Many aspiring writers hope to quit their day jobs so they can pursue writing for a living, but is this a realistic goal? Here’s an overview of what to expect if you want to pay the bills with your writing.
People dream of becoming professional writers. Getting paid to share your thoughts with strangers is a pretty good job. However, Writing is tough. Few who write regularly make a living doing it, and many of those who do barely scrape by. Most people would probably be better off with a regular job than trying to earn a living writing.
Here is the reality
Most writing will never be read by anyone. Of what remains, the vast majority will stay confined to the narrow corner of the internet they were birthed into. But a few pieces will travel widely. It only takes a few such pieces to build a career.
The easiest way you can increase your chances of success is simply to write more. Writing has a large random component; so, the optimal strategy is to be prolific.
After Andrew Lipstein published The Vegan, his sophomore novel, a handful of loved ones asked if he planned to quit his day job in product design at a large financial technology company. Despite having published two books with the prestigious literary imprint Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Lipstein didn’t have any plans to quit; he considers product design to be his “career,” and he wouldn’t be able to support his growing family exclusively on the income from writing novels. “I feel disappointed having to tell people that because it sort of seems like a mark of success,” he said. “If I’m not just supporting myself by writing, to those who don’t know the reality of it, it seems like it’s a failure in some way.”
In today’s business climate, most titles sell less than 5,000 copies. Depending on who’s doing the counting, only somewhere between 2% and 12% of books, as of today, sell 5,000 copies. Therefore, you have to sell a lot of books to make real money.
The dismal reality is that unless you’re a best-selling book author, it’s almost impossible to make a living on writing books alone.
Most traditionally published fiction writers take home around 10-12% of royalties, with the rest going to the major publisher and literary agent. So for example, if your book sells for $14.99, you receive just $1.49 per book.
So, What Do You Do?
Embracing the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Here are a few ideas of key revenue streams to earn money while writing your novel – most of them will help you hone your craft as well:
Where Writing Income Comes From
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Freelance Writing: Content writing, blog posts, and articles for various clients.
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Online Courses: Creating and promoting online courses.
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Coaching: Providing one-on-one coaching.
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Digital Marketing: Utilizing social media platforms to promote writing services.
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Affiliate Marketing: Incorporating affiliate links into blog articles and social media posts.
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Content Creation: Developing white papers, email lists, and other forms of content for small businesses and potential customers.
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Social Media Creation: Writing social media posts for clients.
You may also consider these ideas to enhance your income:
- Selling your work per poem, essay, story, or novel and receiving pay and/or royalties
- Writing regularly for a client or group of clients (e.g. the novelist Vanessa Hua had a weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle for a number of years).
- Subscriptions to your Substack
- Ghostwriting
- Crafting copy and content for businesses
- Writing by the hour for hire (contract) for an agency or business
- Editing/proofreading someone else’s writing
- Teaching at a college, university, writing center or other organization
- Contracts with agencies or businesses
- Website ads or affiliate marketing
- Direct sales of self-published or e-books
- Speaking engagements at schools, conferences, and other meetings
Blogs That Will Pay for Your Tips and Stories
If you love sharing your tips and stories and are looking for some one-off ways to get paid for your words, writing for blogs can be a very lucrative endeavor. You have the opportunity to craft SEO-friendly posts that boost search engine rankings and help companies grow their online presence.
Break Into Magazine Writing
One high-paying writing niche that’s a little tougher to break into is magazine writing. Writing for a magazine can net you anywhere for $0.10-$2 per word. That can add up to a lot of money. If you’re successful in this niche you can make a lot more versus freelance blogging. The only downside is that your work may be a little less consistent.
Find Your Own Clients
Try cold calling to find your own clients. This method can be the absolute best for creating a steady stream of clients who I actually enjoyed working with. While finding your own clients is probably ideal, there are a few things you’ll need to do to make this work:
Choose a Writing Niche – Pinpoint exactly what you want to write about.
To get jobs you need to establish that you have expertise in a particular subject. Choose a topic that you enjoy writing about but also are very knowledgeable in. Competition can be fierce; your knowledge can be your edge.
Platforms to Find Jobs
As you can see, there is more to being a writer than just writing. For more information on writing including tips and prompts, check out my webpage at tutoringyou.org Tons of tips for budding writers.
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