Page 70 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

their work directly, even turning down significant offers in favor of going it
alone.‡

But hey, who needs books? You don’t need to be an author or even think of
yourself as a writer to take advantage of this changing world. Digital publishing
tends to fit into at least a few categories: one-off products, fixed-period courses,
and recurring subscriptions.

Jen Lemen and Andrea Scher, two friends who had attended a retreat together,
had an idea to start an online course for women. They called it Mondo Beyondo,
and created a community model for participants to post their life lists, goals, and
ideas. On the other side of the Atlantic, former journalist Susannah Conway was
independently setting up a similar project called Unravelling. Thousands of
participants later, both projects have long waiting lists for future sessions, and
both produce six-figure annual incomes. Part of the beauty of this model is that it
grows predominantly by referral. As students finish the four-or five-week
courses, many of them tell their friends, who then sign up for the next session.

A few people have created true scale in their online publishing efforts. In
Melbourne, Australia, Darren Rowse created a popular photography forum that
attracted more than 300,000 subscribers in less than three years. He also founded
ProBlogger, a hub for new digital publishers seeking to learn the ropes. In Texas,
Brian Clark runs a company that provides online services, including website
themes and marketing advice. Many customers arrive from Brian’s writing on
CopyBlogger.com and related sites. The business employs a dozen people and
earns more than $5 million a year, in large part thanks to reliance on recurring
subscriptions. (We’ll discuss subscriptions and hear more from Brian in Chapter
10.)

A cynic might wonder, Is there really so much market space for all of these
projects? Long story short, the answer is yes. These examples aren’t highly
unusual, and I had to decline many additional stories because this book is not
strictly about information publishing. Some parts of information publishing are
still in a Wild West stage, but this strong business model is here to stay.

Like everything else under the sun, this “new” business isn’t entirely new. As
Jack from 800-CEO-READ mentioned, some independent publishers have
always known that it’s often better to sell direct. What’s changed is the speed,
quality, and potential to reach a much broader audience. That’s what these
roaming publishers are doing—and a guy in Fullerton, California, provides a
typical example.