Blogging for Dollars: How I Became a Full Time Blogger: Lessons I Learned Along the Way [CASE STUDY]

A case Study by Jules Clancy from Stonesoup & The Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School.

While I’d always dreamed of being a food writer, I started my blog back in 2005 more as a hobby than anything else. I guess a very small part of me hoped that it would lead my career somewhere, but the realist in me knew better.

I loved blogging in the early days. Just writing about what I was cooking and photographing it and having the odd person leave comments was enough to keep me going. Early on I decided that I didn’t want to be one of those flakey bloggers who posted erratically so I made a comitment to myself to post every Monday. Without fail.

Years passed and I grew to love my writing and photography just as much as my cooking. The dream of quitting my day job became a little clearer. But it still seemed like an impossibility.

Then my mother died, unexpectedly from cancer. To say my perspective on life changed is a massive understatement. So rather than waiting for my lucky break, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Monetization attempt 1: self publishing a print book

My mum was an inspirational cook, and being in the kitchen made me feel close to her. So it made perfect sense that my first cookbook would be a collection of her recipes and a celebration of her life.

I knew I’d never be able to convince a publisher to take on such a personal project, so I decided to print 2500 copies and publish it myself. The plan was to focus on selling the book through my blog so I wouldn’t have to worry about distributors and book stores.

As you’ve probably guessed, I still have a large pile of books sitting in my garage. I’ve sold about 1500, so have more than broke even. But the most disappointing thing was the lack of online sales. I knew I had to grow my blog readership. But how?

A-list Blogging Bootcamps to the rescue

I’d been a subscriber of Zen Habits for only a month or so when I heard that Leo was going to be running a bootcamp on how to become an A-list blogger. This was just what I needed. So even though it was expensive (I think $380), I signed up right away.

I wasn’t disappointed. In those 10 days, I learned more than I dreamed was possible. It was like traveling to a new land and suddenly becoming fluent in a new language.

I still remember logging on to feedburner for the first time and finding out that I had 1000 subscribers. I had no idea where they’d come from. But it spurred me on to grow my blog into a business that could support me.

How I quit my day job

While my day job was quite fun, designing chocolate biscuits (cookies) for Australia’s most loved biscuit company, I knew it was holding me back from my dream of writing cookbooks.

It wasn’t until I came across the philosophy of minimalism (another thankyou, Leo!) that I realized my cost of living didn’t need to be so high. I didn’t need my six figure salary to survive, which instantly made my goal of self employment appear to be within reach.

So I decided to invest in myself, quit my job and live off my savings while I followed my dream.

launching my first ebook

Given the large pile of books in my garage, first plan of attack was to write an ebook to help promote my print book and drive sales. Many people had told me that they’d love to write their own family recipe book. So ‘How to Bake Your Own Family Cookbook’ was born.

Whilst the eBook did stimulate some sales, it wasn’t anything to get excited about. Time to move on and focus on growing my blog readership.

Launching 5 Ingredients | 10 Minutes

As I embraced minimalism, it inevitably spilled over to my life. I had created a series of recipes that had a maximum of 5 ingredients and took 10 minutes or less to cook. These had been published on Stonesoup and the wonderful blog Zen Family Habits . It was a no-brainer to pull them all together and publish them as a free e-cookbook.

The results were brilliant. The eBook was picked up by Lifehacker and I had over 30 000 hits in one day. Happy days! I immediately got to work on a book of totally new 5 Ingredients | 10 Minutes recipes to sell through my blog.

Create courses that sell

A few months later I saw that Mary Jaksch was offering a course for the A-List Blogging Club called Create Courses that Sell. Instantly the idea of an online cooking school blossomed in my mind.

I had read the adage that people aren’t willing to pay for information online but they are willing to pay to learn new skills. The more I thought about this, the more it made sense. So armed with Mary’s brilliant instructions, I made plans for the creation of The Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School.

