Member-only story
How I made $10,000 publishing romance books
It started in 2011. I’d always wanted to be a writer, but it seemed like a pipe dream. Something other people did. I was working as a construction project manager and daydreaming of maybe one day publishing when I discovered Amazon Kindle. I saw an opportunity, and I took it.
I wrote a book. Edited it, with a little help from some friends. Designed my own cover, the basis of which was a blurry image of a streetlamp snapped on my very first smartphone (definitely not an Apple).
Pressed Publish.
Waited.
And waited.
I sold a few copies. Not enough to make me rich, but more than enough to make me giddy with excitement.
Enough to make me want to try again.
My second book was better edited. The cover this time was a photo I took at a beach in Scotland.
Early Twitter feedback from some rando: That’s not a vampire, it’s a rock.
I was thrilled. Someone I didn’t know had found my book and actually commented about it in public! Is this what being famous felt like?
Book three. An actual cover made with an actual stock image. My grasp of GIMP was improving in leaps and bounds.
