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Making Money as a Writer: Book Sales · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyWriterLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday we began a series on making money as a writer.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And on today's episode, we're continuing this series by starting with the most obvious way to make money as a writer, which is book sales.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, book sales is probably the first thing that you think of when it comes to making money as a writer.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to dig into this a little bit.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, first of all, and this sounds like glaringly obvious, but when we talk about book sales, if that's something you're interested in, you actually need to have books that you've written so you can sell them.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't yet written a book or you haven't even thought about writing a book, I want you to get started on that pronto.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's really important.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Second of all, a book can lead to a lot of other things.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: A book basically proves that you can write a sustained piece of content and you have the discipline and the vision to tackle a big, complicated project.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're wanting to get into something like ghostwriting, the fact that you have your own books proves that you can tackle a large project like that.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really important.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now the other thing is that most people are not willing to go to the trouble of writing a book because a book is, by definition, a large, complex project.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why having a book is something that makes it rare and valuable.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I totally butchered that sentence, so sorry.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, folks, this is a podcast by a professional writer.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, not today.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: What I meant to say was that most people are not willing to go to the trouble of writing a book because it entails, by definition, a lot of work and effort and some complexity.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why when you have a book, that is a rare and valuable thing that you've accomplished.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also why authors who have written books can command a lot higher speaking fees because it shows they they have done something that most people have not done.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, by virtue of the fact that you have written and published at least one book, you're showing to the world that you've done the work and you've crafted something that's difficult and that most people are not willing to actually do, in spite of the fact that most people say they want to write a book.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when you actually do something that everybody else wants to do, but they haven't gone to the trouble of doing it, that's what makes you rare and important and valuable.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about making money with books.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: In order to make money with books, you have to embrace marketing.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And good marketing is a way to serve people.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of writers don't want to mess with the marketing side of things because they sort of feel like they're above that or, you know, they're the creative type and not really a business type.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the honest to God truth is that you've got to embrace the business side because that's where the action happens.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I would also argue, by the way, you know, sometimes we sort of pit business against creativity, or we think, well, I'm an artist, I'm not like really an entrepreneur or a business person.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really a false distinction because business is a very creative endeavor.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if you sort of have been, if you've been avoiding the business side of things because you feel like, well, it's not really creative, and I really just I just want to write or I want to do my creative thing, I think you're missing out on a lot of fun.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because business can be really, really exciting and interesting and fun.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And my my goodness, if you look at the most successful companies out there, there's tons of creative thinking and innovation behind those things.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So so I I would just really encourage you not to split those things in your mind because I think as a it's a false distinction that uh for some reason in the Western world we have made over the centuries, where we've kind of separated commerce and business from arts and creativity.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a massive, massive mistake.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's my little soapbox for today.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get back on track here.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's what I was gonna say.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your books are not just gonna sell themselves.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The sooner that you embrace the idea that you are a business person and that you can be successful as an entrepreneur, you can really do this.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: The sooner you embrace that, the sooner you can get busy doing the marketing activities that are gonna help your books sell.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's more, this income stream can be greatly expanded when you have a lot of books on multiple platforms and you create ancillary products related to those books, and we'll get to products in a later episode.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, I want you to get comfortable with the idea of not just writing and publishing books, but also doing the marketing work to actually make money with those books.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the question for the day: have you embraced the idea that you're not just an author, but also a business person as well?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, before I wrap up this episode, I want to mention my good friend Karen Hunsinger, also known as The Word Wizard.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: She picked out that title a little while back to describe what she does in her editing business, and that is an entirely accurate description because Karen is a wizard when it comes to editing.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've ever tried editing a book, but it's really hard.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to be legit good as an editor to make this work.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just, you know, run a book through, spell check, and put it in grammarly and hope for the best.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's a terrible strategy for making sure your book is in tip-top shape.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you, if you want the best book possible, to hire a fantastic editor.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Karen Hunsinger absolutely falls into that category.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: A great editor doesn't just correct grammar and spelling, they also correct wordiness and shifts in tone and voice and overuse of particular words, and they enhance your book in all kinds of ways.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I worked on a book uh that Karen edited last year, there was uh, I'm just kind of being transparent with you, there were a couple things in this research-driven book that were factually wrong.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so thankful that Karen caught those elements in the book.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And man, having her on board as an editor for that complicated book was really a godsend.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's great.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Karen was wonderful, and you're really going to enjoy connecting with her as an editor if you decide to uh to move forward with working with her.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can check out her work and everything about her editing business by going to Karenhunsanger.com and grabbing a free sample edit.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: She's a delight to work with, very easy to work with, very reasonable on her rates, and just does a tremendous job.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and check it out, Karen Hunsinger.com.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my friend, as always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.