Title: Hey HN -<p>I mostly stay in the shadows here, but for the one year anniversary of my first (ebook project)[1] I figured I&#x27;d write a blurb in case it&#x27;s interesting to anyone.<p>I&#x27;m terrible at launching things, and take years to ship my own apps. After my last app was acquired, I wanted to fulfill a &quot;moon shot&quot; goal of mine - write a book in any form. I settled on adapting one of my more popular [blog posts][2] that I keep updated through each version of iOS into a five book series (one for each topic of accessibility, design, UX, APIs and a catch all bonus one). So far it has sold 1,534 copies and has made over $124,000. Now that things have settled, it makes about $2k a month on average.<p>I learned from my own launch history and decide to launch it in &quot;early access&quot;, otherwise I&#x27;d never finish it. Launching it went great and was a day I&#x27;ll never forget, as to that point - I had never made close to that much money in one day.<p>CONS:
It&#x27;s not all rainbows and sunshine though. I used to read posts like this and my heart rate would shoot up, thinking &quot;What the heck - I could do that too!&quot; and make some good money. While it is true that the project has been great for me financially (I have a stay at home wife and three kids), honestly life is not any different. I just save most of it, spend it on the 1,000 school activities my kids have or whatever life throws at me. I didn&#x27;t make any splurge purchase.<p>I&#x27;ve also realized the real, grating reality of opportunity cost. At the one year mark, this book series is only half way done. I can&#x27;t put into words how much I miss making software, because now - all I do is write. That has been my main takeaway through all of this - your time is valuable, and I cosigned a ton of mine away the moment I decided to embark on this.<p>PROS:
On the positive side, I get messages from people starting out on iOS and veterans alike who are really enjoying the books. It&#x27;s hard to put into words how motivating that is, to fell like you are doing a tiny little thing that somewhat matters to some people. I also love teaching and writing, so the project does appeal to me - but I&#x27;ve learned I need a better balance. When I shipped apps, all I wanted to do was write. Now, the opposite is true.<p>Anyways, if you are considering launching a digital downloads type of product, I&#x27;d say go for it. Tech-wise, it was trivial to get started:<p>Gumroad for sales
Netlify for deploys
Made the site from scratch using Tailwind
Ulysses to write<p>I think in a world where there is a lot of &quot;grifting&quot; going on with courses, ebooks, etc - you can actually stand out if you stick to your word and show authenticity. For example, I promised updates every two weeks - and I&#x27;ve stuck to that, a year in.<p>TL&#x27;DR:
Launching your own thing and making money is neat, but at the end of the day life doesn&#x27;t really change at all. Consider your time investments. Try to truly help people.<p>Happy to answer any questions if you have any.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bestinclassiosapp.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bestinclassiosapp.com</a>
[2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.swiftjectivec.com&#x2F;a-best-in-class-app&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.swiftjectivec.com&#x2F;a-best-in-class-app&#x2F;</a>
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