Learning how to sell digital products on Amazon might be the best idea ever!
Why is this the case? We may say that selling digital products on Amazon offers a unique opportunity for creators to reach a massive audience and make money on Amazon. More than that, no inventory or shipping issues may arise while you sell digital downloads, regardless of the marketplace. For a new seller, not having to deal with inventory is a flexing!
Let’s keep you waiting no longer. In this article, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide on how to sell digital products on Amazon, including:
- Step 1: Research the opportunities and ideas;
- Step 2: Make Amazon digital downloads;
- Step 3: Create Amazon listings for digital products;
- Step 4: Upload your Amazon digital download listings;
- Step 5: Promote your listings.
Now, we get the ball rolling and get straight to the point – how can you sell digital products on Amazon?
Why Selling Digital Products on Amazon?
If you are an aspiring digital product creator, you might wonder why Amazon should be your platform of choice.
Selling digital products on Amazon opens up a world of opportunities, giving your creations vast exposure and the potential for lucrative earnings. In this guide about how to sell digital products on Amazon, we’ll explore why Amazon is the top marketplace for selling downloadable products.
1. Global reach and customer base
Amazon is not just a household name but a global eCommerce giant with an extensive customer base. With millions of active shoppers from various countries, selling digital products on Amazon has the potential to reach a vast audience worldwide.
2. Credibility and trust
As one of the most trusted online marketplaces, Amazon instills confidence in buyers. When you sell your digital products on Amazon, you benefit from the platform’s credibility. That makes customers more inclined to purchase from you.
3. Visibility and discoverability
Amazon’s powerful search and recommendation algorithms work in your favor, making your digital products more discoverable to potential buyers. By optimizing your product listings with relevant keywords, you increase the chances of appearing in relevant search results.
4. Quick start
Selling digital products on Amazon offers a quick and hassle-free start to your online business journey. Unlike traditional physical goods, you can begin to sell digital items on Amazon today, without the need for complex logistics or inventory management. With minimal upfront investment, you avoid the costs associated with warehouses, employees, and shipping.
5. Marketing opportunities
Amazon offers various marketing tools and promotional opportunities to Amazon digital sellers. Utilizing sponsored ads, deals, and discounts can help increase your digital products’ exposure and drive more sales.
6. Analytics and insights
Amazon also provides detailed analytics on your product’s performance, allowing you to analyze customer behavior and make informed decisions to optimize your sales strategy.
7. Fair revenue share
Amazon’s revenue share model for digital products is competitive and fair. You can keep significant earnings, giving you a viable revenue stream for your creative endeavors.
How to Sell Digital Products on Amazon in 5 Steps?
If you’re looking to sell digital products like eBooks or audiobooks, here’s how to sell digital products on Amazon:
1. Research the opportunities and ideas
2. Make Amazon digital downloads
3. Create Amazon listings for digital products
4. Upload your Amazon digital download listings
5. Promote your listings
Let’s go to the detail!
Step 1: Research the opportunities and ideas
During the exploration phase of selling digital downloads on Amazon, it is crucial to define your niche. When you’re on the way to finding the digital product you wish to sell on Amazon, it might be tempting to align it with your interests, passions, or hobbies. For instance, if you have a keen interest in photography, you might contemplate creating a digital photography book to share your expertise.
However, it is worth remembering that your initial niche doesn’t have to correlate with your personal interests directly. If you are willing to invest time and effort, you may discover lucrative business opportunities beyond your comfort zone. Numerous entrepreneurs have found success in markets they initially perceived as uninteresting but which fulfilled genuine customer needs. To uncover such customer needs, conducting thorough research on product demand is imperative.
Step 2: Make Amazon digital downloads
Having thoroughly researched product demand and competition, you have started creating your digital product. You can utilize powerful tools like Canva or Adobe Illustration, which offer a range of options for crafting images for your listing or your ebooks of varying quality levels—low, medium, and high.
Remember, involving others’ perspectives in the creative journey is invaluable. While your digital product might appear flawless to you, a fresh set of eyes could uncover potential flaws. If you’re working on an album, seek feedback from listeners. Alternatively, for a book intended for publication through Amazon KDP, consider hiring an editor to review the content meticulously.
Step 3: Create Amazon listings for digital products
Now you are at the most exciting step on how to sell digital products on Amazon. But before you start to sell digital assets on Amazon, you should create a seller account first.
Then, depending on the specific type of digital item you’ve created, you’ll be directed to various pages and tools designed for uploading your content. For instance, if you’ve authored books, Kindle Direct Publishing serves as the platform to upload and distribute them, while Amazon Appstore is the designated space for apps.
Although each digital product may be sold on different platforms, there are some essential elements that you must consider and optimize when listing your products. These elements play a vital role in effectively showcasing your digital offerings and attracting potential buyers.
- Keywords: Conduct thorough research to identify relevant keywords that customers commonly use to search for products like yours. Incorporate these keywords strategically into your product title, bullet points, and product description.
