How to Sell Coloring Books on Amazon KDP and Etsy, and What Each Sale Makes

Coloring book line-up and listing planner

Choose who will color the book, the theme, how many designs, the size, the paper and where you will sell it. The planner counts the pages with a blank back behind each design, checks KDP's 24-page minimum, works out the printing cost and what a copy pays at three prices, outlines the files for an Etsy printable, and writes a list of designs that rotates subjects, poses and settings so no two pages look alike. It runs in your browser with KDP's and Etsy's figures as of 23 September 2026.

What a 30-design coloring book pays on Amazon

One book, worked through with Amazon's published figures. It has a title page, a copyright page and 30 designs, each followed by a blank page: 62 pages at 8.5 x 8.5 inches, black ink on white paper, sold on Amazon.com. The sums are the same at 8.5 x 11. KDP prints each copy when someone orders it and takes the printing cost out of the royalty, so the calculation needs three numbers: the printing cost, the royalty rate and the price.

Printing costs $2.84. KDP charges a flat fee for black-ink paperbacks of 24 to 110 pages: $2.30 at regular trims and $2.84 at large trims. A trim is large when it is wider than 6.12 inches or taller than 9, and both coloring sizes are. Many coloring guides quote $2.30, which is the price at regular trims such as 6 x 9. Using it makes each copy look $0.54 more profitable at $9.99 than it is.

The rate is 60% or 50%. On Amazon.com a paperback listed at $9.99 or more earns 60% of the list price, and one at $9.98 or less earns 50%. Printing comes off after that.

Half-cent results are rounded to the nearest cent here; KDP's Rights & Pricing screen shows the figure it pays. Sources: KDP's Paperback Printing Cost (the formula, the black-ink table and the large-trim rule) and Paperback Royalty (the 50% and 60% bands by store), read on 23 September 2026.

Five things the table shows

The blank backs are free. Printed back to back, the same 30 designs would be 32 pages and cost $2.84, exactly the same, because black-ink printing is flat from 24 to 110 pages. That flat band covers up to 54 designs with blank backs. Past it the price climbs slowly: a 60-design book with blank backs is 122 pages and costs $3.07.

$9.99 is the price that matters. At $9.98 the book pays $2.15; one cent more pays $3.15. Price a kids' book below $9.99 and every sale earns the 50% rate: at $7.99 this book pays about $1.16. That is a real choice, not a mistake, if the lower price sells more copies, but make it knowing the number. Our KDP royalties 2026 guide sets the paperback and Kindle rules side by side.

KDP will not let you go below $5.68. Its lowest allowed price is the printing cost divided by the 50% rate, so at that price the royalty is zero. A coloring book is one of the cheapest paperbacks to print, so a low price is always allowed; below about $7 each copy pays cents rather than dollars.

Libraries and bookshops are not an option. KDP's Expanded Distribution, which makes a paperback orderable by bookshops and libraries, lists "Coloring books" among the content its distributors do not accept, so every copy of a coloring book sells through Amazon itself or through your own hands.

The paper changes the sums. The table below is the same 62-page book on each paper KDP offers.

Groundwood saves $0.09 a copy and is the wrong paper for most coloring books: KDP's groundwood paper page describes it as the choice for "paperback novels and text-heavy books" and says books with heavy ink coverage are not recommended on it, "to prevent the ink from showing through the pages". Premium colour ink is the trick some sellers use to get heavier paper for markers, and at 62 pages it costs $5.96 to print, which leaves $0.03 a copy at $9.99. It only adds up at a higher price, and once published the ink and paper type cannot be switched between black and colour.

The same book in other Amazon stores

Each store has its own printing cost and its own 60% line. On Amazon.co.uk the 62-page book costs £2.15 to print, KDP's lowest allowed price is £4.30, and at £7.99, where 60% starts, it pays £2.64. On the German, French, Spanish and Italian stores the 62-page book costs €2.48 to print, KDP's lowest allowed price is €4.96, and at €9.99, where 60% starts, it pays €3.51. On Amazon.ca the 62-page book costs C$3.53 to print, KDP's lowest allowed price is C$7.06, and at C$13.99, where 60% starts, it pays C$4.86. On Amazon.com.au the 62-page book costs A$5.28 to print, KDP's lowest allowed price is A$10.56, and at A$13.99, where 60% starts, it pays A$3.11. In Canada and Australia the 60% rate starts at 13.99 in local currency, so a coloring book priced like a US one earns 50% there. The planner above switches between stores.

Can you make money selling coloring books?

Price, minus what the printer and the store keep, times the copies you sell. The first two are known before you draw a line. The third is the one nobody can hand you: we see that a book was sent to Etsy or Gumroad from the app, but no store tells us what sold, and anyone quoting a typical monthly income for coloring books is usually quoting the sellers who did well. Here are worked examples instead, each labelled as one, using the per-copy figures above.

