Does selling programming ebooks count? I left my job in 2014 (worked for a semiconductor company), muddled around for 4+ years with not much to show before wri

Does selling programming ebooks count? I left my job in 2014 (worked for a semiconductor company), muddled around for 4+ years with not much to show before writing programming ebooks allowed me to earn a living. Fast forward to 2024 and I'm still only earning about 1/3 of what I used to earn (without even considering inflation, what my salary could've been now, etc), but it works for me.