- Product description: Sellers should write a clear and engaging product description that highlights the unique features and benefits of their digital products. Highlight its unique features, benefits, and potential use cases. A well-crafted description helps customers understand what they will be getting and why they should consider purchasing it.
- High-quality images: Visual appeal is crucial for selling digital products on Amazon. Clear and visually appealing images instill confidence in customers and help them visualize what they buy. However, different digital product platforms have their own image guidelines. So you should ensure your digital product listings comply with these platform standards to upload successfully.
- Backend keywords: Utilize Amazon’s backend keyword fields to include additional relevant keywords that may not fit in the visible product listing. These hidden keywords can further boost your product’s search rankings.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Amazon listing optimization with SEO techniques like incorporating keywords naturally in product titles, bullet points, and product descriptions can help improve visibility in Amazon’s search results.
Check our guide on how to resell on Amazon to boost your Amazon income.
Step 4: Upload your Amazon digital download listings
With your listings ready, you can now proceed to upload your digital products on Amazon with the necessary product attributes. Select the right platform to upload your items, such as Amazon Merch for digital art or Amazon KDP for eBooks. Don’t forget to double-check the accuracy of all details before submitting your listings for review and approval.
Step 5: Promote your listings
To succeed in promoting your digital products, take advantage of Amazon’s PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising system to increase visibility on the platform. Plus, you can extend your efforts beyond Amazon by leveraging other platforms like Facebook, email marketing, and social media.
What to Notice When Selling Digital Products on Amazon?
Before digging deeper into how to sell digital products on Amazon, it’s crucial to be well-versed in their policies to ensure a smooth and compliant selling experience. Here are the key aspects to consider:
1. Eligible digital product categories
Selling digital products on Amazon presents an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience with low risk. Amazon offers 6 primary categories for selling digital products, namely:
- eBooks
- Music
- Art
- Apps, Software, and Games
- Audible
Before selling on Amazon, you must review Amazon’s guidelines to confirm that your products fall within these eligible categories.
2. Restrictions and prohibited content
Amazon upholds stringent guidelines regarding content that is not permissible for sale. This includes materials:
Offensive content
Any material deemed inappropriate or offensive is strictly prohibited. Certain types of content are not allowed for sale on Amazon, including:
- Hate speech;
- Content promoting the abuse or sexual exploitation of children;
- Pornography;
- Glorification of rape or pedophilia;
- And, content advocating terrorism.
Misleading content
Amazon expects digital for sale to provide a positive customer experience. Misleading descriptive content or content that inaccurately represents the products is not allowed.
3. Intellectual property rights considerations
Respecting intellectual property rights is of utmost importance when selling digital products on Amazon. Unauthorized use of copyrighted materials can lead to legal consequences and damage your reputation as a seller. Therefore, as an Amazon digital seller, you should ensure that your content does not violate copyright, trademark, publicity, or any other rights. Content freely available on the web under copyright is also not accepted unless authorized by the copyright owner.
Top 10 Amazon Selling Digital Products in 2024
Below are the top 10 best products to sell on Amazon when it comes to digital assets. Read through and find the one that you can invest in.
1. Ebooks
If you want to know how to sell books on Amazon, selling ebooks is a way to go. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has revolutionized the publishing industry by enabling authors to publish and distribute their ebooks independently. This platform offers flexible formatting options, making it easy to create visually appealing ebooks that can be enjoyed on Kindle devices or Kindle apps on smartphones and tablets.
2. Digital Art
Amazon Merch is an excellent platform for artists, photographers, and graphic designers seeking to sell digital art on Amazon. Creators can upload their artwork, and Amazon Merch on Demand automatically prints it on items like t-shirts, hoodies, and mugs. This print-on-demand model eliminates the need for inventory management and allows artists to focus on their creative process.
3. Music
If you wish to sell your song or any kind of music digitally, Amazon offers a fantastic solution called TuneCore, which is a part of Amazon Music. With TuneCore, musicians can create various digital audio products and easily list them for sale. To start with TuneCore, create an account, upload your music, and await approval.
4. Software and apps
Whether you’re a skilled game app developer or an ambitious entrepreneur with business-related software, Amazon offers a seamless platform to sell digital downloads on Amazon in a flash. That platform is called Amazon Appstore.
Amazon Appstore allows the submission of software and applications falling under the following categories:
- Web/HTML5
- Android devices
- PCs
- Mac devices
The exciting part is that even if you’ve already uploaded your app to Google Play on Mac devices, you can easily sell it on Amazon as well.
5. Online courses
A direct partnership with the platform is necessary to sell an online course through Amazon. As a small business owner, Amazon classifies you as a third-party seller; thus, selling your online course directly on their website is not permissible.
However, despite the restrictions to sell digital items on Amazon in terms of online courses, there are alternative ways to share your valuable content. Some viable options include:
- Transforming your course into an eBook and selling through Kindle Direct Publishing;
- Making course videos on Amazon Video Direct;
- Creating an audiobook version of your course and making it available for purchase on Audible.
