Sean Dollwet’s Royalty Hero Review: Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing on Amazon KDP + Alternatives

Royalty Hero is a self-publishing course by Sean Dollwet. Sean has developed his own self-publishing strategy called Book Stacking. This allows an investor to publish books that can build on themselves without having to actually be a writer. It is all about creating a brand with a loyal audience to generate more sales. Sean’s strategy provides long-term results. However, he recommends you sell your brand after a certain period so that you can reinvest your money.
In my opinion, self-publishing on Amazon KDP, as what Royalty Hero teaches, is like walking onto a stage, which is the easy part. But getting anyone to buy your book is like performing in The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville with an empty room. You’ll spend more time running ads, tweaking metadata, and begging for reviews than writing. If you stop marketing, your sales instantly die. Plus, Amazon is flooded with millions of books. You’re not competing on quality anymore, you’re competing on who can game the algorithm better. That 70% royalty rate sounds generous until you realize Amazon takes a cut for delivery fees, printing costs, and distribution. You end up pocketing cents on the dollar for every sale, especially on paperbacks. Worse, you have zero control over price margins like steering a car where the gas pedal and brakes are in someone else’s hands. Amazon can discount your book without asking.
In this Royalty Hero review, we dive into the course’s inclusions, other features, pros, and cons. We also discuss Sean Dollwet’s Book Stacking strategy and background. Towards the end, we compare the profitability of self-publishing on Amazon KDP vs local lead generation.
What are the Royalty Hero Pros & Cons?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| They offer several features besides from training videos. | It is expensive. |
| It is beginner friendly. | There aren't any outside reviews. The only reviews I can find are the ones posted on their website and on an affiliate's post. |
| They have lifetime updates. | |
| They offer 1-on-1 mentorship |
| Price | They don't offer the price on their site, but according to kindlepreneur it costs $2000. |
|---|---|
| Refund Policy | 90-day return policy |
| Origin | 2021 |
| Reputation | There aren't reviews besides those posted on Sean's website and by an affiliate. I can't seem to find a bad review. |
How Much Does the Royalty Hero Course Cost?
Sean Dollwet doesn’t reveal the exact price of the course himself. Including all the additional features that you receive besides the actual course, they value it at around $27,000. However, according to kindlepreneur, you can purchase the course for $2000.

Does Royalty Hero Offer Refunds?
Sean Dollwet has a 90-day-return policy. It is action based and you must watch at least 50% of the content material and have published one book to qualify for the refund.
What is Royalty Hero?

Royalty Hero is a self publishing online course created in 2021. It teaches entrepreneurs how to publish books on Amazon KDP or Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing without having to write anything. The business strategy was coined by Sean Dollwet, called Book Stacking, which we will discuss below.
Who is the Royalty Hero Course for?
The Royalty Hero course is for beginners and experienced entrepreneurs alike. It’s for anyone who has an interest in self publishing and generating passive income. The business model has a very low learning curve and is beginner friendly. It provides everything you need to get started. They offer training videos, tools, materials, and guidance to help you develop your online business.
What is in the Royalty Hero Course?
The Royalty Hero course contains 30+ hours of video content that is made to help you learn all about Sean’s strategy and publish your own book. It takes a total of 9 weeks, including different tools and materials.
Week 1: Mindset
The first week is all about preparing your mindset to become a successful entrepreneur.
Week 2: Choosing Your Niche
Sean teaches you a 3-step system into finding out what low-competitive niche works for you and can generate profit.
Week 3: Creating Your Best-Selling Book
You will learn how to create high-quality books through ghostwriters and where you can find them. Here, you will find out more about customer research and making sure that your book appeals to it’s audience with cover designs.
Week 4: Grow Your Fanbase
In order to generate more sales, Sean will teach you how to build a fanbase through email lists with little to no cost.
Week 5: Launch Your Best-Seller
Sean teaches you Amazon’s algorithm and a strategy to ensure that your book ranks amongst the top.
Week 6: Amazon Masterclass
Creating, optimizing, and scaling ads. Sean shares a secret ad platform you can use.
Week 7: Beyond Amazon
Sean teaches you how to tap into the audiobook market and how to diversify your profile outside of Amazon.
Week 8: Automated Systems
Creating systems and building a team so you can enjoy passive income.
Week 9: Scaling to a 7-Figure Publishing Mogul
There are 3 ways you can scale up; You can publish more books, spend more on ads to promote your current books or use your books to drive back-end sales.
Royalty Hero’s Other Features
- Inner Circle Facebook Mastermind
- DFY templates, Emails, and Cheatsheets
- A Giant List of 150 Profitable Niches
- Expert Mentorship on Demand
- Low Content Accelerator
- ACX Creation for International Students
How Can You Get Started With Royalty Hero?
After watching their introductory video, to get started with Royalty Hero, answer a short questionnaire and schedule a call with their team. This call will provide more details on what happens next and what strategy works best for you.

