Fiction Profits Academy (FPA Workshop) is an Amazon self-publishing online course by Karla Marie that teaches you how to make money online on Amazon KDP by creating eBooks. You will learn how to publish on Kindle Direct Publishing without being an author or writer. Fiction Profits Academy features an AI writing tool that will do 90% of the work for you.
Reviews for Fiction Profits Academy are mixed. They have a 3.33/5 rating on BBB and a 4.9/5 rating on Trustpilot. There are plenty of duplicated positive reviews on Trustpilot that has boosted their score. Many students who found no success with Fiction Profits Academy course have posted on Reddit because of the deletions of negative reviews on Trustpilot.
According to Self Publishing School, a "minuscule percentage" of likely less than 1% of self-publishers succeed. Can Fiction Profits Academy teach you how to succeed with self-publishing? In this Fiction Profits Academy review, we'll go over how Kindle Direct Publishing works, what Fiction Profits Academy is and who it's for, what you get with it, if its students are successful, and who Karla Marie is.
Fiction Profits Academy Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
Karla has published 60+ fiction books on Amazon and has professionally critiqued thousands of books. Many of former FPA Workshop students are now part of the team of mentors.
5 Zoom coaching calls every week.
Private community, with over 7,900 members for support and networking.
Cons
Many hidden costs and upsells.
The quality of the mentorship will depend on your assigned coach.
Dubious practices with manipulating reviews on Trustpilot.
Price
Fiction Profits Academy costs $1,995 or 3 monthly payments of $995. There are many hidden costs and upsells that could go over $10,000.
Refund Policy
6-month money-back guarantee
Origin
Reputation
Mostly positive, but there is an issue with duplicated positive reviews and deleted negative reviews.
What Is FictionPub AI?
FictionPub AI is Fiction Profits Academy’s proprietary AI writing tool. It does not have the feature to write entire books, although that is currently under development. As of now, FictionPub is used to generate the story ideas, chapter hooks, and plot based on your input of the category, story tropes, and character tropes. This outline will be used by your ghostwriter to create your book.
Who Is FPA Workshop For?
- Newbies who want to learn how to create fictional books and sell it on KDP. You don't have to be a writer, as you will learn how to use AI writing tools or hire ghostwriters.
- Publishers who want to learn how to scale. Writing a book takes a long time and Fiction Profits Academy teaches how to streamline the process and use AI tools and ghostwriters to write books quickly.
What Do You Get With FPA Workshop?
With Fiction Profits Academy, you get step-by-step 6-module training on how to find your profitable niche, how to create your ebooks and list them on Amazon, and how to turn this investment into a passive income business. Since the launch of the FictionPub AI, you also get the new AI Publishing Course. The main package includes 5 coaching calls Monday to Friday and access to the private Fiction Profits Academy Facebook page. You also get access to the following bonuses listed below.
- Access to the Fictionpub AI Tool
- Top 100 profitable book niches
- Fiction Profits Academy approved ghostwriters
- ABCs of technology for publishers
- Best-seller monthly breakdows
- Generational wealth secrets
- Extra Fiction Profits membership for you to gift
What Are the Fiction Profits Academy Reviews?
The reviews for Fiction Profits Academy vary widely based on where you look. The course enjoys a high rating on the review platform Trustpilot but has a general negative reputation on Reddit. With a 3.33/5 rating on BBB, all complaints have been resolved. Rachel Harrison-Sund, a low-content self-publishing coach, recommended Fiction Profits Academy as 1 of the top 3 courses that she took. Almost all negative reviews praise the coaches and the content of the Fiction Profits Academy course but criticize the process, which includes the limited coaching time, the additional costs of the business model, and the lack of transparency in the marketing.
Fiction Profits Academy Trustpilot Reviews
Fiction Profits Academy has a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot with over 1,890 reviews of which 1,300 are verified customers. However, upon close inspection, you find that a lot of these students have left multiple reviews to keep the score high. Just like in the screenshot below, this has been common practice, with many students leaving 3 or 4 reviews. Positive reviews also lack details of a success story, such as how many books did they sell or how much money did they make.
Fiction Profits Academy has been accused of deleting negative reviews. Unsatisfied users also pointed out the false marketing, as you will be spending more than just price of the course. This user praised the training to be quite good, however.
This next student expressed the concern regarding the limited 1-on-1 coaching. Getting mentorship is very crucial with a business that you are completely new at and the high-learning curve of this business model means the limited coaching is not enough.
Fiction Profits Academy Reddit Reviews
Fiction Profits Academy reviews on Reddit are overwhelmingly negative. In a very long Reddit thread on Fiction Profits Academy, one student explained how the course used deceptive marketing. The user explained that they should publish a book each month that will cost $250 to ghostwrite but the reality was $1,000 to $1,200 per book as no one was finding any success with inferior quality cheap ghostwriting.
