Interview With Stray Curls: How Angela Makes 3-5K a Month Selling eBooks

When I first considered inviting content creators to be featured in my interview series, I knew Angela needed to be here soon.

I have followed her advice for years and always look forward to her next newsletter or article. She is one of the most fun—and yet extremely insightful—bloggers I know. She is always ready to share her best tips about blogging and business and makes everything easy to follow.

In this interview with Stray Curls, we talk about Angela’s (super cute!) blog and how it has grown to provide her with a steady monthly income of $3-5K.

Enjoy!

An Interview with Angela from Stray Curls

1. For those who don’t know you or your brand, who’s Angela, and what is Stray Curls?

Angela (that’s me) is a 31-year-old Illustrator and Blogger currently living in Bangalore, India, with her foodie partner and 2 adorable cherub dogs. 

I adore reading, playing board games, and drinking chai when I’m not working. I also love food, so you’ll often find me cooking (both my dogs are on different diets). My partner is a vegetarian, so I cater to four completely different taste buds!

Stray Curls was originally a curly haired comic series I started in 2016 – hence the name.

It quickly rose to fame because I covered only 1 topic – curly hair struggles women face every day. 

It helped me get many illustration requests, and I got to work with a few of my Dream Brands. 

I received many emails asking me to explain how to make money online, and I didn’t feel like gatekeeping, so I started this blog to share all the advice I had accumulated over the months I was freelancing. 

I thought it would be a nice side gig. 

I started sharing advice on the Stray Curls blog to help others start an online business from home. 

I used my experience of building websites, drawing, writing, etc., to help other women understand how they could do the same and earn a nice income while staying home. 

But with time, I enjoyed writing more than the comics. 

It helped me connect with so many people, and I felt I was making a difference. 

This pushed me to start more blogs. 

2. Why did you start the blog, and how has it evolved over the years?

I started the blog primarily not to be entirely dependent on social media. 

Relying on 1 income source is always a little terrifying. I also have 2 dogs who are my whole world, and I never intended on ever joining a full-time corporate job. 

So, I do everything for them. 

I slowly learned that so many women like me were either in college and couldn’t work full-time or were stay-at-home moms and wanted to supplement their partner’s income. 

With time in the field, I learned that many of my readers also had disabilities or were old, which fueled my passion to share everything I was learning with them. 

For me, my work has to have meaning. 

And Stray Curls helped me achieve that goal.

3. Your posts tend to be rather long. I guess it’s a common trait in our niche. But I know you run several other blogs and are also an artist. How do you manage to do it all and produce so much content?

Yes, I work independently – it’s more fun to be personally involved in my work. 

I will credit my speed and organization to my parents. 

My parents were early risers (they’d wake up by 5), and my mom and dad were incredibly organized. 

I learned to make to-do lists from a young age – I never went to bed without a plan for the next day. 

This helps me do things very, very quickly. 

I wake up at 3:45 am, and the first four hours of the day are dedicated to my morning routine: I read, play Duolingo, take my dogs for a long walk, work out, and play board games with my partner while we have breakfast together. 

After that, I work for 4–5 hours.

At the beginning of each month, I do a progress report for the previous month, and based on that, I make a loose plan:

1. How many posts do I need to write for each blog
2. How many pins do I need to pin for each blog
3. What kind of topics should be covered for each business (newsletters, blog posts, etc.)

I then divide the tasks systematically between each week and then break down those tasks into daily tasks. 

I also used to type race when I was younger, so I type over 100–120 words per minute. 

This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase. I only recommend resources that I use and love! Read my full disclosure.

4. You have a unique style. Your posts are about serious topics, but they are lighthearted and fun. Is that how you always write, or has this been a strategic decision for Stray Curls in particular?

It’s only for Stray Curls, haha. In my relationships blog, I’m quite serious because I do cover heavy topics. 

However, I try to maintain a general tone of kindness throughout my websites. 

There were too many blogs on blogging and online business when I started this blog. 

I needed a way to stand out. 

After talking to many of my less-than-tech-savvy readers, I realized that one way I could stand out was by making learning more fun and engaging. 

So, I decided to use my drawing skills and break down difficult concepts into easy, fun, bite-sized pieces so people could more easily consume them. 

5. What’s your number one tip for a new blogger looking to grow their traffic this year?

Start an email list right from the start. 

And pay more attention to diversifying your traffic instead of focusing on just one thing. 

The internet is very unpredictable, and working in this field requires you to adapt every time a new algorithm is introduced.

6. What about monetization? Can new bloggers still stand out and make money online?

I genuinely don’t think blogging will ever go away. 

As long as there is a will, there is a way. 

People still profit from blogging via digital products, services, and affiliate marketing. 

Even if ad revenue drops due to low traffic from the recent updates – you can still monetize your blog via other means. 

7. You offer several digital products but no courses. Why did you decide to go for e-books and printables instead?

There are multiple reasons for this:

1. E-books are faster to absorb than e-Courses:

When someone desperately wants knowledge, they want to consume it quickly. Because I include many illustrations in my eBooks, I know they’re easy and fast to read. They’re the better choice for my specific niche. 

2. E-books are easily updated:

It’s easy to update an eBook. My niche evolves very quickly. SEO changes frequently, and I need to be able to change that information as and when it’s updated. 

3. E-books are cheaper:

I’m in the education niche, and I firmly believe that education must be accessible to all. My readers come from different financial backgrounds, and I want my research to be easily available to anyone who needs to learn. 

4. I’m biased to reading:

I’m a voracious reader (I’ve already finished over 45 books in the last three months), and I guess, in a way, that addiction has crept over to my business. 

8. Can you tell us about your experience with writing your first e-book? Do you have any tips for someone looking to dive into digital products too?

I started small. 

