For authors, writing for money usually means writing and publishing books.
However, book sales can vary significantly from month to month, and there is more and more competition.
In any business, relying on one income stream can be unreliable.
It’s always better to diversify to cover the ups and downs.
Royalties from book sales
It’s no secret that since the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU), royalty returns for ebook authors are not as profitable.
An ebook with a selling price of $4.99 will now return less than a return of $1.40 for KU reads. There is no need to do any complicated arithmetic.
Every author wants to dedicate their time to writing new books. But there are many ways to supplement book sales with other income streams.
Some of these ideas will not interfere or take all that much time away from ebook and novel writing. But for others, you might need to find a way to balance your time.
How to make more money from your writing
Making money as a writer is not an easy business. But successful writers usually have more than one string to their bow.
Publishing books is now as much a part of making money online for a writer as writing online content articles.
You use search engine optimzation (SEO) and metadata to successfully help sell ebooks on Amazon. It’s almost the same process as getting organic traffic from Google.
Authors and content writers have a lot in common. Both create content and try to sell it or make money from it online. If you can combine these two, you can hope to develop reliable long-term passive income streams.
Here are seven ideas about how you can use your writing skills to help you make more money from your writing.
1. Monetize your blog
Blogging is the easiest way to earn extra long-term income from your writing.
There is some hard work at the start when you set up a new blog to create income.
But once it is set up and has regular traffic, it takes up very little of your time.
All you need to do is keep writing new blog posts occasionally.
There are many blog monetizing options. Google’s Adsense is the best-known and easiest way to get paid every month for income from advertising.
On every published article on your blog, Google will insert ads, and you will get paid every time someone clicks on an ad.
You could also consider others. There are many companies and services that offer to pay you for pay-per-click advertising.
Are you already writing blog posts regularly? Adding a couple of pay-per-click ads to your blog is quite easy, and it’s a great way to create a modest but steady income stream.
But you could also consider adding affiliate marketing to your blog.
Two of the most popular are Amazon Associates and Shareasale.
There are many ways you can make money from blogging. But it always takes time to build your traffic numbers.
But it is a time investment that will return a steady and reliable income for many years to come.
If you don’t want to have your own blog, you can write articles as guest posts for other blogs. Some will let you include your affiliate links included in your articles.
2. Write articles and content
There are thousands of paying openings for freelance writers to write content for websites, blogs, and newspapers.
Upwork is an excellent place to start if you are looking for paying writing jobs.
You only need to do a quick Google search to find other sites looking for writers.
There are many ways you can get paid to write content for blogs, companies, and online magazines.
But to save you time, here is a listing of websites that pay writers for writing.
The Internet is all about content marketing, so there are always ways for good writers to earn money from freelance and content writing.
3. Offer a service related to writing
You want to write. But if you have good writing skills, you can use them to earn more.
You can even build a full-time, work-from-home job.
Proofreading, beta reading, cover design, or writing and publishing coaching for new authors are all in demand now.
Set your price and the time you have available, and offer your services.
Social media is an easy way to tell people about the services you can provide.
If you have a lot of time available, you could consider editing or story development.
But these are pretty intensive services, so make sure you can dedicate the time.
4. Publish poetry
No, I’m only joking here.
But then again, poetry ebooks and short stories are proving to be popular with ebook readers now.
So perhaps you could consider trying more short-form publishing.
5. Become a ghostwriter
There will be no accolades for you.
But writing a book for someone else is a lucrative paying contract.
Pay rates vary according to specific writing jobs.
Do your research first about what you plan to charge.
It is also an excellent way to fine-tune your writing skills.
Perhaps it will give you the opportunity to write in a different genre than you are used to.
6. Write book descriptions
Most authors find it a chore to write effective book descriptions.
Do you think you can do a lot better?
If you can, this will surely make you a nice little side income.
If you are feeling confident, you could also offer to write author bios.
7. Think outside the nine dots
There are always many ways for writers and authors to add small or perhaps significant side income streams.
These can ride out the humps and bumps of book sales.
However, a little research can go a long way in finding new writing for money possibilities.
You might be writing your next bestseller.
But maybe it is worth spending a few minutes researching how to diversify your income.
Then, you can profit even more from your writing.
Summary
If you’re an author, you know book sales can fluctuate, and there is a lot of competition.
But relying solely on book sales can be risky, so it’s a good idea to try to diversify your income if possible.
Although writing new books is what you’re passionate about, there are ways to supplement your book sales with other sources of income.
Related Reading: Blogging For Beginners – How To Start A Blog