Even ghostwriters have weighed in on the thread and warned others about working with students of Fiction Profits Academy. While many of them acknowledge that the Fiction Profits Academy is giving ghostwriters work, they are difficult to work with and expect to pay little for the expected quality.
Desiree Fredenburg- $0 To $710 Journey As A Fiction Profits Academy Student and First-Time Kindle Direct Publisher
Desiree's Background and Story
Desiree "Dez" is a single mother who started her Fiction Profits Academy journey 5 months ago. Prior to becoming a Kindle publisher, she ventured different jobs, including an aesthetician, massage therapist, mortgage officer, and skin care business owner. However, all of these ended because of the pandemic and she needed to find a job she can do from home. So, she turned to Karla Marie and entered the world of Kindle publishing.
How Desiree's KDP Business is Doing Today
Dez made $710 two months into her FPA Workshop journey. At the time of the interview (January 2024), she already published three books and has advanced to the "Tiger" level of the FPA Workshop. Dez claims she has hit her first $1,000 and aims for bigger figures this year. She credits her success to the affordable start-up costs and quick returns of Kindle publishing. Dez also commends the helpful FPA Workshop community and regular coaching, which played a crucial role in her development as a Kindle publisher.
Lessons Desiree Learned on the Biggest Challenges She Faced
Embracing Risk: Desiree stresses the importance of being willing to take risks. She believes in the necessity of trusting oneself and being open to new opportunities, even if they involve uncertainty.
The Power of Persistence:She uses her story to emphasize the value of perseverence. Given her circ*mstance as a single mother, she overcame her limitations and used the challenges to step-up and succeed.
Leveraging Community Resources: Desiree advises new publishers to leverage on community support and coaching.
What's not mentioned in the interview: This video focused on how Desiree made $710 in just two months as a complete beginner. However, what she didn't mention is how much it cost her to achieve her $700 revenue. On top of that, Desiree didn't mention the $1,995 onetime payment for joining the program (higher if you pay in installment). Amazon also charges a 30% or 70% fixed royalty on every book published and sold on the KDP platform.
Who Is Karla Marie?
Karla Marie Blocka is a multiple 6-figure Amazon KDP self-publishing author and founder of Fiction Profits Academy from Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. She wrote romantic fiction stories and has a large loyal following. Karla has a psychology degree from the University of Alberta and has made a living as a touring musician around Canada. She also waited tables and taught yoga. Karla has been teaching Amazon self-publishing since 2013 before creating Fiction Profits Academy 2 years later.
Who Is Roy Lewis?
Roy Lewis is the current CEO of Fiction Profits Academy from Jacksonville, Florida. He was a student of Fiction Profits Academy in 2016. Roy made over 2.3 million dollars with over 200+ fiction books published. He became Karla’s business partner and the CEO of Fiction Profits Academy in 2020.
What Is Karla Marie's Claim?
Karla Marie claims that the Fiction Profits Academy can give you the tools to quit your 9-5 by creating a passive Amazon KDP business. She claims her methods are low-risk and create passive income quickly. She also claims that 87% of the students make 6-7 figures within 12 months. Just how realistic are Karla’s claims?
Why You are More Likely to Fail with Karla's Method
There are many disadvantages with self-publishing books on Amazon KDP to replace your 9-5. Hiring a ghost writer can cost as little as $0.1 per word, which totals $200 for a 20,000 word book. The problem here is that the less you spend on ghostwriting, the lower the quality of the book. This leads to lower ratings and lower sales. You should invest $2,000 to $4,000 for quality ghostwriting. If you sell an ebook for $9.99 to maintain the 70% royalty rate, you make $6.99 per sale. This means you need to sell 286 copies to make $2,000. Amazon statistics show that 90% of self-published books sell under 100 copies. The average self-publisher only makes $1,000 a year on Amazon.
Second, you need to publish books consistently which will cost a lot of money. You may get lucky with some of your titles, but most of them will not sell. Only about 1,600 self-publishers, out of hundreds of thousands, make over $25,000 a year. These are self-publishers who have been writing and publishing for at least 10 years and have created a strong following. One of Karla’s student, Rachel, made 6-figures but only because she spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads plus a lot of time and effort to build a following for her series.
In September, 2023, Amazon limited self-publishers to list only three ebooks a day because of the sudden influx of AI written ebooks. If you use AI to write the entire book and save money, Amazon’s guideline requires publishers to disclose that their book contains AI generated content which will make it less likely to be bought by readers. AI written books aren't protected by copyright laws, which means anyone can copy your book and sell it cheaper.
Is Amazon KDP Worth It?
Amazon KDP is worth it as an extra source of income if you are a passionate writer or aspiring author. Writing and selling your own ebooks on Amazon takes away the risks of losing money from hiring ghostwriters. As with selling anything on Amazon, you still need to pay for ads to increase the visibility of your listings. That said, you should not expect to make a living out of selling ebooks on Amazon.
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