Royalty Hero Review and Testimonials
Royalty Hero has nothing but good reviews. Its students talk about how the course is filled to the brim with information and how Sean doesn’t sell pipedreams. There are testimonials that can be seen on the course’s website where people share their experiences of how they started earning thousands of dollars in a month to becoming a 6-7 figure seller like Sean. There aren’t any outside reviews or testimonials aside from the ones provided on his website or on kindlepreneur, which appears to be an affiliate for the course.

Who is Sean Dollwet?

Sean Dollwet is a 26-year-old self-publishing guru. He grew up half of his life in Japan and the other half in Hawaii. Starting as concierge at a hotel, he was unhappy with his typical 9-5 job and looked into being an entrepreneur. At age 18, he discovered multi level marketing by a friend’s recommendation.
He experimented with different business models until he finally found self publishing.
Using an old school method, he earned 10k a month before developing Book Stacking after 5 years, raising his earnings to 35k a month. After building his publishing brand, he sold it for $820,000 in 2021 and is now building a new business.
What is Book Stacking?
Book stacking is a self publishing strategy created and coined by Sean Dollwet. After years of using old school publishing methods, he developed a long-term strategy that helped him go from earning 10k a month to 35k. Book Stacking is a process where each book you publish builds on itself. With each book, you build a brand to create a loyal audience. The more books you publish, the more money you make.

