Free Guide
Are you called to build a lasting body of work?
A new generation of independent scholars is reinventing the academic life for the 21st century. They are reading deeply, writing honestly, building audiences, and earning a living on the internet, outside of all currently existing institutions.
I spent the past six years learning everything I could about what works and what doesn't. I've put all the key lessons in this document.
An old tradition. A modern blueprint.
Spinoza ground lenses. Johnson wrote a dictionary on commission. Emerson sold out lecture halls. The independent scholar is not a new hustle — it is an old and honorable tradition. The Indie Scholar Blueprint is how to live it now.
A practical guide for the independent scholar.
Short, concrete, distilled from six years of building a working life of reading, writing, and teaching outside the academy. Read it in one evening. Get started the next morning. Free.
A practical guide for the independent scholar.
Distilled from six years of full-time writing, reading, and teaching outside the academy — what to focus on, what to write, how to find readers, and how to make a real living at it. Read it in one evening. Free.
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Inside the Blueprint
What's in it
- 01 Gain four hours a day for reading and writing, starting tomorrow. The subtraction protocol that recovers reading and writing time from the average person's phone and TV use.
- 02 What to read, and how to write directly from it. The canon-first reading method, and three templates for turning books into your own work.
- 03 A publishing cadence that compounds. Long-form on email, short-form on one algorithm, one to three times a week, minimum.
- 04 Align your free writing, tasteful promotional techniques, and paid offers into one funnel befitting a scholarly project.
- 05 The six monetization models that work best for indie scholars, with the pros and cons of each.
- 06 Historical context on the lineage you're joining: from Plato to Montaigne, Spinoza, Johnson, Emerson, and Nietzsche. The 21st-century independent scholar, or indie scholar today, is not an exception. We are a return to the historical norm.
The Author
Who wrote this
Justin Murphy
Founder, Indie Scholars
I finished my PhD in 2014 and was a professor for five years. In 2019 I left and moved all of my writing and teaching online. It took three years to cross six figures, mostly from a suite of philosophy courses I built with friends. It took another three years to solidify what I now believe is the ideal model for most independent scholars.
The Blueprint is our free guide to all the key ideas.
Get the Guide
A short, practical guide for the independent scholar.
Distilled from six years of building a working life outside the academy. Read it in one evening. Get started the next morning.