Selling Coloring Books Made From Your Own Photos: KDP, Etsy and Gifts

You can sell coloring books made from your own photos on Amazon KDP, on Etsy, or as personalized gifts, provided you own each photo or have permission to use it. The Mosaci Studio license allows selling generated outputs through platforms such as KDP and Etsy. The routes differ in format, buyer and rights risk.

The Three Routes Compared

Before You Sell: Rights and Permission

The software cannot tell you whether you may use a photo, so this part is yours to check before anything goes on sale.

• Use only photos you own or have permission to use. That means photos you took yourself, or photos where the person who owns the rights has agreed to this use. A photo being easy to find online is not permission.
• People in photos are a separate question. A portrait of a family member, a child, or a stranger raises privacy and likeness issues that are different from who owns the image. Get the person's consent, and a parent's or guardian's for a child, before putting their face into a product.
• Keep records. Note where each photo came from and who agreed to what. If a question comes up later, the record is your answer.
• Check each platform's current rules. Amazon KDP and Etsy both publish content and seller policies, and they change. Read the current versions before you list anything.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you are selling at any scale, or using photos of identifiable people, ask a qualified professional about your situation.

What the Mosaci Studio License Says

The license states that generated outputs produced from your own content are yours to use. You may print them for personal or commercial use, and sell or distribute them, including as printed or digital coloring books, through platforms such as Amazon KDP, Etsy or your own store. The same license asks you to confirm that you own or have permission to use whatever you upload, and it does not allow you to resell the platform itself or present outputs as your own software. Read the full text before you build a business on it.

Conversion also runs locally in your browser, and Mosaci Studio never receives a copy of your images or outputs. That matters when the photos belong to someone else, because their pictures are not sent to a server to make the page.

Route 1: Selling a Coloring Book on Amazon KDP

A KDP book is a set of pages made to one standard, so consistency does most of the work. In Mosaci Studio you apply one pattern, cell size and palette setting across the whole batch, and export the interior as a single PDF at 8.5 × 11 in and 300 DPI, with solution pages alongside the numbered pages.

1. Choose a theme you hold the rights for, such as your own travel, garden or pet photos, so every page is yours to use.
2. Pick one pattern and palette and test them on your hardest photo first. The mosaic pattern guide and the color-count guide help you choose.
3. Convert the batch and export the interior with the coloring book generator.
4. Check the file against KDP's current requirements. The KDP interior specs guide covers trim size, margins and export settings.
5. Publish and proof. How to publish a coloring book on Amazon KDP walks through the upload, and how to create a color by number book for KDP covers the numbered-page workflow. A paper proof copy catches problems a screen does not.

For a single-pen book that prints cheaper, the monochrome mark styles are built for it; see monochrome color by number. The KDP color-by-number page summarizes the whole KDP workflow.

Route 2: Selling Digital Downloads on Etsy

A digital download is a file the buyer prints themselves, so the product is the page plus clear instructions.

• Decide the unit. A single page, a themed set of pages, or a short booklet. Export as PDF for printing or PNG or ZIP for sets.
• Make the first page easy to judge. Show a finished page and a blank page, so the buyer sees what they will print.
• State the print size. Tell buyers the page size, such as 8.5 × 11 in, and that they should print at 100 percent scale.
• Say what the buyer may do. Write your own short terms for the files: personal use, or whether they may share them. Your terms sit on top of your rights to the photos.
• Check Etsy's current policies for digital items before you list.

The pages themselves come from the color-by-number generator or the mosaic coloring page maker, depending on whether you want a numbered color key or a mosaic look.

Route 3: Personalized Gifts

The simplest route is a page made from one family's photos, printed at home or at a print shop, and given as a gift. It is also the one that most needs consent: the faces in the photo belong to people, so ask first.

• Start with one strong photo. A clear subject, good light and a simple background convert best; how to choose photos for conversion explains why.
• Match difficulty to the person. A child needs fewer colors and larger cells than an experienced colorist.
• Try a short set. A few pages from one occasion, such as a trip or a wedding, makes a keepsake booklet.
• Make it yourself. Mosaci Studio is self-service software: you upload your images and generate the pages, and no one at Mosaci Studio makes artwork for you or your customers.

The custom color-by-number page covers the personalized route in more detail.

What It Costs

Mosaci Studio sells one-time credit packs with no subscription: Starter is for 100 credits, Creator is for 500, and Publisher is for 2,000. Every account also gets 10 free credits each month. The color patterns cost 1 credit per generation and the mark styles cost 2. See pricing for the current details.