A little different from our usual format this week. I'm still out here looking — searching for that click, that side hustle that actually has a future. And today something stopped me mid-scroll. Another one in the endless stream of "try what I try, do what I do." And this one almost got me.
I saw a post in a Facebook group. Cute children's books, flexible hours, work from home, only $10 to start. The mom sharing it seemed genuine. Happy, even. I almost did it.
Then I did what I always do. I looked it up.
And I'm writing this because somebody needs to say it out loud — especially right now, when every corner of the internet has an AI-generated guru, a digital course, a "proven system," and a screenshot of a Stripe dashboard telling you that you too can make $10,000 a month if you just believe hard enough and buy their thing first.
I'm tired of it. And I think you are too.
So let's talk about PaperPie.
The books are real. The income is complicated.
PaperPie — formerly Usborne Books & More — sells genuinely good children's books. That part I'll give them. If someone sends you that link just to buy books, fine. The books aren't the problem.
The business opportunity wrapped around those books is a different conversation entirely.
They publish their own income disclosure statement. It's not hidden — it's just never included in the Facebook post inviting you to join. Here's what it actually says:
94% of all active brand partners averaged $1,237 a year. Gross. Before expenses. The bottom quarter of that group made $105 for the entire year.
To clear even $10,000 a year you had to reach Senior Leader status. Less than half a percent of brand partners got there.
The FTC formally put them on notice for misleading income claims. A federal watchdog group found active brand partners still publicly promising financial freedom and six-figure income after being asked to stop. When regulators raised the issue, PaperPie didn't argue. They just started cleaning up posts.
Why it almost got me — and why it almost gets everyone.
Because it doesn't feel like a scheme. It feels like community. It feels like purpose. It feels like a woman who loves books wanting to share something she believes in while making a little money on the side.
That's not manipulation — that's just how these things are designed. The product is real enough to give you hope. The price is low enough to feel like nothing to lose. And the pitch is warm enough that saying no feels like you're saying no to the person sharing it, not the company behind her.
But here's the thing — if you genuinely love children's books, there IS a way to make this work.
The passion is valid. The market is real. You just don't need a middleman taking a cut of everything you earn.
Flip used books. Library sales, thrift stores, and estate sales are full of children's books for under a dollar. Sets and collectibles resell on eBay and Facebook Marketplace for real margins. Fair warning — eBay and Amazon have gotten more competitive and fees have gone up, so don't expect overnight riches. But with the right titles and some patience, people are absolutely still making consistent side income doing this. You keep every cent of your profit. No upline, no parties, no recruiting your friends.
Sell curated bundles on Etsy. This is where the real opportunity lives right now. Parents are busy and overwhelmed. A thoughtfully themed set — dinosaurs, bedtime reads, first chapter books for a 6-year-old — is something people will pay a real premium for because you did the work they didn't have time to do. Source cheap, bundle smart, and charge for the curation. Etsy still has strong organic discovery for this kind of product.
Run book fairs in your community. Schools, churches, libraries, and community centers need book fairs. You can do this independently, build real relationships, and earn actual money without a corporation sitting between you and your customer.
Support good bookstores. If you just want great books for your kids without the pitch, Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores. Nobody gets a commission cut except the actual bookseller.
The bottom line.
I'm not here to shame anyone who joined PaperPie. A lot of good women did. The books are real, the community is warm, and the passion behind it is genuine. But passion deserves a better vehicle than one where 94% of the people doing the work walk away with grocery money for the year.
You don't need someone else's compensation plan to turn something you love into income. You just need the right information.
That's why this newsletter exists. Not to sell you a dream. To help you find what's actually real — and then actually go get it.
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