Readers!
Time to crack open the mail bag:
“Advice on ebook publishing and/or passive income? I’ve been wanting to write a short ebook on my expertise and publish it online for people to buy, but I have no idea where to start.”
I’ve written three ebooks, all of which still earn me passive income despite the earliest one being out five plus years now. The first ebook has already brought in more than the advance for my first traditionally published book, so I think I’m doing OK.
I don’t know if I’m an expert, but here’s what I learned in the process:
- Write what you know. The letter writer already said they want to write an ebook based on their expertise, which is a good start. My ebooks are about how to be a freelance writer, which is also the topic of my newsletter. All of the writing was new, but they’re topics I’ve written about often, so coming up with the content part wasn’t that difficult.
- Hire help. I don’t worry too much about whether or not this newsletter has mistakes, because it’s free (so, if you don’t like it, you lost exactly $0). But if I was going to be charging people $10 per ebook, then of course I wanted buyers to feel like I invested in the project. I hired both a copyeditor and a graphic designer, so that the ebooks read well and look great. Both investments were worth it, and I used the same people for all three ebooks.
- Market! I did big marketing pushes when each book came out, including in this newsletter and appearing other places about how to be a freelance writer. I’m still asked to do those interviews and podcasts, and I will always ask them to mention the ebook series. The thing about a niche product on a niche topic is that eventually you’re going to saturate the market, so sales will slow, but that’s OK. It costs me nothing to keep them online and available for sale. I still make a few hundred bucks a year from them, just by continuing to write this newsletter and word of mouth. It’s surprising! But I’m glad for it.
I want to write another ebook, but nothing has really come to me that I want to write about. If y’all have any ideas, let me know! Hit me up the same place you would if you have a mailbag question: the contact box on my website.
As I was writing this, some LinkedIn bro tried to sell me his services to help me write a book using AI-written text. First, maybe do some research into who you’re pitching; and second, don’t use the lying plagiarism machine to do that pitching. Thanks!!!!
One more note: On Friday, I found myself with some spare time before I left to get my COVID shot (get vaccinated!) so did a few follow ups on some letters of introductions (LOIs) I first sent in November 2023, and followed up on the first time in March 2024. LOIs might sometimes seem like a futile operation, but one person replied and we have a meeting set up for this week. These things do work!
Recent Bylines
“Climate change is coming for the marathon,” Slate
What I’m Reading
- Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis. Millie Chandler is living my actual nightmare: she has a habit of writing emails but not sending them, and then POOF one day, they are all suddenly sent. Her true thoughts and feelings about friends, family and colleagues that were supposed to be secret are now out in the world. As you can imagine, this causes chaos. It’s a neat conceit for a book, though I found it to hover between wanted to be a light romance and a serious novel about abuse. It does make me want to go back to England though.
What I’m Watching
- Central Park. Another great Frederick Wiseman documentary, this time about Central Park. He managed to capture the 1988 Mini Marathon (now the New York Road Runner’s Women’s 10K), Luciano Pavarotti performance, exhibition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the filming of both an episode of Reading Rainbow and Francis Fort Coppola segment of New York Stories. What a treasure of a documentary, and historical document.
- Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari. I saw a Dateline about this, a dentist and big game hunter who says his wife accidentally shot herself while they were hunting big game in Africa. This is a longer look, and really paints a picture of what a rotten guy the dentist was, to everyone in his life.
- Mr. & Mrs. Murder. Two friends go out duck hunting. One comes back. The other doesn’t. Then the returning friend divorces his wife and marries his disappeared friend’s widow. I know I watch too much true crime, but yikes on bikes, this one took a lot of turns I didn’t expect.
- Betrayal: The Perfect Husband. This is an excellent docuseries that shows how child predators operate, in both how they groom victims and everyone around them, so that if someone does come forward, the knee jerk response is “him? He’d never do that.” I feel terrible for this family, but doing a show like this can help other people. Also, one of the talking heads is actor Anthony Edwards. I didn’t know he was abused as a child. He’s really made himself an advocate for others who were abused, especially men who fear talking about it.
Nail Polish of the Week
LED Marquee by OPI. This is a vibrant, shimmery royal blue. I kept thinking that it would be perfect for a spirit week, even though I’m not in school, and my high school, college and graduate school, were all red and black for their colors.
Until next time,
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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