How to Make Money with Your Writing: Writing & Marketing for Creative Entrepreneurs, #1

HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR WRITING

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SUCCEEDING WITH SELF-PUBLISHING AND CONTENT MARKETING FOR YOUR WRITING BUSINESS

BOOK 1: WRITING & MARKETING FOR CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS

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KERRIE LEGEND

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR WRITING

First edition. November 28, 2017.

Copyright © 2017 Kerrie Legend.

Written by Kerrie Legend.

Foreword

If there's anything that is a constant, it's the desire to be entertained, inspired, and educated. Because of this, writers everywhere are learning how to turn these three things into income. If you've considered starting a writing career to supplement your income or even replace income from an existing job, this book is written for you.

There are many people that wish they could become writers. Many feel they don't have enough talent or anything new to share with the world. I'm here to tell you not to sell yourself short. If you are longing to write, and are willing to write consistently, you could very well turn that passion and inspiration into a thriving writing business.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Possibilities of Making an Income from Writing

Chapter Two: How I've Made a Living from Writing

Chapter Three: How Do You Want to Spend Your Life?

Chapter Four: How Much Do Writers Make?

Chapter Five: The Basics & Getting Started

Chapter Six: Productivity and Doing the Work

Chapter Seven: Mindset & Attitude Adjustment

Chapter Eight: Which Path - Traditional or Self-Published?

Chapter Nine: Changes to the Digital Book Industry

Chapter Ten: Options as an Independent Author

Chapter Eleven: The Process of Self-Publishing

Chapter Twelve: Yes - Definitely Make a Printed Book Version

Chapter Thirteen: Audiobooks Made Easy

Chapter Fourteen: Let's Make Some Money!

Chapter Fifteen: Creating a Business Around Your Writing

Chapter Sixteen: Product Development

Chapter Seventeen: Affiliate Income

Chapter Eighteen: Expert Niche & Getting Paid

Chapter Nineteen: Ads & Sponsored Content

Chapter Twenty: Freelance Writing

Chapter Twenty-One: Blogging with Purpose

Chapter Twenty-Two: Get Started & Make Some Money

Chapter Twenty-Three: More Information is Available

Chapter One: The Possibilities of Making an Income from Writing

The Income Solution That Pays Right Away and Over Time

If you've ever contemplated writing a book now is the time to do it! We are living in one of the best times ever to get into publishing and self publish books. About 10 years ago it became extraordinarily easy for people to write books and have them published without needing a traditional publisher. This created a major breakthrough for talented writers and artists alike, and has changed the way we get information. Big box publishing houses are no longer needed to become a published author, and the possibilities to earn a living while writing have abundantly increased.

The world has seen several independent authors and writers become success stories as they add to their repertoire of writing pieces. Several have gone from writers in a small, cramped office to a household name. Some have been able to change their lifestyles, and others have been able to pay off bills, debts and student loans as a result of their writing efforts. What has been an even better change has been the reader audience.

Readers are now, more than ever, taking chances on independent authors and writers. This has been providing an income solution for many people who have something creative to share, and has also created more work-from-home opportunities for creative people all around the world who have talent.

Obviously, the Internet has made all of this possible, and we are better connected as authors and readers as a result. You can now sell a book or a piece of creative work to a global audience in a matter of hours. You can now share that book in a Facebook group, your Twitter feed, or your Instagram posts within minutes, and start making sales. What a wonderful, digital world we now live in!

Using your writing is just one of the many ways you can earn money to build a certain kind of lifestyle that you crave. If you're willing to put in the work, be creative, and push yourself to improve upon the craft of your writing (while conquering a steep learning curve), you can learn to adapt, overcome, and conquer this ever-changing self-publishing market, which can be a very exciting and fulfilling time in your life.

I remember the first time I hit that publish button on my laptop. I felt an instant rush of adrenaline and excitement. The thought of sharing my ideas with the world was an incredible boost to how I spent my days. My book was being shared, sales were rolling in, and I just thought to myself, This. This is what I want to do.

This book is going to explain to you how I have made a living with my own writing and how you can apply the same concepts and skills to your own writing endeavors. You will receive realistic and practical advice with the aim of giving you actionable tasks. You can easily implement these tasks as depicted here as you go or after you've had a chance to digest this book. Each and every single chapter is going to give you ideas that you can use to document, research, and implement into your writing and publishing process. You could spend weeks upon weeks reading and researching about every single topic there is to know about self publishing. I'm here to send you down the right path - a simple one with basic decisions - which is going to save you time money and energy.

