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I've written a couple of books that sell on Amazon and Apple iBooks - it takes zero minutes per month work for me, but brings a nice little side income. I won't
by grecy 8y ago
I've written a couple of books that sell on Amazon and Apple iBooks - it takes zero minutes per month work for me, but brings a nice little side income. I won't get rich, but it's nice to have the money come in for doing nothing after I hit the "publish" button. Even the printed books cost nothing.
I'm about to hit publish on a photo coffee-table book from my three years around Africa, and I'll write an Africa guide book and The Road Chose Me Vol 2 in the next 12-18 months.
* The Road Chose Me Volume 1: Two years and 40,000 miles from Alaksa to Argentina (https://amzn.to/2vfCYvn https://amzn.to/2vfCYvn)
Stories and lessons from two years driving my Jeep Wrangler down the Pan-American Highway
* Work Less to Live Your Dreams: A practical guide to saving money and living your dreams
(https://amzn.to/2OD6UtA https://amzn.to/2OD6UtA)
An eBook about how exactly I can afford to take years off work to do what I want and live my dreams.
* West Africa Myths, Misconceptions and Misnomers (https://amzn.to/2veyQMt https://amzn.to/2veyQMt)
After driving the length of the continent, I collected a bunch of information that is extremely helpful to anyone else thinking of doing similar. The vast majority of the Western Worlds "knowledge" of West Africa is so out of date it's useless. My book is from info I learned during my drip from mid 2016 to late 2017, so it's relevant
- iheartpotatoes 8y agoVERY COOL! So many questions: Do you work on the road or take off years at a time? Are you armed, or do you just avoid central conflict areas? I take it no family? (hence the 'solo' bit) or are they undersganding?
- grecy 8y ago> Do you work on the road or take off years at a time? For the first one (AK->Argentina) I just took time off and lived off my savings account. For around Africa I wrote my first book and I write for multiple magazines while on the road. > Are you armed, or do you just avoid central conflict areas? Crossing an international border with a firearm will result in instant jail time in virtually every country on the planet. No, it would be impossible to bring a firearm. You might be surprsed to know I have never heard a single gunshot in three years around the continent, and Ethiopia was the only country I ever saw regular people with firearms. In every other country it's only the police/military, who are extremely professional. > I take it no family? (hence the 'solo' bit) or are they undersganding? No kids or wife. I did have a girlfriend with me for some of the Africa Expedition - living in the Jeep proved too much for our relationship. If you do have a family, don't let that stop you, I've met plenty of people on the road with families, ie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc61AxCQQR4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc61AxCQQR4
- iheartpotatoes 8y agoI just bought your book and am excited to read it. I've fantasized about doing exactly this, but in South America. Twice I almost did it, and twice I backed out because I didn't know how to start. You might get me over the third hump!
- grecy 8y agoYou can absolutely do it! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need more nudging!
- le3dh4x0r 8y agoDid you write fiction or nonfiction books?
- grecy 8y agoNonfiction about my adventures or guide books. I find it much easier than fiction, though I'm an Engineer and not overly "creative" when it comes to writing.
- zzzmarcus 8y agoAwesome. I've been following your Instagram and, to a lesser extent, blog since you started your recent trip around Africa. Such an awesome adventure
- Insanity 8y agoReally cool idea! What tools do you use to write the books? And how long did it take for you to write one?
- grecy 8y agoFor eBooks you can write it in any editor you want - word, pages, it doesn't really matter. Then just export to ePub and you're done. For my published books I want ultimate control over the layout, so I write them in LaTeX to get the pdf to go to the printer. To get it into an eBook I use pandoc to convert them. I wrote a script that does it for me, and massages the resulting ePub until it's exactly what I want. My published books is about 70,000 words. Writing it didn't actually take very long (a few hundred hours I guess), but then I probably spent at least that much time again editing and revising multiple draft rounds.
- imglorp 8y agoAny hints about publishing a coffee table photo book? I have a photo journalism project in mind.
- napolux 8y agoCheck PastBook.com I made a coffee table book from my NYC trip and it’s super cool. Stefano, the CEO, is a very close friend of mine, but I can guarantee on the quality of the products.
- FailMore 8y agoI'm going to be self publishing a book this year - very curious about what have you found in terms of income? And if you have any ideas on how people find your work?
- arisAlexis 8y agoany chance to define a bit more the side income you make?
- tiberiade 8y agoThis is awesome! My co-founder actually did something similar last year: http://www.businessinsider.com/i-live-and-work-in-my-car-heres-how-2018-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/i-live-and-work-in-my-car-her... (he did it in a Landy though!) Would love to help in any way we can on your next book (I'm the founder of Reedsy, https://reedsy.com https://reedsy.com)
- kilroy123 8y agoVery cool to see you on hacker news! I've asked you a few questions on Instagram and you've always taken the time to answer my questions. I appreciated it. I also have enjoyed following your journey, from one world traveler to another.