I just dropped the first 1/4 of my Angular series, now what?

The tale and inner thoughts after writing over 20k words then publishing it all in one day.

Once upon a time, I had a dream — a dream of writing a book of sorts. Perhaps a novel. Perhaps a tech manual. Whatever the content, I dreamed of the day when my name would be imprinted on some paperback with a fancy cover.

Alas, it is the dream of a bibliophile.

So, as a child, I wrote grand tales of strange lands and creatures that crawled out of bubbly black tar. I was that kid.

Then I grew up and at some point, I stopped writing — the dusty files lost in dormant bits and bytes of an old and half-forgotten laptop.

In 2018, I started writing again — after I lost my job and no one wanted to hire a mom with a newborn. I started writing — not about princes and princesses but modules and architectural structures.

That was when I got my first hate mail through a Twitter DM — the same day I got kind words from strangers about my writing. That’s when I knew I made it. Sort of.

From there, I made a side hustle out of writing. Technical writing to be exact. But like a lot of people this year, I got hit with the layoff bug. The clients dried up. I stopped writing. My brain went into panic mode as my runway shortened.

People made promises. Clients signed on but a good lot of them still haven’t paid up.

So I resigned myself to getting a proper day job. Sure, there were interviews and whatnot but it always ended the same — you’re not quite the right fit — because I’m a weird one. I’m a developer. I’m a writer. I’m a creator. I make words. I connect ideas. I look at things and deconstruct them like a puzzle. And I’m in a timezone no one else is in.

Last week, as I sat in front of my desk, searching for something to do, I remembered that I have an actual blog with over 200 articles already published. It kind of went to the wayside when work was going well.

It was like a time capsule memory of all the things that happened in my professional life as a developer.

So, I thought to myself, what if….what if I wrote a series I cared about and put it on there?

I dug up my old outlines and drafts, unfinished ideas, along with all the bits and pieces. I thought about structure, the learner’s perspective, and everything else in between. Then I ignored the world and just wrote.

After about 20,000 words, along with hours of editing that went with it, this is what I came up with.

Then came my predicament. How do I monetize this? Do I go with ads? Or do I charge for premium access? Do I publish it here where hardly anyone will see it? What do I do with it?

In the end, I went with a partial paywall where a good chunk of content is still available to read but a decent amount needs a subscription for access. I went with, heck, if 100 people sign up for the yearly sub, then that’s at least another month for me to figure this whole recession thing out. Or if I’m lucky, 500 people go for the monthly tier, then I’m set for the bare minimum of life.

In reality, I might get 1. Or I might get none.

It sounds like a grand dream — to be free to write whatever I want without thoughts about clients running away with my time. Or if the algorithm will show my articles to my followers — because let’s get real, I don’t think it is. Teach readers are often lurkers and lurkers mean lack of engagement.

It feels like I’m starting from zero all over again. I thought I had it with the client model but turns out I had it wrong. It sucks to live off unpaid invoices and be the dispensable one.

Things are hard and I don’t want to give off desperate energy vibes — but when you’re one month away from financial disaster, your brain locks up.

So this is my bid to become a proper independent writer, funded by the community.

Because I always come back to tech and writing, in some way or another.

So here’s my shameless act of self-promotion: Angular — The Ultimate Walkthrough Learning Guide. I hope you find it useful.