I Wrote an Ebook to See How Much Easy Money I Could Make Online
An author recounts self-publishing a short ebook, [[Side Hustles: How to Make Extra Money Online]], to test whether writing an ebook can earn money. They formatted the 16,000-word manuscript with [[Kindle Create]] and enrolled in [[Amazon]]’s Select programme, relying on the [[Kindle Store]] and [[Kindle Unlimited]] for visibility. Early free promotions, friends’ downloads and a blog post on [[The Escape Artist]] generated modest spikes in downloads and sales, but competition, limited marketing know-how, and expensive ads on [[Facebook]] and [[Amazon]] kept revenue low. They used tools like [[Publisher Rocket]] and even bought copies themselves to boost rankings. The piece concludes that while self-publishing is accessible, standing out requires strong marketing, audience, or resources; for most first-time authors profitable returns are uncertain. Sales remained small, so it felt like a partial success.