Amazon KDP Truths To Keep in Mind in 2025 According to Sean Dollwet

- Passive Income Potential: Amazon KDP offers a unique opportunity for building long-term passive income. Books published on Amazon earn royalties, which makes it ideal for those looking for a low maintenance income stream.
- Ideal for Beginners: Sean believes that Amazon KDP is suitable for beginners because of its low upfront capital requirement and Amazon handles the logistics like warehousing, packaging, and shipping.
- Leverage Digital Tools: Kindle direct publishers should use tools that analyze top-selling books like DS Amazon Quick View and BookBeam.
- Build Systems and Outsource: As your KDP business grows, set-up systems that optimize business processes and outsource writing and book cover designing. Streamlining business processes makes the business more efficient by increasing productivity.
Amazon KDP Habits To Stop in 2025 [Guru’s 5 Biggest Lies]
- You Need to Spend a Lot on Ads: Sean points out that many gurus exaggerate the necessity of big advertising budgets to succeed on KDP. He suggests starting small with ads and using free promotion when you’re just starting by leveraging social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook.
- Publish Many Books: It’s a common misconception that you need to publish many books to succeed with KDP. Sean believes this strategy is no longer effective and necessary. Instead, publishers should focus on creating fewer but higher-quality books that give more value to readers.
- Do Everything Yourself: While it’s technically possible to handle every aspect of book publishing on your own, Sean reminds his viewers that it’s not a practical way to produce high-quality outputs. Some aspects of book creation, like the book cover’s design, are best outsourced to professionals.
- Use of AI and Ghostwriters: Some gurus claim that using AI tools or ghostwriters to create books is unethical, but Sean counters that the end product is what truly matters. Using these resources responsibly could lead to higher productivity and higher quality of books.
- Amazon Will Ban You for Using AI: Many publishers fear that using AI in book production can get them banned. Sean clarifies that Amazon is more concerned with the quality of the books than with the means used to create them. Proper use of AI won’t get you banned as long as it is used for creating high-quality content.
What’s not mentioned in the video: Sean did not mention in the video that Amazon is such a saturated marketplace. There are already 1.42 million self-published books listed on the platform as of 2023. So, the real challenge is rising above the competition and getting your books out there.
How Can You Publish Books Without Being a Writer?
One of Royalty Hero’s selling points is that it teaches you how to publish a book without actually writing one. Sean Dollwet has written none of the books published underneath his name and he does it through the usage of ghostwriters. You can hire free ghostwriters online to write your book for you through websites like Fiverr. Royalty Hero also teaches how you can find writers who can produce quality content that will get you more sales.
How Much Can Your Earn with Self-Publishing?
Self-published authors can make an income of $5,000 - $10,000 a month or more, according to self-publishingschool. However, this would still depend on several factors, such as the number of books you publish and how many sales you can generate. The earning potential with self-publishing is significantly higher than compared to traditional publishing and this falls down on the difference in royalties.
When working with a publishing house, you can expect to earn around 10%-15% in royalties. If you decide to publish your book independently, this rate rises to 50%-70%. You will need to market your book on your own and make sure that your book reaches a higher audience so that you can reach your income goals.
What is the Best Amazon KDP Niche For Beginners?
Royalty Hero recommends that you choose a niche that you’re interested in. However, according to Sean Dolwett, the best niche for beginners is Self-Help. The trick is to find a profitable and niche-down on that specific topic, getting more specific until your final book. If you’re interested in writing Fictional content, according to self-publishingschool, the most popular genres in Amazon KDP are fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, adventure, and contemporary romance.
Royalty Hero mostly teaches niche’s in the non-fiction genre. There are other courses that teach you how to publish your book independently if you’re interested in producing a love story or story filled with suspense. Creating a series like a trilogy can allow you to build on the first book by writing a second book that has a lot more plot twists and adding characters. Sean’s teachings still apply even if you decide to publish a story within the fiction genre.
Traditional Publishing vs. Self Publishing
| Traditional Publishing | Self Publishing |
|---|---|
| Publish your books using established publishing houses, allowing them to have control over the book design, sales, and marketing. | Publishing your book on your own without the help of a publishing house. All publication processes rely on you. |
| pros | pros |
| The publishing process is done for you. | Higher royalties |
| Your books can reach a wider audience with more marketing. | More control on how your book gets published |
| Editing and proofreading are done for you | You get to keep all copyrights to your books. |
| Cons | Cons |
| The publishing houses get a large cut of your earnings. | You have to take care of ads and marketing. |
| It takes longer to publish your book. | Depending on how you're able to market your book, it may reach a smaller audience. |
| You can't publish your books elsewhere depending on the publishing house's terms. |
What are the Alternatives of Royalty Hero?
- Publishing CEOS by Alex Kaplo focuses on turning your self-publishing venture into a scalable publishing business rather than a side hustle. The course emphasizes outsourcing (hiring ghostwriters, designers, and editors) while positioning you as the CEO overseeing operations. Alex teaches advanced systems for keyword research, book launch optimization, and niche brand development. Unlike Royalty Hero, which centers on building book stacks for audience growth, Publishing CEOS leans on agency-style scaling and predictable monthly revenue through consistent publishing systems.
- Fiction Profits Academy by Karla Marie is a course that teaches you how to launch and grow a fiction publishing brand on Amazon using ghostwriters. FPA focuses entirely on fiction, including story development, genre research, and series-based publishing. Karla Marie’s system breaks down how to find ghostwriters, test book ideas with small launches, and scale through sequels and brand loyalty. It’s best for creative entrepreneurs who want to dominate Amazon’s fiction categories.
- Kindle Publishing Income by Sophie Howard offers a more conservative, systematized path to publishing success. Known for her Amazon FBA background, Sophie teaches a data-driven, asset-building approach to KDP. The course covers niche research, hiring ghostwriters, optimizing keywords, and turning each book into a digital asset that compounds income over time. It’s less focused on daily ad management and more on sustainable, evergreen publishing, a balanced alternative to Royalty Hero’s ad-heavy scaling model.
Final Verdict: Is Royalty Hero Worth It?
Royalty Hero is worth it if you’re ready to invest time in managing freelancers, analyzing Amazon’s algorithms, and reinvesting profits, then yes, it delivers real educational value and results. It’s ideal for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to enter the self-publishing space without writing themselves. Sean Dollwet’s Book Stacking method and his structured 9-week program offer a detailed path for building scalable publishing brands and leveraging ghostwriters for passive income potential. The course also includes practical tools, mentorship, and a community that supports long-term business growth through Amazon KDP.
However, for those who want a more predictable and low-maintenance model, the constant marketing, algorithm dependency, and lack of full control over your assets make it less reliable and more operationally demanding.
If you’re a beginner, or if you’re looking for a lower-risk model that can compound over time without constant spending, consider models like local lead generation, where assets rank organically and produce leads on autopilot. Local lead gen is better because you own your digital real estate, meaning no platform can control or cut your earnings, and each site can generate recurring income with minimal maintenance after setup.
Is Local Lead Generation More Passive Than Amazon KDP?
In my 10 years of experience, local lead generation is more passive than Amazon KDP because every lead you generate is pure profit (80%-95%) after minimal hosting and software costs ($30-$50 per site). There’s no middleman slicing percentages off your earnings unlike in Amazon KDP where it’s like a bank account where Amazon decides your withdrawal limits. And, you decide how much to charge for leads or monthly retainers. Instead of scraping by on pennies per sale, you earn hundreds to thousands per client. With local lead gen, you control the website, domain, phone number, and leads. No platform can suddenly delete your traffic or hold your earnings hostage. Amazon KDP is like hunting in the Congo Rainforest swarming with thousands of predators. With local lead gen, you don’t need to fight thousands of creators, just outrank a handful of local businesses. One well-built site can dominate Google for years with little maintenance.

Why Local Lead Gen is My Top Pick for a Profitable Online Business
Local lead generation is my top pick for a profitable online business because it offers predictable, high-margin recurring income with low competition and direct local demand. For example, my local lead gen site Glendale Elite Drywall 728 West Broadway Glendale, California 91204 818-600-0810 https://glendaleelitedrywall.com/ drove $37,240 in additional revenue to my client’s business for bringing in 14 new leads. Since I get a 10% commission for the leads I send, I earned $3,724 in under 15 days.
If passive income is your goal, then I recommend local lead generation as this business model requires minimal attention as time goes by. Maintenance can go from monthly to yearly.

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