Obscene Money: How to Make a Living as a Writer

Obscene money...for Lou at http://crowdedheadcozybed.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/im-stuck/#comments

Most of the people I know who fail at writing do so out of ego. They dreamed of being a writer as a child. They saw themselves becoming rich, famous and respected.

They craved the attention--how else is everyone going to know just how deeply penetrating the thoughts of the quiet kid in the corner who didn't get a date to prom?

Their ego ends up getting in the way of everything they write. Sure, someone will write the great American novel, but it probably ain't gonna be them.

I don't write fiction, so if you want to write a semi-erotic tome with the girls I can't give you too much advice. You can make a living writing fiction, and you have a great start with the girls.

I would approach it much like you already are: Blog a chapter or two at a time, develop a following, capture email addresses from your fans. Once you get the book written you can self publish to your “in house list” using a print on demand service and selling through Amazon or your own web site.

The cool thing about selling on Amazon is you can do a promotion that will get your book to be a top 10 or even a #1 seller, then you can add that to your resume. It’s pretty easy to do.

Once you have demonstrated your book’s appeal, you can get an agent and he will get you a publisher. It’s not easy to get an agent, but if you have already sold a thousand copies through self-publishing, they tend to take notice.

There are also authors who self-publish fiction then travel around the country talking to book buyers at individual stores. It takes a lot of time and I doubt the money is as good as those who get picked up by a big publisher.

That’s general advice for fiction. I don’t know how much you will make, but you can likely sell 500 books with your initial release and maybe 2-3,000 more over the next 12 months. You will likely make $5 per book (self-publishing.)

Writing non-fiction is, I believe, easier and more profitable.

There are four paths to success in the non-fiction arena—I have had some success in all four. You can write for publications (online and off), you can do specialized writing for a specific industry, you can self-publish a single book or you can provide content for a subscription based site you own.

Writing for Other People’s Publications

The key to making money as a non-fiction writer (at least consistent money) is to have no ego. Find an editor, give him no hassles and write whatever he tells you to write. He'll love you and offer you more work.

The good part about this is there are no set hours, all you need is a computer and a telephone and you can make decent money once you are established.

Getting started a mid-circulation magazine will pay you $300-$500 for a 1,000 finished words. If you also provide pics then there is an additional payment of $75-$150 for each of your pictures they use.

Once you are established, large magazines will pay you thousands of dollars for a good article. (Other than a few exceptions, I didn’t get to this level—my writing skills just aren’t there. Yours likely could be/would be/are.)

There are a couple of downsides:

First, the editor is God. Typically he will pay by the word. Your assignments will come something like “I need 1,500 words on….” When you are starting out you will find some editors expect several re-writes. One of my first assignments was for a large circulation Christian magazine where I interviewed a guy, took a photog with me and wrote 3,500 words.

Due to editorial constraints it was cut to 400 words. I got paid $250 for 30 hours or more of work. (I will point out this editor was extremely apologetic and gave me many more assignments.)

Second, you have to write queries EVERY DAY. That is pretty brain wrenching. A query is where you propose to an editor a story idea. I got about 80% of the jobs I pitched, but if I wanted to make any real money I had to get 2-3 assignments per week.

That’s a lot of thinking, creativity, etc.

You use WritersMarket.com to find publications and editor names, etc. It costs $30 or so a year or $3 per month.

If you work basically full time you’re probably going to make $30,000.00 your first year and probably not over $40,000.00 your second.

Writing for a Specific Market

This is one step up from writing on a variety of topics for periodicals—this requires some research, skill and intelligence. It also pays very well in certain markets.

To accomplish this you need to focus your attention on “breaking into” a high-paying market. This requires a good deal of perseverance and creativity since there isn’t necessarily an “editor” who is looking for you.

For example: Robert Bly makes $500K a year writing ad copy. He decided ad copy jobs paid very well and he learned all he needed to learn to be an excellent copy writer. He then pursued every possible copy writing freelance job until he was making the living he wanted to be making.

I have done copy writing numerous times (though I don’t do it very often for others now) and I get from $2,500.00 to $10,000.00 for copy writing assignments. The higher end jobs tend to require more time, but can typically be done in two weeks part time.

I can teach almost anyone to write decent copy if they are a good student of people.

To break into a market you can offer your services free to a high profile company, asking for them to only pay you if they get certain results from the writing. It’s how I got my first big-money jobs. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Understand to be paid big money in this type of market you have to be able to deliver. They expect you to actually know what you are talking about—no one’s going to hand you $5,000.00 for drivel. Well, at least not usually.

Self-Publishing a Non-Fiction Book

This sounds tough, but it’s really pretty easy. I’ll outline it for you (broad strokes, if you need specifics I’ll be happy to provide them…)

Using some free and very low cost tools you identify search terms people are using to find information. It’s not difficult.

You identify a niche, write a “How To” book to cover it, put up a blog or 3 page website and then get to the top of Google for those search terms you identified. Trust me, except in very competitive markets, this is all pretty easy.

In May, 2003 I identified a market niche, wrote a 62 page report over 2 days, set it up to sell for $49.95, got to the top of Google within a couple weeks and have, to date, made over $120,000.00 from that single report—all hands off.

But the best is yet to come…

Writing Content for a Membership Site You Own

My most lucrative writing comes from a 20-30 page report I write each month.

I have a web site telling website owners how to write and web publish in such a way they get traffic to their website. I have several hundred members and they pay between $17 and $47 per month to get this report and a few other tools, etc.

It typically takes me less than 15 hours per month to write the report each month, though I have considered hiring someone to do the writing for me. Retention is good and we lose very few subscribers after the 3-4 month mark.

The key here is to find a topic where there is a demand for the information. If you have limited competition (my site is unique so it does well) then you can do very well. Just 500 members at $17.00 each is going to net you out $5K to $7K per month.

Some personal stuff…

I have not been well for the last few years. I have kidney problems, was in a gasoline explosion last year and severely burned over 25% of my body, I have heart trouble and no stamina.

Why does this matter?

I have only worked part-time for the last several years. Very part time. In spite of that I still make a boatload of money.

I know you are not in great physical shape. With your writing skills you should be able to make a large income writing. Even if it is just part-time.