What sellers who keep selling tend to do

They pick a buyer before a theme. "Bold and easy coloring for adults who like cozy kitchens" is a book someone searches for; "a coloring book" is not. They make every page different, because a buyer flicking through the sample and seeing the same cat in the same pose four times is unlikely to buy, and KDP itself rules out content that is "not significantly different" from another book or "excessively reused, recycled, or repeated within or across books". They publish a series, one theme per volume in the same style, so each book sells the next. And they sell the same designs twice, as a paperback on Amazon and a printable on Etsy. None of that guarantees sales, and a first coloring book that sells a handful of copies to friends is a normal first book.

Why "publish fifty a week" does not work any more

KDP limits how many titles you can create to 2 per book format each week, according to its Create a Book and Paperback Submission Guidelines pages as they read on 23 September 2026. Two paperbacks a week is still plenty for a careful series, and nowhere near enough for the flood-the-category approach some older guides describe. And KDP's content guidelines make you responsible for everything in the book, AI-made images included, meeting its rules, which cover other people's rights: coloring books of cartoon characters, film characters, sports teams or brand logos you do not own put the book, and the account behind it, at risk.

What goes on the other side of the ledger

• The designs. On Inkfluence AI each design uses one picture from your plan's monthly allowance, and so does the colour cover, plus a character sheet when the book has a recurring character. Creator ($9.99 a month) includes 20 pictures and Premium ($19.99) 50; extra pictures use one chapter credit each. A 30-design book is 31 or 32 pictures.
• Proof copies. A proof costs the printing price plus shipping and is marked "Not for Resale". Order one before you publish and colour a page with markers.
• Listing fees. Etsy charges $0.20 to list and $0.20 again each time a copy sells. KDP charges nothing to publish.
• Ads. Amazon ads and Etsy ads are optional and paid for as you go; Etsy's Offsite Ads charge only when an ad makes a sale.
• Tax. Amazon, Etsy and Gumroad handle sales tax on their own sales in most places. What you sell by hand, and the income from all of it, is yours to report.

Where to sell a coloring book

Coloring books sell to two kinds of buyer: someone who wants a nice printed book, often as a present, and someone who wants pages to print for a rainy afternoon or a classroom, today, for a few dollars. Amazon serves the first and Etsy the second, and one set of designs can serve both.

Amazon: how to sell coloring books on Amazon KDP

Create a paperback on your KDP bookshelf. The settings that matter for a coloring book: a title that names the theme and a subtitle that names the reader ("A Bold and Easy Coloring Book for Adults"), a description that says how many designs, that each is printed on its own page with a blank back, the size, and whether it suits markers; categories and keywords that match the theme; for a children's book, a reading age, because KDP says a children's book without one may not be eligible for children's categories and will not appear in age-specific search. Leave Low-content unticked. On the content page take the free KDP ISBN, choose black ink and white paper, the trim you exported, and No bleed if your designs sit inside the margins, then upload the interior and the full wrap cover, answer the AI content questions, and use the Print Previewer to check every page. Order a proof before you press publish.

KDP only prints paperbacks for some of Amazon's stores. Its printing cost page notes that Amazon.in, Amazon.com.br and Amazon.com.mx do not support paperback distribution, so a seller in India reaches Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and the European stores with a KDP paperback, and reaches local buyers with a printable PDF.

One more KDP detail that trips coloring sellers up: blank pages. KDP allows no more than four consecutive blank pages at the start or in the middle of a manuscript and ten at the end. One blank page behind each design is fine; a run of blanks at the end to pad out the page count is not. For the full paperback set-up, the KDP paperback guide goes screen by screen.

Kindle: skip it

KDP's Guide to Kindle Content Quality says some books "are simply not well suited to the Kindle format", including "any kind of book where the main purpose is to allow the reader to write or color on the pages", and names coloring books, puzzle books, blank journals and pattern books. It warns that such books may be rejected on submission or removed from sale. The paperback and a printable are the two formats for a coloring book.

Etsy: how to sell coloring pages as printables

Etsy is where people search for coloring pages to print: a birthday party activity, a classroom set, a quiet-time pack, a single mandala. List a printable as a digital item and choose instant download, and Etsy delivers the files as soon as someone pays. Etsy's help article How to Manage Your Digital Listings (read in an archived copy of 9 August 2026, because Etsy blocks automated readers) sets the limits: up to five files per listing, 20MB each, as PDF, PNG, JPG or ZIP among other types; file names of up to 70 characters using letters, numbers, periods, underscores or hyphens, which buyers see exactly as you upload them; and no variations on digital listings, so a Letter and a square version go in the same listing as two files rather than as options. What goes in those five files is in the printable package section below.

