I published my first freelancing guide the traditional way—through Amazon KDP. It worked fine, but I kept thinking there had to be a better approach. Then I came across how Pieter Levels handles his product sales, and it got me thinking differently about the whole process.
What I Learned from Round One
Publishing on Amazon feels like the obvious choice. Everyone knows it, people trust it, and the setup is straightforward. But here’s what I noticed: when someone finds your book on Amazon, they’re shopping around. They’re comparing it to dozens of other books, reading reviews that mention competitors, and making decisions based on things you can’t control.
My first guide did okay, but something felt off about the whole experience. I had no real connection with readers and couldn’t learn much about what actually resonated with people.
The Pieter Levels Inspiration
If you don’t know Pieter Levels, he’s the guy behind products like Remote Year and Nomad List. What caught my attention wasn’t just his success, but how he sells his products. Instead of hiding behind traditional sales pages or sample chapters, he shows you everything upfront—but with a twist that makes you want to buy to get the full experience.
That got me thinking: what if I could let people see my entire guide before buying, but in a way that still creates value in purchasing?
My Experiment: The Scrambled Preview
For my second guide, I built something different. The entire book is right there on the page, but the text is scrambled. You can see the structure, the chapter headings, how long it is, what topics I cover—everything except the actual readable content.
It’s like being able to flip through a physical book in a bookstore before buying it, except digital.
I paired this with Stripe for checkout because honestly, nobody wants to create another account just to buy a $9.99 ebook. Keep it simple.
Still Testing the Waters
I haven’t launched this properly yet or started driving real traffic to it. Right now I’m just getting feedback from a few people and tweaking things. But the concept feels right—people can see exactly what they’re getting without me giving away the actual content.
Why I’m Excited About This Approach
The more I think about it, the more this makes sense. With Amazon, you’re essentially renting shelf space and hoping people find you. With direct sales, you own the entire experience. You can:
- Actually get to know who’s buying your work
- Build an email list of interested readers
- Test different approaches and see what works
- Keep all the revenue instead of paying platform fees
Plus, there’s something satisfying about building your own little corner of the internet instead of depending on someone else’s algorithm.
What’s Next
I’m planning to start driving some traffic to the page soon and see how people respond. Maybe the scrambled text idea is brilliant, maybe it’s weird—but I won’t know until I try it.
The worst case? I learn something new and can always fall back to Amazon for wider distribution later. The best case? I build a direct relationship with readers and prove that indie publishers don’t need to rely on big platforms to succeed.
Want to see what I’m talking about? Check out From Biscuits to Six Figures and let me know what you think of the scrambled preview approach. Even if you don’t buy, I’d love to hear whether the concept makes sense or feels too gimmicky.
If you’re working on your own publishing experiments or have thoughts on distribution strategies, I’d love to hear about them. Sometimes the best ideas come from just trying something different.
