Well, who didn’t see this chapter? I make my money, some of it anyway, from writing books and blogs. And I’m not even very talented. Then again, most writers aren’t. Sure we’ll be blessed with a Henry Mencken even now and again, but most writers could rightly be denounced as barely literate. Pick up any of the popular fiction novels out there. They are complete garbage. Yet people make their living writing this crap while other people break their backs digging ditches and doing other useful things, only to barely be able to afford the rent in a rat-infested apartment. You have to wake up and realize that you are just as talented as most of the people out there who make their livings with words. Just try to find a decent proof-reader. My writing is usually full of misspelled words, syntax errors, and typos before I hire some poor bastard off Craigslist to make an attempt at correcting it.
In regards to what to write. First do what every bad writer does, resort to a bad cliché. Write what you know. Okay, you probably don’t know that much and no one wants to read your stupid semi-autobiographical novel about some douchebag who discovers himself or whatever. Unless you killed the Linderberg baby or rescued people from the Hindenburg and are somehow still alive, people just don’t give a fuck. Sorry. Get over it. So writing about you isn’t going to sell books. But chances are you can come up with something interesting. Maybe you can craft some pathetic stories about a church being evil or write out your sex fantasies, and somehow pass that off as serious fiction. If you have worked as a professional or have knowledge of a particular field you could craft a guide or manual or something like that. Or if you are interested in history, you could write a historical novel. They generally sell well. Or try to come up with an interesting take on an historical event or topic. If nothing else, you can write some book telling people how to make money. They are always popular.
I don’t know how many people I have fun across who tell me that they have started a book, but never finished it. That seems to be the biggest problem. Yes I know you have a job and kids and all that. But it doesn’t take that much time to write a few pages a day. Start it and keep at it. Maybe you’ll start a book and then give up on it. Fine. I’ve done that. But then start up another project and keep at that. Eventually you’ll get there.
The next biggest hurdle that people face is trying to get published. Thankfully, this is becoming less of a problem. It used to be that you had to get picked up by a traditional publisher or spend thousands of dollars on a vanity publisher. It used to be that everyone was crazy about getting picked up by a traditional publisher. They would spend small fortunes mailing out manuscript after manuscript out to publishing companies in the vain hope that some nobody at the company would fish their book out from the sea of daily submissions and turn it into the next big thing. It is sad to think about all of those lost dreams. The other alternative was to pay some sleazy company thousands of dollars to self-publish. They would bilk you by promising you promotional packages in return for large amounts of your money. And if you wanted to buy copies of your own book they would overcharge you so you couldn’t make any money trying to sell your book in local bookstores. It was all terrible.
But now things are changing. Traditional publishers are dying. No one cares about them any more. Self-publishing is easy and cheap. It isn’t vanity publishing anymore. It is the wave of the future. You can work with a company like Createspace, which is owned by Amazon, and get your book published for free. Createspace won’t rip you off either if you are buying copies of your own book. Or work with a local printer to do it. Or you just go digital and publish for free. Free Software like Calibre and Sigil allow you to easily create Epubs and Kindle files. Upload the books for free to Nook, Kindle, and the other ebook sites. Or just turn your book into a website by using WordPress or Blogger. It costs nothing.
When trying to sell your book, you need to realize that people won’t be interested in spending a lot of money on some author that they never heard of. People price their books, especially their ebooks, way too high. Maybe they think they will make more money. Maybe it is an ego thing. I don’t know. Consider setting the lowest possible price for your book. You’ll make it up with volume. This is a great way to get exposure. When you start becoming popular, maybe you can charge a bit more for your future books. But don’t overdo it. People have lots of favorite authors and won’t bother with you if they feel that you are taking advantage of them.
If you write about a local subject of interest, try to get into the local bookstores. Understand that the stores will want up to 40% of the sale price for selling your book. So, for example, if your book costs you $3 to print and sells for $10, if the store sells it you will make $6 and the store will keep $4. That is not a bad way to double your money, but also consider that small bookstores won’t likely be selling massive amounts of your books. I have a book about historical and legendary witches in Maryland. It is called Witch Trials, Legends, and Lore of Maryland. It sells okay at bookstores in Maryland, but I make much more each month off Kindle sales. And if your book isn’t going to be of interest to local readers, don’t expect the bookstores to sell it for you.
If writing books is not your thing, there are still plenty of ways to make money with writing. Blogs about local subjects or things that you have a specialized knowledge of are generally popular. You can make money by putting up internet ads. Note that there are generally policies with these companies against encouraging other people to click on your ads. You can also include affiliate links in your blog when you write about any books or products. You can also request donations, but in my experience most people are not overly generous with bloggers.
You can offer your services as a ghost writer, editor, reviewer, or proof-reader. Craigslist is a great place to advertise this. Accept payment through Paypal, Bitcoins, or preferably cash if the person is local. Advertise any education that you have or relevant prior experience, if any, when putting up ads. Search the site and see if you can find other people in search of an editor, proof-reader, or ghost writer, on there. Email them and offer to help.
Be creative and keep writing. The more you write the better you will get and the more success you will have. Do your own promotions. Be your own agent. Set up your own websites. Anyone with reasonable intelligence can put up a someone decent website. Be careful about paying anyone for anything. Most of this stuff you can do yourself. If you are spending anything over $500 to get your work published you are doing it wrong. You should be able to do it and do it well for far far less, if not for free. Don’t pay anyone to set up a blog for you. That can be easily done for free on sites like Blogger or WordPress. Get started with writing because you like to write. Don’t start off focused on the money. That will come with time.