Fees, as on our travel guide page: $0.20 to list, renewed at $0.20 each time a copy sells, 6.5% of the sale and, for US shops, 3% + $0.25 payment processing. A $3.99 printable keeps about $3.16, a $4.99 one $4.07 and a $7.99 bundle $6.78. The Etsy selling guide covers opening a shop.

Printed copies can go on Etsy too. Etsy's Creativity Standards name "a coloring book designed and illustrated by a seller and printed and bound by a production partner" as an example of an allowed item, provided you disclose the production partner and where the book ships from. KDP author copies at the printing cost are the simplest stock for that, and a book bundled with a set of pencils makes a gift listing rather than a book listing.

Gumroad and your own site

Gumroad turns a link into a checkout and a download, and handles the sales tax as merchant of record. It suits a teacher selling a classroom set to other teachers, an artist whose followers want this month's pages, or a club selling a fundraiser book. A sale through your own link pays 10% + $0.50 plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing, so a $4.99 PDF keeps about $3.55; a sale found through Gumroad's Discover marketplace pays a flat 30% and keeps $3.49. A card payment link on your own site keeps the most, 2.9% + $0.30 per sale, and brings no buyers of its own. The Gumroad selling guide goes through each screen.

In person: fairs, markets and the gift shop

A coloring book is easy to sell by hand because the buyer can flick through it. Order author copies from your KDP bookshelf at the printing cost, $2.84 for the book above plus shipping, and sell them at craft fairs, Christmas markets and school fairs, with a sample page and pencils on the table for children to try. Gift shops, garden centres and cafés that sell cards sometimes take a local maker's books on consignment: they stock a few copies, pay you an agreed share when they sell, and return the rest. Adult bold and easy books can also suit people buying for someone else, such as a grandparent with shaky hands or a relative in hospital, so large clear designs and a note on the cover about the style help.

Print specs for a coloring book on KDP

The rules that decide whether a coloring book prints well, from KDP's help pages as they stood on 23 September 2026.

• 24 pages minimum, counting every page, and KDP rounds an odd page count up to an even one.
• One blank page behind each design is the convention for books that will meet markers, because KDP prints both sides of every sheet. It is allowed: KDP's limit is four blank pages in a row in the middle of a book.
• Bleed is only needed if art runs to the edge of the page. Most coloring pages sit inside the margins, so choose No bleed. With bleed, every page is 0.125 inches wider and 0.25 inches taller than the trim, and art must extend past the trim line.
• Margins: at least 0.25 inches at the top, bottom and outside (0.375 with bleed), and 0.375 inches on the inside for books of 24 to 150 pages.
• Images: KDP asks for at least 300 DPI. Order a proof and look at the thin lines at arm's length; soft or stepped edges show up in print before they show on screen.
• Spine: white paper adds 0.002252 inches a page, so the 62-page book has a spine of 0.140 inches and a full cover, with bleed, of 17.390 x 8.75 inches at 8.5 x 8.5. Cream adds 0.0025 inches a page and premium colour 0.002347. KDP rejects spine text on books under about 80 pages.
• ISBN and barcode: the free KDP ISBN is available because a coloring book is not low-content. KDP places a barcode in a 2 by 1.2 inch white box at the bottom right of the back cover unless you supply one, and covers anything you put there.

White, cream or groundwood: which paper, and why the blank backs

KDP's black-ink papers are white and cream at 50 to 61 lb (74 to 90 GSM, varying by printing location) and groundwood at 45 lb (60 GSM); premium colour prints on 60 to 71 lb white paper. At these weights an alcohol marker can soak through, and the thinner the paper the more a felt tip shows. That is the whole case for a blank page behind each design: the ghost lands on a blank page instead of the next drawing. Pencils and crayons barely mark the reverse, which is why some kids' books print on both sides and say "best with crayons and pencils" in the description.

Choose white. Coloring buyers expect the colour on the page to match the pen, and cream shifts every colour warm. Groundwood's lower printing cost is real, $2.75 against $2.84 for the book above, and KDP's own page says books with heavy ink coverage are not recommended for it, and that it may move such books to white or cream if they print badly. If buyers will use markers, say so on the listing and suggest a sheet of card behind the page; it is cheaper than heavier paper and works on any book.

What the Inkfluence AI export gives you, and what it does not

The Coloring book format makes 12 to 40 designs a book (20 to start) and exports them at 8.5 x 8.5 inches, the default, or US Letter, 8.5 x 11. The PDF and the KDP package both put a blank page behind every design. Export, then KDP, downloads a zip with the interior manuscript, the full wrap cover (back, spine and front with 0.125 inches of bleed), a front cover image, and a READ ME with the trim, page count and spine width. The cover designer's Print tab starts on black and white on white paper, which is the right setting for a coloring book, so the spine in the wrap cover matches white paper without changing anything. Designs sit inside the page margins, so choose No bleed on KDP.

