In the summer of 2021 I had a great idea. I would create a new site with technical articles about AWS Serverless. Most articles would be free, but some in-depth ones would cost $1 or $2. The goal was to attract readers with the free content, and “upsell” the paid articles. Two years later, I’m shutting it down. This post describes my journey, my learnings, and what comes next.
But first, a bit of background. I have quite a history of technical writing. I’ve written more than a hundred blogs and articles for employers and personal projects. In fact, my writing has gotten me some “internet fame” and has directly lead to my acceptance into the AWS Heroes program. I must have spent hundreds of hours researching, documenting, and publishing articles about AWS use cases, technical challenges and best practices. And I’ve always done this in my own time, at no cost to anyone but myself.
In the summer of 2021 I figured I could improve the cost-benefit ratio of my writing with Bite-Sized Serverless (https://bitesizedserverless.com). It would combine paid articles with freebies, allowing me to write the content I loved, and also earn from it. I was wrong. In two years, I made about $50. Most of that was spent by people I knew. So let’s see what went wrong.
Failure 1: the monetization model
In my introduction article at Bite-Sized Serverless, I wrote:
[…] I felt two things were missing:
- Content that covered real-world usage and benefits of AWS services
- A content model focused around topics instead of certifications
I designed Bite-Sized Serverless to address these issues. My articles cover the gap between marketing and technical documentation: I will give you the technical insight you need to apply a service or technology, without trying to sell it to you. I will give you the technical details of common use cases, instead of documenting every single option and API call. And I will do all of this from the perspective of an architect and a builder.
The goal of Bite-Sized Serverless is not to help you pass an exam. It is focused on real-life usage, helping you choose and apply the right services for your tech challenges. If you’re working with DynamoDB you can get insights on DynamoDB. If you’re working with Lambda, choose the Lambda topics.
Okay, great. However, the effect of these focused articles is that readers have no reason to read, let alone pay for, another article. They got what they came for, likely in the form of a free article, and then they leave. No upsell.
Also, if the content they were looking for was part of a paid article, how would they know? There was no trial, no free preview for paid articles. They only way to know the article had what you needed was by buying it. And of course nobody did that. I know I wouldn’t.
This is Bite-Sized Serverless’ biggest failure. In the two years it’s been online it generated over 200,000 pageviews and generated $50 in revenue.
Failure 2: a restrictive content model
The second failure was its restrictive content model. I felt that all articles should apply to a real-world use case. Also, I thought that every article should have a corresponding CDK project. Why? Because I thought real world use cases would distinguish my site from all the others out there. And because a working CDK project would allow users to hit the ground running if they wanted to build the use case themselves.
However, I found that the restrictions I set up also introduced a barrier to my writing. Suddenly, I could no longer just type whatever I felt like, it had to fit a format. And just quickly jotting down some thoughts, or something I learned, was no longer acceptable – I had to set up a CDK project first. In the end, it drained my enthusiasm. And even now, as I’m writing this page, I feel how much I’ve missed putting free-flowing thoughts on paper.
Failure 3: I built everything myself
I’m a nerd. I’m a builder. I’m a software developer. I reaffirmed the classic trope: developers rather spend a hundred hours building something that 100% matches our requirements than spend two hours installing somebody else’s product that maybe does 95% of what we need. I believed that Bite-Sized Serverless was special and needed a custom product: it had no subscribers, only one-off payments (turns out there’s a good reason nobody else does it that way). So I wanted to build my own platform. I learned a lot doing so. Really, a LOT. But it also meant that every new feature involved dozens of hours of work. Want code syntax highlighting? That’s a week of work. Good responsiveness on mobile? Two weeks. Header anchors? Another three days.
All this time should have been spent writing content. There is a reason the site you’re currently reading runs on wordpress.com.
Takeaways
First of all: if you have an idea “nobody has done before”, take some time thinking why that might be. Maybe you actually have a unique idea, it’s possible. But in a space as saturated as technical writing / blogging, it’s unlikely. In my case, I could have seen that my monetization plan wouldn’t work.
Second: think about what drives you. Are you in it for the money, is your project going to be your main source of income? Then you might need a strong business plan and a lot of perseverance. That wasn’t the case for me; I was looking to make a bit of money on the side by doing what I loved. It ended up killing my motivation to write. If you’re building a product around a thing you love, make sure the project revolves around that core passion, not the other way around.
Third: use off-the-shelf products. Seriously. I must be the millionth person writing this, but building a complex website from scratch is almost never worth it. Use an existing product, even if it doesn’t entirely match your product vision. See if you can find a market fit, see if you can generate stable revenue. Only then see if you need distinguishing features you cannot find anywhere else. In the end, content is king and all the bells and whistles are just supporting features.
Back to my roots
So what’s next? Well, you’re reading it. I decided to claim https://lucvandonkersgoed.com and run my personal website on wordpress.com. WordPress does everything I need, including images, code syntax highlighting, CMS, SEO, themes, responsiveness, updates and patches, categories and tags. I will be transferring all my existing content here. I have no plans for monetization.
I do plan to write different types of content here. Some articles might be technical deep dives. Others might be high-level architectural concepts. Some, like this blog, might be personal, while others will just be quick notes. All articles will be written because they are what’s on my mind. After all, that’s what got me some fame in the first place.
I hope and expect that this format will relight my passion for writing, and that this website will become a proper reflection of me, my passions, and my career. I also hope you will like it.
Luc
Luc van Donkersgoed's Notes 