Latest / The Daily Writer / Making Money as a Writer: How to Get Started

Transcript

Making Money as a Writer: How to Get Started · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Writer 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 Writer Starter Kit, visit DailyWriterLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've been working our way through a series on making money as a writer.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to do a quick wrap-up of this series.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I also want to give you a couple of pointers to help you get started and not to feel so overwhelmed.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So in this series, we've talked about 10 ways to make money as a writer.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And those are book sales, freelance writing, ghostwriting, editing and publishing services, speaking, coaching, courses, products, memberships and masterminds, and finally number 10, affiliates and referrals.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, those aren't the only ways to make money as a writer, of course, but those are ten of the most common ones.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So now that you've heard about these, what comes next for you?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get started?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, while you may want to eventually make money with all these income streams, eventually, you can't put them all into practice today.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I would not recommend trying to get started with all these right now.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I would suggest instead that you reach for the low-hanging fruit first, meaning whatever options are easiest for you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for most writers, that's probably going to be doing freelance writing or ghostwriting plus getting some book sales.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're getting started with making money as a writer, I recommend the following course of action over the next 90 days.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can choose one, two, or all of these.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to get very specific with you and very tactical.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, start working on a very short book that you can complete and publish in three months.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I would shoot for about 20,000 words or 120 pages or so.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I suggest that is because, well, of course, a book is good to have.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're a writer after all, so you should have books out there.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: But when you do a short book, it's gonna be something that you can do quickly and it's not a big, massive ton of pressure.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it pretty fast and get it out there.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, in the meantime, while you're doing that, tell people in your network that you're building a writing business and that you're available to write blog posts, social media posts, podcast show notes, or some other short form content.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you to create a sheet with your pricing options and make this sheet easily available as a Word document or as a Google Doc or a PDF or something like that.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I would encourage you also to do a little bit of free work so you can get a testimonial and then a referral, hopefully, and then build on that momentum as you get more paid work.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So just start out doing something either for free or very, very low cost just to get your feet wet and get some testimonials and referrals, and then you can increase your pricing from there.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, number three, become an affiliate for a couple of products or services that you love, and then start promoting those to your email list and to other places.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't yet have an email, email list, it's really time to get started with that because I mean this is 2023 and email lists have been a thing for a really long time, so you got to get rolling on your email list.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I strongly recommend Convert Kit.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the deal.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you get to work immediately and you take consistent daily action on just these three items, within three months, you're almost certain to have some kind of income from your writing.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's probably gonna be slow at first, but I encourage you to keep at it and you're gonna succeed over time.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So here's today's question which of these three steps that I've mentioned are you willing to commit to over the next 90 days?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: The more action that you take, the more results you're gonna get.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and keep that in mind.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a couple minutes ago, I mentioned writing a short book because it's gonna validate you as an author and give you some credibility.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads perfectly into our sponsor for today's episode, which is Write Your First Nonfiction Book, the brand new book for my friend and business coach Anna Ray Corter.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've always dreamed of writing a book, but you're not sure how to get started, I would highly, very highly encourage you to get this book because it's exactly the guide that you need.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: In write your first nonfiction book, you'll learn the exact system that Anore Corter has used to write many of her books.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very straightforward, it's a quick read.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you you can do it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So grab the book by going to DailyWriterLife.comslash nonfiction book.