How To Make Money By Creating And Selling Coloring Books By Using AI

Hello, today, we are going to talk about how to make money by creating and selling coloring books even you are not an artist.

Coloring books aren’t just a fun hobby anymore. They’re also a surprisingly great way to make money.

Nowadays, parents are starting to realize that letting their children play with iPads all the time is not a very good way to raise them. So, they tend to find more real-life activities for their kids to do.

If you take a look at some marketplaces, you could see that people have been doing very well by selling these coloring books.

With the rise of digital downloads and print-on-demand services, and espcially powerful AI tools, you don’t need to be a professional artist to create and sell your own coloring books.

If you’ve ever doodled in the margins of a notebook or played around with AI art generators, you already have what it takes to get started.

This guide will show you, step by step, how to create and sell your own coloring books that require no complicated software and no expensive tools.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Choose a Theme That Sells

The first thing you need is a to find a theme that could sell well. Think about what the kids love to color. Some themes sell better than others, so it's worth doing a little research. Here are some popular themes:

• Cute animals (cats, dogs, sloths, etc.)

• Beautiful houses, castle

• Robots, cars, spaceships.

• Fantasy creatures (dragons, fairies, mermaids)

• Seasonal and holiday-themed books

• Educational or kid-friendly designs

Keep in mind that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just find a theme that you are interested in and that has been proven in the market.

Step 2: Create Your pictures

If you already have a solid foundation in drawing, that is super helpful! But if not, don’t worry. With the help of many powerful AI tools, everything could be done very easily. Here are a few sample prompts to create coloring book illustrations:

• "A cute and friendly robot waving with a big smile, round eyes, and a heart-shaped antenna, standing in a futuristic playground."

• "A chubby little robot with big expressive eyes, sitting on a grassy hill, holding a flower while a butterfly lands on its finger."

• "A group of adorable robots playing together in a park, one on a swing, another flying with tiny rocket boosters, and one drawing with chalk on the ground."

• "A cute chef robot with a round body and tiny arms, happily baking cookies in a futuristic kitchen with floating utensils."

• "A friendly robot astronaut floating in space, surrounded by stars, planets, and a tiny alien friend waving from a spaceship."

The key is to keep your designs simple, with bold outlines that are easy to color in.

And take a look at some amazing photos generated by AI that you don’t need to be an artist to create:

Trust me, if I had children, I’d gladly pay for these books for my kid to play with rather than letting them spend hours on the iPad.

Step 3: Digitize Your Sketches

Once you have your drawings, you’ll need to turn them into black-and-white digital files so that kids can color the images. Here’s how:

• Scan your hand-drawn sketches and use software like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape to trace and convert them into vector graphics.

• If you’re using AI-generated images, make sure to clean them up using tools like Photoshop or GIMP.

• Keep files in high resolution so they print well. A 300 DPI resolution is ideal.

Step 4: Format Your Coloring Book

Now that you have your illustrations, it’s time to turn them into a polished book. This step is easier than you might think:

• Use Canva, Adobe InDesign, or Affinity Publisher to create a well-organized layout.

• Make sure each page has a consistent size, such as 8.5” x 11”.

• Add a cover page and a copyright page (optional but recommended).

• Save your book as a high-resolution PDF.

Step 5: Add Your Personal Branding

Branding is important if you want people to recognize your name and buy from you again. Here are a few things you can do:

• Add a small logo or signature on each page.

• Include your social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, or your website on the last page.

Step 6: Upload and Sell Your Coloring Book

Once you have finished your coloring books, you need to find places to sell them. There are many options to choose from. Here are some of the most popular marketplaces you can start with:

• Etsy – One of the biggest marketplaces for digital and printable products. You can upload and sell digital files, and buyers will be able to download the PDF file and print it out after making a payment.

• Creative Market – Great for high-quality digital downloads.

• Gumroad – This is similar to Etsy, which is ideal for selling PDFs directly to customers.

• Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) – Amazon will handle the printing and shipping process for you.

Each platform has a different setup process, but they all allow you to start selling with minimal upfront investment.

Step 7: Promote And Sell Your Coloring Book

If you want to sell something, you have to show it to people. No matter how great your book is, it won’t sell itself—you need to get it in front of people.

Here are some effective ways to get more eyes on your books:

• Share preview images on Instagram and Pinterest.

• Run ads.

• Offer free sample pages in Facebook groups.

• Run limited-time discounts on marketplaces to attract early buyers.

• Start an email list to keep in touch with customers and promote new designs.

If you’re just starting, I’d suggest choosing only one or two of the methods above to avoid burnout.

Since starting social media channels is free, I’d recommend creating your channels and posting your work there.

Step 8: Offer Free Samples to Build Trust

People love free stuff. Offering a few sample pages can help customers decide if they like your designs before buying the full book.

So to gain trust and attention, you can:

• Upload free pages to your website or blog

• Share them in relevant Facebook groups

• Use them as a lead magnet to build an email list

Once people enjoy your free samples, they’re much more likely to buy the full version for their kids.

Bonus: Helpful ChatGPT Prompts for Creating Coloring Books

You can use ChatGPT to find the inspiration, ideas and instructions, here are some ChatGPT prompts you could try:

• What are the trending themes for coloring books right now?

• Which software makes digitizing sketches easiest?

• What’s the best platform to sell digital coloring books?

• How do I format my coloring book to ensure high-quality printing?

• How do I optimize my product for Etsy search?

• Any tips for creating complex and detailed designs?

• How should I price my coloring book to stay competitive?

These are the questions that I asked ChatGPT the most when creating and selling my coloring books.

Final Thoughts

Selling coloring books is one of those side hustles that’s fun, creative, and actually profitable.

With the help of AI tools, you don’t need to be an artist, and you don’t need a huge upfront investment or an entire team of 5 people to do it.

All you need is patience and the willingness to learn, try, fail and grow.

If you follow these steps, put your work there, and learn fro myour mistakes. You could actually make a very good income by selling coloring books and have a very stable extra source of income.

If you found this guide helpful and want more step-by-step breakdowns on creative ways to make money online, subscribe to my newsletter!

Thanks for reading!