Launching the Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School & 5 Ingredients | 10 Minutes

In early October I had both my e-cookbook and my first class, Solve Your Dinner Dilemma ready to launch. I’d recently read a book by Dan Ariely called Predictably Irrational which had talked about price anchors. Basically, when faced with a choice of three different options most people will choose the middle option.

So I launched with the following options:
i. $198 – print version of the book, enrollment in the 4 week cooking class and Ebook version
ii. $119 – enrollment in the 4 week cooking class and Ebook version of 5 Ingredients 10 Minutes
iii. $37 – Ebook version of 5 Ingredients 10 Minutes

To my delight and surprise, not only did a couple of people purchase option i., but for a while option ii. was the best seller. Although now ebook sales have well surpassed enrollment to the class.

In all I ended up with 43 paying students and 4 ‘scholarship’ students. Win!

Launching 5 Ingredients | 10 Minutes by chapter

When I launched the e-cookbook I had quite a bit of feedback from my readers (and Mary!) that $37 was too much for an ebook. So I decided to test whether this was the case and launched the book in a by-the-chapter format for $4.50 each. This way people could pick and choose for a small outlay. I also created a premium version of the book with links to videos of the recipes.

To my surprise this second launch actually boosted sales of the middle option, the ebook for $37 with a few sales of the premium version and the by-the-chapter offering selling only about half the number of units as the standard. Go figure.

Moving forward

I absolutely loved teaching the class. With students from all over the world, the energy was incredible and I found myself learning about cooking in India and Israel and other parts of the world.

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and I must say I really admire Mary and Leo with their brilliant idea of starting the A-list Blogger Club. So I’ve decided to offer a subscription to the Virtual Cookery School called Soupstones, mainly because I think people are more open to paying a small fee on a regular basis rather than outlaying a large amount for a particular course. Plus it will give me a regular income which is a nice bonus. Bring on 2011!

Lessons learned

1. Publishing a print book without a clear benefit statement and target market is a bad idea.I knew my first book would appeal to some people, but it didn’t have a strong reason for being. While the thrill of becoming a published author was wonderful, next time I’d just do a small print run for family and friends, unless I thought the book had a strong commercial offering.

2. Sometimes it’s better to cut your losses on an unsuccessful project. While How to Bake Your Family Cookbook‘seemed like a good idea at the time, in hindsight I would have been better cutting my losses and focusing on my next projects.

3. I had a goal to get my blog to 10 000 subscribers by the end of the year. And while I’m just shy of this figure, I would never have made it if it wasn’t for the boost I got from my Free eCookbook.

4. People are willing to pay to learn new skills online but not for information.
Think about your own online browsing and spending habits. With so much free information, there’s no need to pay. But learning new skills is a whole different situation.

5. It’s a great idea to offer a super premium product as an anchor.
People aren’t rational when it comes to spending money. Having a premium product will make your standard offering seem much more affordable. For more on this I highly recommend reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

6. Pricing is complex and cutting price isn’t necessarily going to drive sales.
We’re all on a learning curve when it comes to pricing. Don’t be afraid to back yourself and charge for quality.

7. It’s much easier to sell people a subscription than a large one-off fee. Follow Mary & Leo’s example.

8. Being a full-time blogger is the best fun. I feel so blessed to be making a living doing what I love. Sure it isn’t always easy and there are times I’ve doubted my ability to make it work. But I keep asking myself, what’s the worst that can happen?

Jules Clancy is a qualified Food Scientist, the creator of the Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School and the author of the e-cookbook 5 Ingredients | 10 Minutes. She blogs about her comitment to only cooking recipes with no more than 5 ingredients over at Stonesoup

Blogging can be a lonely business, particularly now that I’ve quit my day job to blog full time. The A-List Blogger Club is a brilliant way to connect and be inspired by like-minded bloggers from different niches. ~ Jules Clancy, The Stonesoup

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