Writing for a living is an old school profession. It was a lucrative job for anyone with an idea and a typewriter, even if it took a while to get published, but can the same be said for becoming an author these days? The online world has made it so anyone can write whenever they want to, and running a blog of your own is one of the best ways to capitalize on this freedom.
But when you really want to create a book or two of your own, to be an author like all of your favorite writers growing up, could it be worthwhile for your bank account? We say it’s possible! Let’s examine the idea down below in more detail.
Think About Your Audience
Who would be best to write for? Who do you want to write for? And what do they want to read? About people like themselves? Sure, everyone wants to see their own background, body shape, gender, sexuality, and race reflected in the characters on the page.
However, you should never write on assumption. If you want to write for a certain group of people, whether they’re like you or not, you need to understand how they might respond to a narrative. What tropes will they enjoy? What details can you include to really involve them in the story you’re trying to craft? Surf the web to find out.
Start with writing groups on social media and take a look into writing competitions and open residencies and see what they’ve published before. Both of these methods can give you a good insight into what’s popular right now, and what’s popular with who. You can also use sites like Goodreads to compare books in the same genre, or those with a similar tone to the one you want to write.
Plan for Sequels Well Ahead of Time
If you want to make money, above all else, you need to have more than one idea. When you write something ready to be published, what’s going to happen next? You need to know before anyone else, and be halfway through already writing the sequel when the first one comes out.
Otherwise you could hold up your production line for months, or even years, and you might lose out on the hype and early audience traction as a result. For a new, small time writer, this can be a massive cut to your potential profits.
Don’t Let Writer’s Block Get You Down
Writer’s block: the worst fear of anyone with a blinking, empty document in front of them. And it happens to us all – sometimes the ideas just don’t come, or you can’t get them to flow as usual. But when you’re trying to make good money out of being an author, writer’s block will seriously slow you down and could harm your chances of making a profit.
But no matter what genre of book you want to write, whether fiction or nonfiction, you can try out some tactics to get rid of the block every single time. Use creative exercises to get the writing juices flowing, and then tools like a name generator to help pad out the character sheets you’re preparing for the narrative.
Spend a bit of time just generating ideas outside of the story you want to write and you’ll soon spiral yourself into finding the motivation you need!
Don’t Publish without Some Feedback
Finally, and quite possibly the most important part of the process, you need to have some beta readers and/or editors on your side. It’s a bad idea to just throw a raw narrative out there without a keen eye seeing it first.
After all, this person can see from a different point of view than you, and can help you understand how an ‘outsider’ will witness the story unfold. For you it might be obvious what a metaphor means, but for someone outside of your head, it could be muddy and confusing. So, it might be costly, but an editor can take your draft and lift it to the next level.
Writing your own book is a huge achievement. You can self publish and self market through the internet or you can get a deal with a publishing house – either way, it’s a wonderful feat! And it can even make you some good money; you just need to know your audience and write for them, let the ideas flow freely, and don’t let yourself work alone.