(screenshot: https://share.getcloudapp.com/yAu288nm)<p>I've been building open source software for the past 10 years. And I always thought that monetization was evil.<p>It took me a while to realize that money is not evil, money is oxygen.<p>In December 2019, I decided to learn more about sales. So I went to Amazon and bought several books.<p>In the end, I only read one - but I quickly realized that if I really wanted to learn this, I'd have to practice it in real life.<p>I love my job and I was definitely not looking to leave it. However, you can always start a side project, and that's what I decided to do.<p>I opened GitHub, looked at my open source projects, and built a plan around monetizing Dracula, which is a dark theme for developers.<p>At first, this seemed like a crazy idea. Who would buy a color scheme for their code editors?<p>When you start, there are all these inner voices trying to stop you, but deep down, I knew I could build something meaningful.<p>In February 2020, I launched and... people started to buy. The feeling of receiving even $1 for your side project is unbelievable.<p>It's really hard to explain. It opens your eyes to a different reality.<p>Two months later this side project already made $20,145.92.<p>If you're considering creating a side project, stop waiting, and do it. Do it now. I mean it, close this page and start it right now.<p>I'm sure you're not going to regret it a couple of months from now.<p>If you're curious about this side project I created, you can check it out here: https://draculatheme.com/pro
This is honestly the first time I'm hearing about someone monetizing a color scheme. I didn't even now such a thing was possible.<p>Was it already popular before you started to monetize it? I see that the Github repo [0] has 12k+ stars, so I assume it was already pretty popular beforehand. Did you get more exposure (and GH stars) after the choice to monetize it?<p>Also, what things does the bonus screencast cover?<p>I just downloaded the Alacritty theme [1] and to my liking the background is too bright (I guess I prefer it darker than Dracula hehe), so I changed it to 0x000000, but other than that I like it, it's definitely pleasant on the eyes.<p>[0]: <a href="https://github.com/dracula/dracula-theme" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/dracula/dracula-theme</a><p>[1]: <a href="https://github.com/dracula/alacritty/tree/af38d360e9589a75a27bc6d94f30b9931deb9e50" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/dracula/alacritty/tree/af38d360e9589a75a2...</a>
> At first, this seemed like a crazy idea. Who would buy a color scheme for their code editors?<p>I have thoughts like this all the time when I look at my github repos.