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The coloring book hype and other strange phenomena
2 years ago
General
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Alleged ways to get rich fast have been around since money itself was invented.
A few years ago, there was a lot of hype about selling t-shirts on Amazon. YouTube was flooded with videos of people who claimed to be making hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month by uploading simple designs and selling them as t-shirts. Some of them weren’t even artists; their t-shirts had just text, like a funny quote or something relevant to current events and trends. I have made t-shirts with my art since on-demand services existed, mostly for my use and as gifts for friends.
I gave the Amazon system a try and nothing sold. I assumed it’s because I’m not a known artist (though neither were those claiming to be making a fortune with their MsPaint designs) and perhaps because I’m out of touch with what’s popular or trendy.
Now, the new hype is “low content books”. There are books you can self-publish with the Amazon service, mostly coloring or activity books, which don’t require being a good writer to make. Some say they are doing it using AI or free clipart found on the Internet, so they practically put together a book in no time, sit back and watch the money roll in.
Search for it on YouTube and you'll be flooded with videos of people claiming to be making five or six figures with it while putting a minimum of effort. As I said, it sounds too good to be true. I don’t doubt there is a market for coloring books, but these people make it look like it’s the new Gold Rush.
Two more things make me even more suspicious. These videos have lots of very positive comments, all thanking the creator and even saying they tried their method and it works. We all know anything posted on the Internet will generate at least some drama and arguments, but the comment sections of these videos look suspiciously sanitized. Those are either fake or heavily moderated comments.
The other thing is… if this no-effort way to make money was really true, why would those people be sharing their secret? Wouldn’t they be creating lots of competition for their own business, even ruining their gig by saturating the marker?
So the cynic in me tells me the real money maker here is somewhere else. Either these people are clickbaiting others to sell their tutorials on how to start your own coloring book empire, or Amazon itself is paying them to advertise their services.
Here are examples of those videos
So, what's your opinion of the “low content book” fad?
Have you created and sold a coloring book?
What do you think of all this?
P.S. I have enough inked pictures in my pile of unfinished projects to put together a so-called coloring book right now. But this whole thing smells fishy to me
( ･ั (oo) ･ั )
A few years ago, there was a lot of hype about selling t-shirts on Amazon. YouTube was flooded with videos of people who claimed to be making hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month by uploading simple designs and selling them as t-shirts. Some of them weren’t even artists; their t-shirts had just text, like a funny quote or something relevant to current events and trends. I have made t-shirts with my art since on-demand services existed, mostly for my use and as gifts for friends.
I gave the Amazon system a try and nothing sold. I assumed it’s because I’m not a known artist (though neither were those claiming to be making a fortune with their MsPaint designs) and perhaps because I’m out of touch with what’s popular or trendy.
Now, the new hype is “low content books”. There are books you can self-publish with the Amazon service, mostly coloring or activity books, which don’t require being a good writer to make. Some say they are doing it using AI or free clipart found on the Internet, so they practically put together a book in no time, sit back and watch the money roll in.
Search for it on YouTube and you'll be flooded with videos of people claiming to be making five or six figures with it while putting a minimum of effort. As I said, it sounds too good to be true. I don’t doubt there is a market for coloring books, but these people make it look like it’s the new Gold Rush.
Two more things make me even more suspicious. These videos have lots of very positive comments, all thanking the creator and even saying they tried their method and it works. We all know anything posted on the Internet will generate at least some drama and arguments, but the comment sections of these videos look suspiciously sanitized. Those are either fake or heavily moderated comments.
The other thing is… if this no-effort way to make money was really true, why would those people be sharing their secret? Wouldn’t they be creating lots of competition for their own business, even ruining their gig by saturating the marker?
So the cynic in me tells me the real money maker here is somewhere else. Either these people are clickbaiting others to sell their tutorials on how to start your own coloring book empire, or Amazon itself is paying them to advertise their services.
Here are examples of those videos
So, what's your opinion of the “low content book” fad?
Have you created and sold a coloring book?
What do you think of all this?
P.S. I have enough inked pictures in my pile of unfinished projects to put together a so-called coloring book right now. But this whole thing smells fishy to me
( ･ั (oo) ･ั )
Mayby posting this here makes me an accomplice
( ಠಿ (oo) ಠ )
Or maybe it was someone in the company pretending to buy to give me more confidence.
I'm not very good at lying.
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
Tangent but I insist it’s relevant.
I’ve published some erotica on Amazon and made some money but their content restrictions are vague and arbitrary and randomly enforced. Last year a lot of my books that had previous been okay started getting shadow-banned. Asking them what’s wrong gets very vague responses. I took them all down lest my KDP account get suspended. Not that I’m eager to publish through them again.
Mind you my idea of what constitutes “normal sex” isn’t in synch with the general population and that’s going to cause me problems.
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
Which last I’ve sworn off writing.
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
I happen to know someone who made a few bucks a decade ago by selling T-shirts on specialized online platforms. He would invest a few evenings each month creating a couple of designs and posting them online, spending no more than a few hours per tee. He sourced images from Google Images and other platforms, combining them to create crossover jokes (like Batman + Game of Thrones), playing with colors, and transforming characters and logos into black and white figures. Surprisingly, he wasn't threatened by intellectual property regulations, as it seemed to be tolerated during that period.
From my perspective, identifying niche passions, leveraging obscure pop-culture references, and capitalizing on viral internet content, then transforming them into artworks suitable for a tee-shirt, requires both artistic and social talent.
I vaguely recall that he would also revamp existing designs on the platform if he believed he could create a better version. Unsuccessful attempts were discarded, leaving only the best-selling items.
It's worth noting that every time someone shares a success story and how they earn money, it's either a scam or an individual with incentives to portray themselves as successful—often because people admire self-made businessmen and success stories. The true beneficiaries are the platforms (Amazon, Google Play, etc.) that collect fees at various stages. I wouldn't be surprised if these platforms encourage individuals to share success stories in one way or another.
I fell for it when I attempted to publish a game on Android phones during the trend of creating the next "Flappy Bird." I paid for developer access and was offered the option to pay for ads for my game. Despite publishing my game, nothing happened because there is no feasible way for an individual to succeed, even if they create a true masterpiece. It dawned on me that if I paid for ads, I might have seen my game installed by users, generating income from the ads displayed in my game. Upon reflection, it seemed like the epitome of a Ponzi scheme.
( ᐢ (oo) ᐢ )
I also tried to make a game back in those times. Thought I was not thinking of making money out of it, I just thought it would be great to make my comic into some kind of roleplaying game, maybe the digital version of those "make your own adventure" books from the 80s. I bought some books and software that promised to teach how to make your own game without knowing any programming. After a lot of trial and error, I gave up. It was another false promise, the gimmick was you could make a game with no programming involved "just drag and drop stuff". In reality, you still needed to learn a form of coding to make it work, they just called it "scripts" instead of "programming" but it made no difference, it all looked like Chinese to me. ( x (oo) x )