diff --git a/emacs/Makefile b/emacs/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index adaf8a61a..000000000
--- a/emacs/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-install:
-	# TODO: I'd rather support `nix-env -f '<universe>' -iA emacs`, but at the
-	# moment this fails. I think it's failing because of the way I'm using
-	# readTree. I will need to investigate this further.
-	nix-env -f . -i
diff --git a/emacs/README.md b/emacs/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b4b16b328
--- /dev/null
+++ b/emacs/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Emacs
+
+Emacs is one of a handful software projects that I highly value. I consider it
+as central to my workflow as `git` and `nix`.
+
+## Installing
+
+If you already have `briefcase` on your local file system, run the following
+from the top-level `briefcase` directory:
+
+```shell
+$ nix-build -f . -iA emacs.nixos
+```