6. Video
The rising popularity of videos as digital content has opened up opportunities to sell them on Amazon through Amazon Video Direct. By uploading your videos directly, customers can easily purchase or rent them through Prime Video. All videos submitted through this process undergo Amazon’s technical review to ensure they meet the platform’s standards.
7. Video games
The indie gaming market has experienced significant growth in recent times. Independent game developers can find a home for their creations on Amazon. Whether it’s a mobile game or a PC title, Amazon’s gaming audience offers ample opportunities for exposure and sales.
8. Templates
Selling digital templates on Amazon is gaining tremendous popularity. Whether you’re a designer marketing your creative files or a marketer enticing customers with business planning templates, digital templates present an opportunity to monetize your hard work. You can easily sell them via KDP, making the process a breeze for your business!
9. Audiobooks
Digital audiobooks are in high demand and can be sold on Amazon under the Audible category. The most common platform for creating and selling audiobooks on Amazon is the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), which Amazon’s Audible actually owns. If you have experience with publishing eBooks, you’ll find that ACX operates similarly to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in many aspects.
10. Podcasts
Great news! You can now sell your podcasts on Amazon and start earning money. They will fall into the category of either Amazon Music or Audible.
To get started, navigate to Amazon Music for Podcasters and click on the “Add or Claim Your Podcast” option. Submit your podcast to Amazon Music, and don’t forget to include your email address in your RSS feed for ownership verification.
The Dos and Don’ts When Selling Digital Products on Amazon
Selling digital content on Amazon involves following specific rules and guidelines, just like on any other platform. Hence, if you want to know how to sell digital assets on Amazon successfully from the start, understanding the dos and don’ts of selling digital items on Amazon is a must.
Dos for Amazon
- DO keep track of your selling activities through the Amazon dashboard to stay informed about updates.
- DO obtain express permission from Amazon before selling any restricted products.
- DO provide honest and accurate descriptions of your products.
- DO respond promptly to customer inquiries and address any issues or concerns with professionalism and empathy.
- DO stay updated with Amazon’s platform changes, new features, and marketing opportunities to maximize your sales potential.
Don’ts for Amazon
- DON’T break Amazon’s seller guidelines and rules
- DON’T provide forged or fake legal documentation or identity to Amazon
- DON’T sell digital products that violate others’ copyright, trademark, or intellectual property rights.
- DON’T attempt to manipulate customer reviews or engage in any form of review manipulation.
Additionally, here are the dos and don’ts for selling on specific Amazon services. This guide on how to sell digital products on Amazon shows you in detail for each one.
Do’s and dont’s when selling on KDP
Dos:
- Identify and fix errors in the book before uploading it.
- Create a high-quality cover to engage customers.
- Format the book correctly to provide the best reading experience.
Don’ts:
- Post Kindle-inappropriate content like coloring books and journals
- Include affiliate links inside your ebooks
Do’s and dont’s when selling on TuneCore
Dos:
- Upload cover art as PNG, JPG, or GIF.
- Keep the image art square and at least 1600 x 1600 pixels.
- Use RGB color mode for all images.
Don’ts:
- Submit blurry or cut-off artwork.
- Include email addresses or contact information in the cover art.
Do’s and dont’s when selling on Amazon Merch on Demand
Dos:
- Use your original artwork to avoid copyright issues.
- Create age-appropriate artwork if selling youth sizes.
Don’ts:
- Promote violence, racism, or hate in your designs.
- Add irrelevant content that is unrelated to your design or show contact details
- Use low-resolution images with watermarks.
How to Sell Digital Products on Amazon – FAQs
To sell digital content on Amazon, you can follow these steps: Previously, Amazon offered a platform known as Amazon Ignite, which served as a valuable resource for sellers to offer educational printables. However, Amazon has made the decision to discontinue the Amazon Ignite program. As a result, selling printables on Amazon is no longer available for sellers. Yes, you can sell a PDF on Amazon, especially if it contains valuable content. Through platforms like Amazon KDP, you can easily upload your PDFs and make them available for purchase to Amazon customers. Selling digital products on Amazon can be profitable if you understand Amazon seller fees and know how to price your products accordingly. The platform’s vast customer base and global reach provide ample opportunities for exposure and sales. How you can start an Amazon digital store:
Can You Sell Digital Products on Amazon?
In the fast-paced digital world, creating a masterpiece of digital content is undoubtedly an impressive feat, but the true challenge lies in successfully selling it. However, the challenge of selling digital content on Amazon becomes more manageable with the marketplace. So, what are you waiting for? Check this guide on how to sell digital products on Amazon and kick start today thoroughly!
With LitCommerce, you can learn more about not only Amazon but also other marketplaces that offer you a chance to sell digital products. If you’re interested, feel free to contact us. Additionally, to stay informed about eCommerce trends, gain valuable insights, and access helpful guides, you can follow our retailer blog.