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. Based on my experience with selling on Amazon, I can say that this is close to reality. The low success rates and increasing costs of marketing motivated me to look for alternative online businesses.

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

What Is FictionPub AI?

FictionPub AI is Fiction Profits Academy’s proprietary AI writing tool. It can't write entire books, though that is in development. FictionPub generates story ideas, chapter hooks, and plots. It does this based on your input of the category and story and character tropes. This outline will be used by your ghostwriter to create your book.

What Do You Get With FPA Workshop?

With Fiction Profits Academy, you get a 6-module, step-by-step course. It teaches you to find a profitable niche, create your ebooks, and list them on Amazon. Then, you can 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. It also gives access to the private Fiction Profits Academy Facebook page. You also get access to the following bonuses listed below.

What Are the Fiction Profits Academy Reviews?

The reviews for Fiction Profits Academy vary widely based on where you look. The course has a high rating on Trustpilot but a negative rep on Reddit. Fiction Profits Academy has a  3.33/5 rating on BBB but all complaints have been resolved. 

Fiction Profits Academy Trustpilot Reviews

Fiction Profits Academy has a 4.9 rating on Trustpilot from over 1,890 reviews. Of those, 1,300 are from verified students. But, on closer inspection, many students left multiple reviews to boost the score. As shown in the screenshot below, this is common practice. Many students leave 3 or 4 reviews. Positive reviews lack details of a success story. They don't say how many books the reviewers sold or how much money they made.

Fiction Profits Academy has been accused of deleting negative reviews. Unsatisfied users noted false marketing. You will be spending more than just the course price. This user praised the training to be quite good, however.

This next student expressed the concern regarding the limited 1-on-1 coaching. Mentorship is crucial in a new business. The high-learning curve means the limited coaching is not enough.

Fiction Profits Academy Reddit Reviews

Fiction Profits Academy reviews on Reddit are overwhelmingly negative. A long Reddit thread on Fiction Profits Academy had a student who exposed its deceptive marketing. The user said that FPA claims that it costs $250 to publish a book by ghostwriting. But, the reality was $1,000 to $1,200 per book. No one was succeeding with cheap, low-quality ghostwriting.

Even ghostwriters have weighed in on the thread. They warned others about working with students of Fiction Profits Academy. Many admit the Fiction Profits Academy is giving ghostwriters work. But, they are hard to work with and expect to pay little for the 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. Before becoming a Kindle publisher, she had various jobs. They included an aesthetician, massage therapist, mortgage officer, and skin care business owner. However, 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. As of the interview (January 2024), she had published three books and reached 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 low start-up costs and quick returns of Kindle publishing. Dez also commends the FPA Workshop community and coaching. They were vital to her growth 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 we must trust ourselves. We should be open to new opportunities, even if they are uncertain.

The Power of Persistence: She uses her story to emphasize the value of perseverence. As a single mother, she faced limits. But she used the challenges to rise 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 was about how Desiree made $710 in two months as a complete beginner. However, what she didn't mention is how much it cost her to achieve her $700 revenue. Also, Desiree didn't mention the $1,995 one-time fee to join the program (it's higher if you pay in installments). Amazon also charges a 30% or 70% fixed royalty on every book published and sold on the KDP platform.

Who Is Karla Marie?

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. They would already have strong following. One of Karla's students, Rachel, made 6-figures. But, she spent tens of thousands on Facebook ads. Plus, she spent a lot of time and effort to build a following for her series.

In September 2023, Amazon limited self-publishers to three ebook listings a day due to a surge in AI-written ebooks. If you use AI to write the whole book to save money, Amazon's guidelines require you to disclose that it has AI-generated content. This may reduce sales. Also, AI-written books aren't copyright protected. So, anyone can copy and sell your book for less.

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 must pay for ads to boost your listings' visibility. That said, you should not expect to make a living out of selling ebooks on Amazon.

My Number 1 Business to Create Passive Income

Local lead generation is my number 1 business to create passive income online. As a type of digital real estate business, you create a site, rank it on Google, and rent it out to local businesses. You don’t need to spend on ads or hire ghostwriters, which keeps your costs low. It costs as little as $500 to start and $30 a month to maintain, which makes it a low-risk business.

Unlike self-publishing ebooks, you don't need to anything else once your site is ranked and rented. This makes this business model sustainable and creates time freedom. Scaling a local lead generation business is as simple as repeating the rank and rent process. You make up to $2,000 a month from 1 site. I make $52K+ each month from over 50 lead generation sites. This is why local lead generation is my number 1 business model to create financial freedom.