Today I’d like to introduce Alyssa Padgett. You may remember her from the post “How This Couple Bought an $11,500 RV, Traveled To All 50 States, and Built A Thriving Business.”
Alyssa self-published her first book and has sold more than 13,000 copies. She now earns a strong passive income from that book—over $200 a day on average, and $6,500 in her best month.
She and her husband live and travel full-time in an RV, making a living while documenting their experiences. They blog at HeathandAlyssa.com, host a podcast, and run a video production business. I’m a big fan—I’ve been on their podcast and we’re friends.
In 2014 they quit their jobs, bought a motorhome, and set out on a year-long road trip across the U.S., working jobs in all 50 states and filming a documentary called Hourly America. After that year they decided full-time RV life was for them, paid off debt, grew their video business, and have continued to embrace the lifestyle.
Alyssa produces films, writes about travel and RV life, and serves as co-pilot and chief navigator of their Winnebago. Her documentary Hourly America received coverage from national outlets and helped raise their profile. She is the author of the bestselling A Beginner’s Guide to Living in an RV, a practical guide for anyone who wants to travel full time in an RV.
Recommended reading:
- 16 Best Ways To Get Paid To Read Books
- 17 Best Places To Sell Used Books For Cash
1. Tell me your story. Who are you and what are you sharing with us today?
Thanks, Michelle! I’m the shorter half of HeathandAlyssa.com, a blog my husband and I run about the RV lifestyle. We started RVing four years ago with the goal of visiting all fifty states for our honeymoon. An RV was the most affordable way to do it and we quickly fell in love with life on the road.
After a month of full-time travel, we decided to continue as long as we could. That meant figuring out how to earn income while traveling and how to pay off student debt. Over the past four years we’ve experimented with many income streams: a video production company, public speaking, our documentary, affiliate marketing (huge shoutout to Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing for teaching me the ropes), podcast sponsors, hosting a conference, and writing a book.
I want to share my experience writing a book for a few reasons. As a blogger, a book is often the first recommended product: it builds credibility, establishes authority, and becomes a paid offering. Writing a book is also a lifelong dream for many people. And finally, I’ve seen far too many bloggers publish a book then fail to market it properly—my husband’s early attempt taught us how important the marketing and publishing process really is.
2. How and why did you decide to write a book?
I decided I wanted to write a book when I was six after learning to read—I remember thinking I could write a better story than the clown book I’d just read. For years I said I wanted to be an author. Watching Heath publish his book gave me practical insight into the process and showed me that my hesitation stemmed from not knowing the publishing steps.
I’d been blogging for years and knew I could write, and our audience was eager for an RV guide. What I didn’t know was the self-publishing side: software choices, file formats, and platforms. I realized I needed to spend time learning how to publish, launch and market—not just writing the manuscript.
I treated my first book as an experiment focused on three goals: learn how to self-publish, increase brand awareness via Amazon, and create a passive income stream.
3. How long did it take you to write?
The first draft came out quickly—about a month. But the draft was only the beginning. I spent months working up the nerve to share it, then editing, gathering feedback, and learning Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). From start to publishing, the process took about 18 months, though much of that time was spent wrestling with fear. If you exclude the months I avoided it, I wrote and published the book in about six months.
4. Did anything scare you about writing a book?
Pretty much everything. As a public blogger, the idea of failing publicly was terrifying. That fear, however, led me to invest heavily in validating and improving the book: I gave advance copies to readers, gathered feedback, and revised the content. Research became crucial. For example, readers wanted practical safety information about propane tanks—something I hadn’t emphasized until they told me. Their input improved the book substantially.
5. Can anyone write a book?
Anyone who can write can write a book, but publishing successfully requires more than writing skills. You need to understand marketing, distribution, cover design, formatting, and how to reach readers.
6. How much can a person expect to make from a book?
Income depends on your effort and strategy. Audience size, ongoing promotion, advertising spend, and format variety all influence earnings. My ebook alone averaged about $1,000/month early on. Launching a paperback later boosted monthly revenue to about $3,000 on average. My best month reached $6,500.
Book sales often spike early, but I found a strong long-term strategy can keep sales growing. Offering both ebook and paperback formats and running targeted promotions—Amazon free days, Kindle Countdown Deals, and Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) ads—helped increase sales steadily. With AMS and regular promotions, I moved from roughly $100/day to over $200/day in income.
Keep in mind the average self-published book sells only a few hundred copies in its lifetime. Marketing discipline separates the small sellers from the few who succeed.
7. Is self-publishing a good idea?
For most authors without a large existing audience or publisher offers, self-publishing is a great route. It gives you full control, faster time-to-market, and ownership over your work. Traditional publishing can take years and means more compromises.
8. How did you market your book?
Book marketing has two parts: launch and long-term promotion. Your first month of sales strongly influences Amazon’s algorithm, so I designed a launch to maximize sales quickly. My launch plan included gathering influencer endorsements, forming a launch team, offering the ebook free for a short period via KDP Select, leveraging brand relationships, and emailing my list.
Giving the ebook away for free during the initial launch was surprisingly effective. Free days count as downloads in Amazon’s algorithm and helped generate thousands of early “sales,” boosting visibility. Afterward, I used occasional free promotions and AMS ads to sustain momentum. Free promotions often produced follow-on spikes in both ebook and paperback sales, increasing overall revenue despite the initial giveaways.
9. How should a person decide what to price their book at?
Amazon makes ebook pricing straightforward. KDP generally restricts ebook prices to $2.99–$9.99 if you want certain royalty rates, and Kindle Pricing Support can show price trends for comparable books. You can change prices quickly, so test price points. I experimented at $2.99, $3.99, $4.99, and $5.99. With strong reviews and a better product, I was able to raise price without hurting sales and increased revenue as a result.
10. Can you give a step-by-step process for writing and launching a book?
Here’s a simplified launch checklist:
Step 1: Validate your book idea with your audience—survey readers and analyze popular posts.
Step 2: Mind map and outline the book using feedback.
Step 3: Write the first draft.
Step 4: Edit and rewrite repeatedly. Hire an editor or at least a proofreader.
Step 5: Set up a KDP account. Finalize your cover, title, description, and pricing.
Step 6: Create a launch plan: recruit influencers, build a launch team, and plan guest posts.
Step 7: Finalize formatting, upload to KDP, and use the previewer for a final check.
Step 8: Tease the release 2–3 weeks before launch. Open pre-orders, share excerpts, and build anticipation through email.
Step 9: Launch: email your list, post on social, and mobilize your launch team to drive attention.
Step 10: Rest—you earned it.
Step 11: Implement a long-term sales and promotion strategy.
11. What’s the top tip you have for someone who wants to do this?
Decide how badly you want it and be prepared to do the work. Fear and perfectionism can keep you stuck. If you truly want to publish, be willing to spend time on the research, marketing, and launch work—not just the writing. Late nights, editing, technical formatting, building relationships, and learning how to promote are all part of the journey. If you do the work and get past the fear, publishing a book can be deeply rewarding and can fill a real need in your market.
Are you interested in writing a book? Why or why not?