In this episode of the Publishing Playbook, Andrey Bernhart ($500K+ on Amazon KDP) and Tim Gebhard ($250K in 9 months) sit down for a listener Q&A. We answer your most asked questions about self-publishing, Amazon KDP, AI-powered book creation, PublishFlow, and what it really takes to scale.
Topics covered:
- Why Andrey gives away his publishing workflow through PublishFlow instead of gatekeeping it
- How public accountability on YouTube drives Tim's performance
- The impact of being around other successful publishers
- Andrey's top 5 books out of 50 (and why)
- How design skills give you an unfair advantage in KDP
- PublishFlow's biggest weakness right now (and the long-term vision)
- Is AI ruining book publishing? Our honest take on fiction vs. non-fiction
- Tim's aggressive Amazon Ads strategy explained
- When KDP started feeling like a real business for Andrey
About us:
Andrey Bernhardt — Self-publisher for 2 years, $500K+ lifetime royalties on Amazon KDP, co-founder of PublishFlow (publishflow.ai)
Tim Gebhardt — Publishing since May 2025, ~$200K lifetime royalties in 9 months, documenting the journey on Peter Holmquist's channel
Try PublishFlow: https://publishflow.ai/?utm_source=PodEP3
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## Timestamps
0:00 — Cold open teaser
0:32 — Welcome & what's this episode about (Q&A format)
1:15 — Who are we? Introductions
2:02 — Why does Andrey give away his workflow through PublishFlow?
3:10 — The vision: raising the quality bar on Amazon KDP with AI
7:00 — Will the public perception of AI books change?
8:05 — Does documenting the journey on YouTube pressure Tim to perform?
9:27 — Tim's goal: $100K month by end of March, $1M month by Q4
10:46 — Has being around successful publishers changed how you think?
12:30 — Two brains are better than one — how collaboration sparks ideas
14:25 — Tim's SuperTIM AI agent origin story (brain dump in the car)
15:11 — If you could only keep 5 of your 50 books, which ones and why?
17:30 — The $19.40 royalty book & the $33K seasonal monster
18:57 — How did design & Photoshop skills help Tim start with KDP?
20:30 — Design skills > writing skills in the AI era?
22:31 — What's PublishFlow's biggest weakness right now?
24:00 — The long-term vision: InDesign-level quality inside PublishFlow
25:45 — Is AI ruining book publishing? Fiction vs. non-fiction debate
28:35 — Could AI write the next Game of Thrones?
30:00 — The future: custom AI-generated novel series made just for you
30:53 — Tim's aggressive Amazon Ads strategy — why spend so much?
33:00 — Andrey's defensive ad strategy vs. Tim's aggressive approach
35:47 — When did KDP start feeling like a main hustle? (Andrey's growth curve)
38:30 — Tim's insane growth curve: $150 → $55K months
40:15 — What's "normal" on KDP? We want to have that real conversation
41:06 — PublishFlow launch announcement
43:30 — Drop "SuperTim" in the comments if you watched until here!
44:24 — Outro
