I’ve added a new t-shirt to the CafePress store:
You can order one if you’re so inclined here.
Strangely enough, my CafePress store has proven to be the most profitable endeavor of my “throw it out there” attempts at passive income. I’ve had it since 2004 when I made some off-color bumper stickers and then some political things which never sold. But when I started adding IT things badged with QA Hates You, I sold a couple–especially Project Manager Wall Clocks which have sold enough that I got a check from them back when they were new and which still sell steadily enough to cover the costs of having a CafePress storefront.
The Nico Sez line of apparel? I bought one to see how they would look. I’m wearing it as I type this blog post, actually.
The two apps I have on the app store? I sold one copy of Boxing Drill Companion to someone in Eastern Europe on the day I released it. I sold two copies of Dr. Franklin’s Art of Virtue Tracker: One to my beautiful wife, and one to her mother (who uses it every day, by the way, so: yay(?)). Which is almost $3 in revenue against $99 for an annual Apple developer account.
The books? Yeah, build your brand online didn’t work; not only did I spend $300 for a cover, but I sent out 50 to newspapers, magazines, and bloggers and got, what, five reviews? I’ve sold fewer than 100 copies of it and a handful of copies of the other books, but I’ve done my own covers for the others and have not sent out review copies except to the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Contest or whatever it’s called. Which might explain one of the reasons that I haven’t written much long form in a while.
And this blog? I think I got a check from Google AdSense once over a decade ago. Against the ever-increasing costs of hosting and, fortunately, no longer the cost of updating the SSL certificate, but, yeah, not a profit center.
With apologies to Stephen Crane, a poem:
A man said to the internet,
“Sir, I exist!”
Maybe I should focus on more Civilization IV. I lose less money that way.