Each design carries a short line of words in the editor. By default the export prints the art alone; turn on "Print the words under each design" in the export dialog, after editing the words, and they print centred beneath each design in the PDF, the KDP package, the EPUB and the DOCX. The PDF exports on every plan; the KDP package, EPUB and DOCX come with a paid plan or a credit pack.

What it does not make: an A4 PDF (the square file prints on A4 with Fit to page, slightly reduced), single pages as separate image files, a hardcover, or a Kindle edition, which KDP would not want for a coloring book anyway. For a printable, delete the blank pages from the exported PDF in any PDF editor before you upload it, so a home printer gives one design per sheet.

How to make and sell a coloring book, step by step

From a theme to a paperback on Amazon and a printable on Etsy. The planner's button is the quick way into step 4; the coloring book video walkthrough shows steps 4 and 5 on screen.

1. 1. Pick the buyer, then the theme

   Decide who will hold the pen: a toddler with chunky crayons, a child of six, a teenager, an adult who wants detail, an adult who wants something calm and simple. Then choose a theme narrow enough to be searched for. Look at the first page of Amazon results for it and note page counts, prices and what the one-star reviews complain about; for coloring books, look for complaints about the paper, repeated pages and line art that is too fine for the age.

2. 2. Price it before you make it

   Put the reader, the number of designs, the size and the paper into the planner. If the books beside yours sell at $6.99, you now know that a copy pays about $0.66 there and $3.15 at $9.99, and can decide which fight you are in.

3. 3. Plan designs that differ

   List ten or more different things to draw and vary how each appears: a whole scene, a close-up, a pair, at night. The planner's line-up does this for you and never puts the same subject in the same pose twice.

4. 4. Make the book

   In Inkfluence AI choose New Book, then Coloring book as the book type, and type the theme with who it is for and the number of pages ("a bold and easy coloring book for adults about a cozy kitchen, 30 pages"). The plan screen lists every page before anything is drawn: rename, reorder, remove and add pages there, and rewrite any page's description to match a line of your line-up. Then create the book. A book with a recurring character draws a character sheet first so the character matches on every page.

5. 5. Check every design

   Look for outlines that do not close, detail too small for the age, stray shading, and two pages that look alike, and redraw any page that is wrong (each redraw uses one picture). If you will print words under the designs, edit them now.

6. 6. Export the KDP package

   Choose 8.5 x 8.5 or US Letter in the export dialog, switch on "Print the words under each design" if you want them, and export the KDP package. Open the READ ME in the zip and note the page count and spine width. Export the PDF at both sizes for the printable while you are there.

7. 7. Publish the paperback on KDP

   Create a paperback. Leave Low-content unticked; set a reading age for a children's book; take the free KDP ISBN; choose black ink and white paper, the same trim, and No bleed; upload the KDP Manuscript and the full wrap cover; answer yes to AI-generated images if the designs were drawn with AI. Check every page in the Print Previewer and order a proof.

8. 8. Set the price and publish

   On Rights & Pricing, set a price that pays what you worked out in step 2, $9.99 or more on Amazon.com for the 60% rate, and check the royalty KDP shows for each store. Publish once the proof has been coloured in and looks right.

9. 9. List the printable

   Delete the blank pages from the PDFs, write the how-to-print sheet and list on Etsy as an instant download, or send the book to Etsy or Gumroad from Publish in Inkfluence AI and replace the EPUB with your PDFs there. Disclose the AI in the description.

10. 10. Make the next one

    Start volume two in the same style with a new theme, add it to a KDP series, and link the books in each description. Keep a note of what sells where; it is the only sales data you will ever own.

How to market a coloring book

A coloring book is bought on sight: the cover, then two or three pages. Most of the marketing is showing those well to the person already looking.

• Show the pages. The Look Inside sample shows about a fifth of the book, blank backs included. Add A+ Content on the Amazon detail page with three or four designs full size, and use the same images as Etsy listing photos, one of them partly coloured.
• Say the facts buyers check. Number of designs, single-sided or not, size, line style, and what to colour with. "40 single-sided designs, 8.5 x 11, thick lines, markers welcome" answers the questions that otherwise become one-star reviews.
• Publish in series. One theme per volume, the same style and cover layout across the series, linked on KDP. A buyer who finished Garden Friends looks for more of the same.
• Mind the calendar. Christmas, Halloween, Easter and back to school each have a buying window; a seasonal book needs to be live, with a few honest reviews, before it opens.
• Give a page away. One free printable design in exchange for an email address is the classic way to build a list you can tell about the next volume; the lead magnet generator helps with the rest of the freebie.
• Ask for honest reviews. Ask buyers to review the book; never ask for a particular rating or offer anything in return.