Cash in on your love for literature: Bookish revenue streams

Hear me out, bookworm interested in making a few extra bucks: This ain't about 💥 pyramid schemes or quick bucks. I'm just sharing my journey of selling digital goods on the interwebs, and giving you some solid tips for cashing in on your book lovin' hobby. Why, you ask? Because I wanna see you ballin', pal.

So, WTF are these magical digital products, and how do I make bank?

A digital product is basically anything you can download or access online after purchasing. Books, templates for Google Docs, video workshops, printable worksheets, digital planners, and a ton more stuff — the only limit is your creativity. I hawk my wares on Etsy, but I've also got a PayHip store and use ThriveCart. There are other platforms like SendOwl or Shopify that you could use if you've got your own little corner of the web.

The majority of my cash arrives from Etsy, 'cause it's a friggin' marketplace, and they've got tons of folks snoopin' around every day. People trust Etsy more than some shady website, but if you've built up a monster following on social media, you could steer 'em straight to your own joint—keeping all the dough without paying Etsy's fees.

How I profit from digital goods

I run an Etsy store called Writer Lifestyle, but Etsy accounts for only half my traffic. The rest comes from my own efforts: I drone on about my products in my blog 'cause they match my content, and I create Pinterest pins out the wazoo. But it seems like the Pin pals don't give a damn about those—it's my blog posts that drive the buyers. I do toss my products onto Pinterest as well, but that doesn't seem to generate much juice.

I've also got some digital courses and other products hangin' out on ThriveCart 'cause it gives me more freedom than selling on Etsy and lets me collect customer emails. I appreciate those opportunities to drop 'em updates and important stuff.

Some of my products are like a peanut and some are like a steak, but I offer options at different price points for caterin' to varying experience levels—from greenhorn writers to experienced cats. Almost all of my goods are 'bout fiction, but I've got some for readers and book clubs and a few biz ones that honestly don't fit so well. I crank out new products regularly and revamp or retire older ones when needed.

Things are sorta slow for me right now, October 2024—I expect a pickup soon, though. February of this year was my best month ever, makin' almost as much as I woulda hauled in at that awful nursing gig, which I'm delightedly avoidin'.

"If you were actually earning from digital goods, you'd keep 'em to yourself and rake in all the moolah."

This is a common argument I see on Reddit, strangely enough, only directed at folks sellin' online courses, not business school teachers. Yeah, there are scammers runnin' around, but I'm no fan of the AI-powered POD product shills. First off, don't trust anyone who ain't goin' strong on Etsy. Secondly, if you wanna crank out lovable products and keep 'em authentic, you can't rely on shortcuts. You need, like, die-hard fans that'll keep comin' back for more, not folks lookin' to be scammed.

If you're any good at somethin', why wouldn't ya want to share that expertise and hustle some cash by educatin' others to do the same, right? It means more dough, but also, some of us just love teachin'. Sinkin' in a situation where I was flat broke sucked the joy right outta my life, but if I can help even one person get out of that mess, I'm happy.

I don't sweat competition, 'cause A) I already got it, B) nobody else is you, and C) most people don't got the drive to outshine other sellers. This ain't about jumplin' on trends, so I don't stress about sharin' my secrets.

Whatcha could craft to make a bookish income online

'K, let's get down to business: how can you convert your love for books into online dough? Let's first chat about the kinds of educational digital products you can cook up.

Educational Digital Products Galore

Your educational digital products should ideally help folks with ONE of these four tasks:

Learn
Improve
Remember
Organize

This divides your potential customers into two clerks: those who wanna learn your skillset and those who already know what's up but need a boost. Not every subject or product lends itself to EVERY category, but you need to know your audience and their specific needs.

When you're clear on what you want to facilitate, decide the format for your product. There's more'n one option:

Ebooks
Google Docs/Sheets templates
Notion templates
Video workshops
PDFs with linked pages for Goodnotes and other PDF annotation apps
Printable or digital worksheets, trackers and logs
Printable or digital workbooks

Say you wanna teach a customer how to learn somethin' new—you could whip up an "how-to" type of product: an ebook or perhaps a video tutorial. If you wanna help someone improve a skill they already possess, you could cook up a printable worksheet or digital workbook. To aid with memory, you could create printable reference sheets or checklists on Google Sheets. For organisation, you could fashion printable trackers or create a database for Notion.

Dreamin' up digital bookworm product ideas

'Say you're a lit student, well-versed in classic novels. You could develop a template for jotting down novel notes, maybe a printable worksheet or perhaps a Notion template, for example. Or perhaps you could whip up a reference sheet for different characters in Tolstoy's novels.

What if you just like to partake in a little literary pleasure? you could whip up different reading trackers, book review templates, or reading log pages for digital planners. Think about different aesthetics and varying kinds of readers when craftin' your goods, and remember what would tickle your fancy.

Here are some product ideas that popped into my head in a heartbeat:

Notion template for tracking your To Be Read list with links to the Kindle Store
Academia aesthetic habit tracker for reading goals
Google Docs lecture note template for a class on British poets
Reference sheet for different poetic metres
Printable book review template with prompts
Post ideas for Bookstagram or Booktok accounts
Reading challenge checklist for Excel

Swing by this post in my other blog, Educational Etsy Products, if you'd like more digital product ideas in different niches.

Of course, you can make stuff that ain't strictly for education—just gotta remember that I'm an 'digital goods hawker, so that's what I focus on.

I do have a few bits of entertainment-related goods in my shop, like printable games, and there are a million ways you could infuse your book ish into these kinds of products. Here are some entertainment-type ideas to inspire you as well:

Reading Classic Novels bingo sheet
printable Murakami word search pages
local library treasure hunt sheet
fill-in-the-blank ACOTAR quotes printable
printable board game for a bookish family game night
printable diploma for finishing a long series

Have some artistic chops? Go and make your digital goods look even more phenomenal than regular folks can with Canva graphics.

Wrapping Up: Your Free Etsy Shop Action Plan

You ready to sell educational digital goods on Etsy? Let's go! You could DIY the whole process, but if you wanna save a bit of time and minimize headaches, grab my free action plan. It'll guide you through startin' your shop, creatin' products, marketin' it, and improvin' it—all designed for individuals wantin' mostly to sell educational goods.

Get that action plan in your inbox right now. Let's do this!

If you'd like more digital product ideas in various niches, check out this post in my other blog, Educational Etsy Products.

A digital product can be anything you can download or access online after purchasing, including books, printable worksheets, video workshops, digital planners, creative writing workbooks, and more.
The author sells their digital products on Etsy, ThriveCart, and PayHip, but other platforms like SendOwl or Shopify can be used for selling digital goods.
The author earns a significant portion of their income from digital products, particularly through their Etsy store called Writer Lifestyle. They market their products through their blog and Pinterest, with the majority of their traffic coming from their own efforts.
For book lovers looking to make an income online, the author suggests creating digital educational products related to reading, learning, improving, remembering, or organizing, such as ebooks, Google Docs templates, Notion templates, and printable worksheets or workbooks. The author also encourages creating entertainment-related goods related to books, such as printable games or book-themed bingo sheets.

Cash in on your love for literature: Bookish revenue streams