For the past few years, the Ludum Dare community has been running the October Challenge. The idea is to create a game, release it and earn $1. Earning money from creating a game can be even more difficult than creating the game itself, so the challenge is a good way to test the waters without too much pressure.
There is also the Games 4 Doge contest going on this October, where the challenge is to create a game that incorporates the Dogecoin digital currency in some way.
For October I'll be taking part in both, and documenting the process here and on my Twitter account.
Good luck to all the entrants, and I look forward to trying all your games!