How to Make Money Selling Coloring Books on Amazon (yes, it’s as fun as it sounds!)
What if I told you that a single coloring book could earn you $10,000 a month—without any inventory, shipping, or even leaving your house? It might sound too good to be true, but it’s not. Thousands of coloring books are being sold on Amazon every single month, and many creators are earning four and even five figures from just one book.
And the best part? You can get started with zero upfront investment and a bit of creative fun.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through how to start your own coloring book business on Amazon using print-on-demand. You’ll learn how to research bestselling ideas, create beautiful books (with or without your own illustrations), and publish them step-by-step using Book Bolt and Amazon KDP.
Let’s dive in!
Why Coloring Books Are a Great Passive Income Opportunity
I love finding business ideas that are low risk, fun, and scalable. And selling coloring books checks all three boxes.
Here’s why:
No inventory needed – You don’t have to spend money upfront to print books or ship them. With Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), your books are printed and shipped on demand.
Super low startup cost – You can create and publish an entire book using free or low-cost tools.
Creative and fulfilling – You get to build a brand, design products, and create something that people—especially kids—will enjoy.
But let me be real with you: it’s also a competitive space. Since it’s so accessible, there are a lot of coloring books out there.
Which brings us to our next point…
How to Stand Out in a Saturated Market
Ready to Sell Your Own Coloring Book on Amazon? Start With Book Bolt.
Better tools = better books… and a whole lot less work for you.
Yes, the coloring book niche is crowded—but that doesn’t mean you can’t carve out your own profitable corner.
The key is to create a unique book that connects with a specific audience. You don’t want just another generic "princess coloring book." Instead, you want to create something memorable, high quality, and part of a brand that people come back to.
Here's how to make your coloring book stand out:
Choose a Popular, Profitable Niche
You want to find a niche that:
People are actively searching for
Isn’t oversaturated with copycat products
Gives you creative room to shine
To do this, use Book Bolt’s keyword research tool. You can search for terms like “coloring book” and see which specific themes are getting the most monthly searches.
Some examples:
Cozy coloring book
Bird watching coloring book
Princess coloring book
Dino-and coloring book
Even niche ideas like “Catitude coloring book” are generating thousands of searches per month.
💡 Pro tip: Don’t chase just the most popular term. Instead, focus on a niche where you can add a unique twist—maybe by designing your own characters or combining themes in a new way.
Step-by-Step: How to Create Your Coloring Book Using Book Bolt
Once you’ve picked your niche, it’s time to build your book. Here's how to do it using Book Bolt, which makes this process so much easier—even for beginners.
Step 1: Set Up Your Book Project
Open Book Bolt Studio and create a new project:
Choose “Paperback”
Select “Cover and Interior”
Use the 8.5 x 11 size (standard for coloring books)
Pick “Black and white interior with white paper”
Choose “Bleed” so images can go to the page edge
Set your page count around 25–30 pages (this keeps creation time low and profit margins high)
Step 2: Design Your Coloring Pages with AI
You don’t need to be an artist!
Book Bolt includes an AI image generator that can create coloring book illustrations based on your prompts. Just type in a detailed description like “a princess in a flowing gown walking through a castle garden,” and the AI will generate options for you.
When generating:
Choose the “Precise” mode for higher quality
Use the “Coloring Book” style so the images are black and white and easy to color
Double-check for weird AI artifacts (like extra fingers 👀)
Leave the backs of coloring pages blank to avoid bleed-through from markers
You can tweak or regenerate images until you get exactly what you want.
Step 3: Design a Beautiful, Branded Cover
Your book’s cover is the first impression—it needs to pop in the Amazon search results.
Using the same AI image tool, switch the style to “Illustration” so the cover image is in color. Design a front and back cover that reflects your book’s theme. You can add elegant text like "Princesses: A Magical Coloring Book" in a royal-looking font.
Book Bolt makes it easy to format the cover perfectly for Amazon KDP specs. You can even match the spine color to your character’s dress for a professional look! 👗👑
Step 4: Download and Publish on Amazon KDP
When your book is finished:
Download the interior file and cover file from Book Bolt.
Go to kdp.amazon.com and start a new paperback book.
Fill out your book details (title, author name, description, keywords).
Upload your files.
Set your pricing.
Order a proof copy to check the print quality (highly recommended).
Once approved, your book will go live on Amazon—within 72 hours!
✅ Important: If you use AI to generate images, be sure to mark the “AI-generated content” checkbox during the publishing process. Amazon doesn’t penalize you—they just want transparency.
Bonus: Turn Your Coloring Book Into a Storybook Too
This part is optional, but I couldn’t resist sharing it!
Book Bolt has another cool tool: an AI story generator. You can use it to create a fully illustrated children’s storybook with a consistent character throughout.
This opens up a whole new product line you could sell:
Storybooks
Story-coloring book hybrids
Educational workbooks with characters
The story generator creates both the story and the matching illustrations using your character’s design. So you could create a coloring book and a storybook featuring the same princess, dinosaur, or cat character. That’s how brands are built! 🙌
Final Thoughts: Why This Works
This coloring book business model works because it’s:
Low cost – You don’t need inventory, a warehouse, or an illustrator.
Scalable – You can make 1 book or 100 books and scale up gradually.
Creative – You get to make something fun and valuable.
In demand – Search volume for coloring books on Amazon is sky-high.
And when you use the right tools (like Book Bolt), the entire process becomes doable—even if you’ve never published anything before.
Ready to Create Your Own Coloring Book?
If this post inspired you to jump into the world of self-publishing, here’s your next step:
🎨 Use Book Bolt to research niches, design your coloring pages, and format your book for Amazon publishing.
✨ You can get 20% off your subscription with discount code GILLIAN20
Whether you’re dreaming of extra side income or launching a full-blown brand, this is a smart, creative place to start.
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