[archagon]

I wonder how feasible it would be to write a (great) book, skip most of the coursework/training/audience-building bits, market it using more conventional means (reach out to journalists, etc.), and make ~$10k?

Personally, as someone who loves technical writing but less the people bits around it, I'd much prefer doing something like this to "building my brand" and essentially becoming an instructor. (This is roughly what I ended up doing when releasing my first iOS app, though the journalist cold-calling was arduous and questionably reproducible. The success I had was mostly on account of Apple taking notice, perhaps with a small push from positive blog coverage.)

[jashmenn]

Right. This is why you partner with someone like me - because we already have an audience, a process, and some capital+labor we can use to help produce & promote your book/course.

[ghaff]

>though the journalist cold-calling was arduous and questionably reproducible

To do this seriously you probably want to contract with a decent PR person.