating your cover,
working within the guidelines of the template.
If you’re a complete newb, I highly recommend using Canva, a free online design
software, to create your cover. It’s incredibly simple to use, and produces beautiful,
high-quality designs in minutes. Click here to check out my video tutorial How to
Make Your Own Book Cover in Under 10 Minutes, Using Canva.
Once you’ve created your book cover, be sure to download your finished design as a
PDF.
As a final cover-creation option, you instead can use KDP’s Cover Creator, which is
available to you from within your KDP account. If you go this route, you won’t need
to download a cover template because Cover Creator will provide a template once
you’re inside, based on the trim size you entered.
To access Cover Creator, you’ll need to create and then login to your KDP account,
click on +Paperback, and then find it under the Paperback Content tab.
11
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 3 «
Publish
Congratulations! The work is done and you’re now ready to publish your first low-
content book!
If you haven’t already, head over to KDP to create your account. Once you’ve done
that you can move onto the publishing step.
Paperback Details
Login to your KDP account, click the +Create button.
These are the mandatory fields to fill out; all others are optional:
• Book Title: The title you enter here must be exactly as it appears on your book cover.
• Author: You can use your own name or choose a pen name.
• Description: Create a description that attempts to draw in potential customers.
• Publishing Rights: check I own the copyright and I hold all necessary publishing rights.
• Primary Marketplace: choose the Amazon marketplace where you expect
to make most of your sales. I recommend choosing Amazon.com, as it’s the
largest Amazon marketplace.
• Categories: Choose up to three categories that you think will help customers
find your book on Amazon. Read more about category selection here.
• Primary Audience: Under Adult only content, check No, unless your book does
contain adult content.
Adding keywords is optional, but it’s one of the most important ways for your book to
gain visibility in the Amazon store, so I recommend using all 7 slots.
Fortunately, you already came up with a list of keywords pertaining to your book
topic during the Niche Research step, so you can use those now to boost your book’s
visibility. Try to use keywords that you didn’t use in your title, as those are already
used to help customers find your book.
KDP does have several rules surrounding use of keywords, so be sure to read them here.
Once all necessary fields have been entered, hit Save and Continue.
12
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
» STE P 3 «
Paperback Content
Print ISBN: Select Publish without an ISBN. ISBNs are not necessary for low-content
books such as notebooks, planners, journals, and similar publications.
Print Options:
• Interior & Paper Type: black & white interior with white paper
• Trim Size: 6” x 9”
• Bleed Settings: no bleed
• Paperback Cover Finish: choose either matte or glossy finish
Book Cover: Upload the PDF of your cover. If you are using Cover Creator to create
your book cover, do so now.
Book Previewer: Click Launch Previewer to view a digital proof of your book. Follow
the Quality Check instructions on the left, and then click Approve. If you’ve made any
mistakes, click Exit Print Preview to go back and fix them.
Congratulations! You’ve now published your first low-content book and are well
on your way to making your very first sale!
13
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
Don’t Forget...
Your goal with this first book isn’t to earn $1,000—or even $10. It’s to familiarize
yourself with the process and realize that this is something you CAN do.
Remember, if you can learn how to make just $1 online, you can learn how to
make $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, or even $100,000 and beyond!
14
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
YOU’RE NOW READY TO
TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Feeling pumped about publishing your first low-content book, and ready to find out how to
turn your new skill into a passive income-generating machine?
• The 4 things you MUST do before beginning the creation of a low-content book. Most
people are missing one of these vital steps.
• The 5 Step Formula for Writing a Book Description That Sells. A poorly written book
description WILL break the sale—don’t let this be you!
• Why most LC publishers throw in the towel, destroying their chance at a recurring
source of passive income. Don’t let yourself be brought down by these completely
avoidable traps!
• The 3 Mindset Musts for LCP success. Once you’ve got these down, success is INEVITABLE.
15
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com
Resources
16
©2023 R ACHEL HARRISON-SUND | ALL RIG HTS RESERVED | RachelHarrisonSund .com