My first eBook was The Secret to Skyrocketing your Blog Traffic – Because I was working with bloggers and studying SEO and Pinterest in 2018, I learned how to get blog traffic. 

I was quite surprised to note that many creators (whose niches didn’t center around blogging or online businesses) didn’t understand SEO. I saw that as a HUGE opportunity to teach and help them learn it better. 

I wanted to be able to share that knowledge with all my friends who were budding artists or creators. 

That was the sole motive for writing that eBook. I enjoyed every minute of it. 

It involved a lot of organization:

→ Dividing all the information into chapters
→ Rewriting every chapter and breaking it down into subsections and paragraphs
→ Drawing illustrations to break from the monotony
→ Creating a cute eBook cover 
→ Drafting and making a good sales page
→ Writing a sequence of emails to convey how good your book is to your email list

The main challenge I’ve always faced is selling. 

As an artist and a writer, I had to learn how to promote my work in a way that didn’t seem too icky for my taste. 

Sometimes, I still struggle with that. 

One piece of advice I have is to start small. Always price your digital product low so that you can get more product in more hands—this helps you increase your audience!

9. What about the rest of your e-book collection? Which ones would you most recommend a new blogger to read, and in what order?

I highly recommend that anyone start with The Profitable Side Hustle and Start your Blog from Scratch with the 24-Month Blog Plan as an addition. 

The first eBook discusses general blogging and helps people understand what goes into this field. I discuss several means of monetization and how to understand the profitability and feasibility of each direction a website may take. 

The second one dives into everything laymen would need to know about actually blogging. I break down everything about SEO, writing the posts and then formatting them so it’s easy to read. 

The 24-month blog plan is a plan I’ve used personally for most of my websites from going to $0 to $5K just via display ads/affiliate marketing, and I feel it will help bloggers be more accountable. I’ve broken down all the tasks they need to do monthly to see the same progress I did. 

A quick note from Sofia: I have purchased a number of products from Stray Curls in the last few years, and I intend to read all of her e-books. I love her style, and I’ve followed her for so long that it’s gotten personal at this point. 🙃
While I understand most of what she teaches (we obviously blog about similar topics), I always have some great takeaways. If you’re wondering, this was my favorite book so far!

10. How much do you make from Stray Curls these days?

It varies anywhere between $3-5K a month.

If I hit that goal within the first two weeks, I will not take on any coaching clients or work for the rest of the month. 

Since there are no ads on the blog, it only makes money through digital product sales and affiliate marketing. I also do a bit of coaching on the side. 

In the beginning (I started the website in 2018), Stray Curls got me many illustration clients – so I’ve been making $3-5K since then. 

But back then, my services got me a huge chunk of my income. Now, it’s leaning more towards my eBook sales. 

I step back once I help my readers reach their first $1-3K monthly. If they move from Beginner to Intermediate bloggers, my work is done. 

They no longer need me, and I see that as a huge success! 

So, I focus primarily on Beginner Bloggers. 

I have never intended to grow the business or make it bigger than what it is now. That would involve working more hours, and that is something I am not willing to take on. 

I promised my pups and myself that I’d never spend more time working than with them, and I intend to keep that promise forever. 

Surprisingly, I still have a lot of readers who’ve outgrown my teaching but read my newsletters due to sentimental value, and I appreciate them a lot. 🙂

11. For someone who’s looking to turn their blog into a profitable business, what should they do first, and what are some of the most essential investments?

Apart from good hosting and an easy-to-spell domain, they require an excellent email platform. I highly recommend ConvertKit because email is the best way to stay consistent with branding and keep in touch with readers. 

I also recommend learning how Pinterest works – because social media is a good way to speed up that progress. 

I always tell my readers to keep their costs low in the beginning – it’s important to get into that flow of writing and publishing. 

Consistency is by far the best way to reach success.

12. Would you like to leave a final note of inspiration or advice for our readers?
You always have something fun and encouraging to end up with, so I had to ask…

You’re so sweet, Sofia. First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for sending me these questions and being so patient. 

And I’d like to thank any reader who made it this far—I appreciate you. 

I’d like to add that if you enter this field, you need to ditch perfectionism. 

So many readers study my blog, buy my eBooks, and never start because they’re afraid nobody will read their blogs. 

But you must break through and just start. 

You have nothing to lose – it’s like taking a shot in the dark, but the benefits outweigh the investment, a million to one!

So, please just start. 

And don’t go back and delete your posts. 

It’s totally normal for your first 100 posts to be pure garbage – that’s how you get to the good stuff! Just keep writing and focus more on changing the world with your writing than anything else!

If you have a voice and something to share, know that you’re doing the world a service by getting it out there!

Best of luck!

Stray Curls eBook Collection

Thank you for reading my interview with Stay Curls and staying with us until the end.

Angela is the best, don’t you think?

Remember to visit her shop and check out her collection of e-books for bloggers and creative business owners:

→ The Ultimate Money Making Bundle (NEW!) – includes all of Stray Curls’ bestselling e-books and planners.

→ Start a Blog from Scratch – everything you need before you start blogging.
→ 24 Month Blog Plan – a step-by-step process to achieving your blogging goals.
→ The Creative Guide for Creatives – how to make money as a creative.
→ Grow your Blog to $1K – how to choose topics and keywords that you can rank for.
→ SEO Blueprint – a beginner’s guide to writing posts that rank on Google.
→ Little Tripwire – high-converting tripwire strategies to convert readers into buyers.
→ Evergreen Sales Funnels – how to leverage your existing traffic and make money on autopilot.
→ 7 Emails – how to launch an e-book to a small audience (including email examples).
→ The Complete Roadmap to Building a Profitable Side Hustle – how to start an online business.
→ The Secret Sauce to Skyrocket your Blog Traffic – strategies to explode your blog traffic.