Writing is hard work, don't get me wrong. You have to be able to put in the work in order to prosper from it. I am not an advocate for get rich schemes and writing nonsense 24-page books that are listed for $8.99 on Amazon. To draw an income from writing, your books and projects must be reasonable, practical, enticing to buy, or solve a problem. Not everyone who publishes or takes on writing even as a part-time activity understands this. Not everyone who publishes a book or writes for a living makes money.

However, despite these facts, it is quite possible for a writer or a blogger to easily make a six or even seven figures of income just from their writing or creative efforts alone. I myself have made a substantial income from writing and I know that it's just a matter of time before my writing alone provides the millionaire status that I myself am looking to attain. I have set my own personal goals as it relates to my writing activities and hopefully soon in the next few years I'll meet those goals. You will start to develop your own goals and define your own version of success for yourself as you read this book, because not every writer has the same definition of success or goals.

There is even a group on Facebook that focuses on creating 20 different titles to reach a $50,000 a year income. That is just one philosophy and strategy to follow. I do believe and agree with many self-published authors that it takes more than just one book to make a living. So as you read this book, plan on creating multiple books and using your knowledge and creative energy to plan out and design what we call a series of books or even a certain product line of books. It has been my personal experience that I have needed several books and several titles to make the kind of income that I am right now.

Surprisingly, my paperback sales are actually higher than my sales on Kindle. I was somewhat shocked by this initially, but as reports about book sales, particularly online book sales, started rolling in back in early January 2017, it made sense. Paperback books sold online (regardless of traditional vs. independent publishing) were on the rise. You may find that as you create your books and have a marketing strategy in mind, that you have mixed or even surprising results. We will talk about these surprises a little bit later on, as sometimes these little surprises work to your advantage!

The most important thing I believe is to continue to create, write on a blog, and market your books in an ethical fashion. I am not a fan of spamming or using what are known as click bots or even controlled reportable buying with paperback books. Too many authors try to cheat the system and get burned by the writing community in doing so.

I also believe that it does take a little bit of money to get a book going initially and sometimes paying people for their time to read and review your book is appropriate because they're providing a service. There will be those I disagree with the concept of paper views, however I would point them in the direction of Kirkus reviews and the notoriety that their own company has with readers. There will be things that you choose to do as part of the marketing of your book and there will also be things that you will NOT do either because of the principal of it or it just doesn't feel right for your writing and author platform.

Regardless, you're going to get a lot of information in this book that will steer you down the road of self-publishing or traditional publishing, and it will help you make some decisions on what you feel your own path truly is.

Chapter Two: How I've Made a Living from Writing

What I've Done to Transform My Life

First I'd like to share with you a little bit about my own journey. I feel that it will provide some context for you as you read this book. I have a Masters degree in design, and a bachelor of science degree in business administration. I still use my design degree today in designing fonts, book covers, working with small and medium size businesses in creating a visual social media strategy for them. Having my degrees and the experiences I've had as a business owner has allowed me to be flexible with my decisions and how I spend my day. I am now self-employed and I homeschool my six children. My husband and I run a a goats milk soap candle store on our farm. So you can imagine how busy we are with our business and our children! You might be thinking, how on earth does she find time to write?! We'll get to that!

Before I became self-employed and had children I was practically living in a cubicle for a larger corporate giant designing stationary letterhead and wedding invitations. That's right, I designed those beautiful, coordinated invites and response cards you'll find in the big binders at the local bridal boutiques. Essentially everything that I created became the property of a giant, and I was creating some beautiful stuff!

It's an awful thing when you have a job that is only mediocre for your soul. While I was grateful to be employed, there was another part of me that aspired for more. Something where I had more control over the output. My job was often thankless and there was no reward associated with how many sales the company generated as a result of my design work. And when you don't feel good about what you're doing and what you're creating, your creativity stuffers.

It was one of those things where it becomes detrimental to your creative spirit and it often will shut you down. Giving birth to my first child was my best excuse to leave my job and my fluorescent-lit cubicle to stay at home and work from there. And when you're graphic designer and you're talented, people recognize your work it's very easy to get hired. So becoming a freelancer was one of the best decisions that I had in my life besides giving birth to children and marrying my now husband.

In 2017, we decided that we were done having children and that it was a great time for me to get back into writing again. I had written something before