The guy who made $50k selling prompts (and why that's hilarious)
Saw this absolutely wild story on Reddit yesterday.
An indie developer built an entire business selling AI prompts. Made solid money too.
The best (and most absurd) part? Even HE was shocked people were buying them.
Just sit with that for a second.
Technically it's not a scam. He's delivering exactly what he promised, which is a collection of prompts. But this whole situation is both hilarious and kind of depressing.
The only reason this business exists is because most people fundamentally don't get how AI works.
There's no magical "perfect prompt" out there.
That'd be like claiming there's one email template that works for every single business. Or one sales script that closes every deal. Anyone who's done actual marketing knows that's complete nonsense.
Prompting is iterative. It depends entirely on context. On specific goals. You're having an actual conversation with AI about your unique situation, not reciting some magic incantation.
(OK fine - maybe text-to-image stuff needs specific commands for aspect ratios and style modifiers. But that's just technical specs and not a secret sauce prompt collection.)
This is exactly why I talk about prompting without making it my whole thing. Because learning how to actually think about and work with AI matters way more than hoarding prompts.
Know who's buying these prompt collections? Same ones who:
- Grab email swipe files expecting instant success
- Think they can just copy successful ads and get the same results
- Still believe there's some hidden marketing trick they haven't discovered yet
They're all chasing shortcuts that flat-out don't exist.
Which sounds more valuable - knowing how to guide AI for your specific needs, or having a folder full of random prompts collecting digital dust?
P.S. Enjoy reading these emails? Forward to another marketer or copywriter or founder who thinks about AI. The best AI Copywriting Pro subscribers come in through word of mouth organically.