I am testing a variety of side hustles, but one of my favorites is creating blank paper notebooks through KDP on Amazon. I know people have been making these for years, but this is a recent turn for me. Over the course of the next couple of months, not only will I continue designing covers for the notebooks, but I’ll be sharing how this side hustle compares with some of my other ones.
This post includes Amazon affiliate links and direct links to products I am selling through KDP. If you buy them, I will receive a small percentage of the sales as a commission. You’d be shocked how little.
My Favorite Notebooks So Far
I have designed motivational notebooks, retro-inspired notebooks, and atmospheric notebooks. So far, my favorites are the Halloween notebooks. The funny thing is that they aren’t specifically for Halloween (except for the one for children). Most of these Halloween notebooks are actually blank, lined creative writing journals with eerie elements, such as fog rolling through trees, deep and murky trash-filled water, or a dark church against an orange sky.
The one with a ghostly hand reaching for the door handle or the spider web journal definitely leans toward Halloween. Still, horror/thriller writers could easily gravitate toward these paper notebooks at any time of the year. I don’t even write much horror, and I get inspired looking at them!
Why Did I Decide on this Notebook Side Hustle?
Much to my dismay, I got Covid after four years of dodging it. Andy brought it home (no idea where he got it), and we both went down with it. In fact, I tested positive for 17 days! So, while recovering, I needed to find something creative and new to do at home. Voila! I started working in Canva to create some notebook covers.
Why notebooks? I use paper notebooks. I use them for to-do lists. Brainstorming works better for me when I put pen to paper rather than typing on a computer. Stream-of-consciousness writing is more successful me when written by hand. I wanted to create something fun or inspiring that I would actually use.
Side Hustle Video
I was so excited by how the notebooks turned out that I even made a side hustle short on YouTube.
Side Hustle Results So Far
I’ve made two sales so far on KDP, which feels pretty exciting. I’m told you don’t start seeing sales until you’ve made nearly 100 notebooks. I’m considering it. I like the black and white ones for an artsy vibe, and I finally used one of my favorite gray/blue-scale photos of a tree overlooking the ocean in Santa Monica for one of the covers. I do have hundreds of travel photos that would look great on new covers. So, it’s possible.
If you are curious about how I did this, let me know. I’ll link you to the tutorials so you can get started creating your own blank notebooks.
Stay tuned for more info on each of my side hustles!