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Making Money as a Writer: How to Get Started · 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 DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Over the past couple weeks, aside from our interview episodes, we have been working our way through a series on making money as a writer.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to do a quick wrap-up of this series, and I will also give you a couple of pointers to help you get started and not feel so overwhelmed by all this information.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So in this series, to do kind of a quick wrap-up here, we've talked about 10 ways to make money as a writer.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is book sales, number two, freelance writing, number three, ghostwriting, number four, editing and publishing services, number five, speaking, number six, coaching, number seven, courses, number eight, products, number nine, memberships and masterminds, and number ten, affiliate marketing.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now again, these are not the only ways that you can make money as a writer, but these are ten of the most common ones.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And now that you've heard me talk about all these, what's next?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get started?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you not get paralyzed by all these options and actually just pick something so you can get some forward momentum?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here's the deal.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: While you may want to eventually make money with all these income streams, you can't put them all into practice right now.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess you could, but you're going to drive yourself crazy and probably burn out in the process.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So instead, I suggest that you go for the quick win, which means reaching for the lowest hanging fruit.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And really, in practice, that means what are the easiest and quickest things to do?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: My business coach and mentor, Anna Recorder, who I mentioned kind of frequently on this podcast, I promote her book marketing mastery course.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm also in her Empire Builders Mastermind for the second year starting this month.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: She says that we should do things that are elf, easy, lucrative, and fun.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I encourage you to at least have a couple of those things in place.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do things that are easy and fun.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: They may not be lucrative to you at first, but you got to get started somewhere.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So at least do things that are relatively easy to get started in and that you enjoy.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And for most writers, that's probably going to be doing freelance writing or ghostwriting, plus getting some book sales and possibly doing some affiliate marketing.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So let me focus on those for just a second.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're getting started with making money as a writer, here's what I would recommend doing one, two, or maybe all three of these over the next 90 days.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pick at least one.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is start working on a very short book that you can complete and publish in three months.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would shoot for about 20,000 words or something like 120 print pages.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: A very short book will validate you as a writer and give you immediate credibility.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking to do client work, if you want to be a ghostwriter, having your own book out there is really, really helpful and it's super valuable.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't yet have a book out there, that's like one of your first priorities, I think.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So focus on doing a short book that solves a specific problem.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make it too long, like 20,000, 25,000 words, 120 pages or so.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Get that done within two or three months.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you you can do it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not as hard as you think, and it doesn't take as much time as you think.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so get that out there.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or number two, in the meantime, while you're doing this, 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 other short form content.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Create a sheet with your pricing options and make this easily available on your website.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you to do a bit of work for free.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you're just getting started with client work, do a little bit of work for free so you can get some testimonials and some referrals and then build on that momentum as you start charging for your work and as you eventually get paid more and more for it.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to start somewhere.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to start with the things that are big bucks if you're just getting into this world.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to start somewhere.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I would strongly encourage you to do a little bit of work.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do a ton of work for free, but do a little bit of work for free so you can get a testimonial and you can get someone who can refer you to others who will pay you for that.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's option number two is start out doing a little bit of client work.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then option number three is become an affiliate for a couple of products or services that you love.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: On yesterday's episode, I talked at length about affiliate marketing.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that you can do is sign up for one or two things that you already use, sign up for their affiliate programs, and then start promoting those to your email list.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you have a podcast, use it there or some other places.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So these are three really great options.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So again, these options are do a very short book, get started with client work, or become an affiliate.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, the easiest one of those is becoming an affiliate because it'll take like five minutes to sign up for an affiliate program, probably way less than that.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can start promoting that link in various places.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal if you get to work immediately and you take consistent daily action on even just one of these things or all three of these things over the next 90 days within that time frame.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think that you have a very good likelihood of having some income from your writing, or that's kind of adjacent to your writing.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be slow at first, but if you keep at it, you will succeed over time.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, case in point, this actually isn't in my script.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I usually work from a script with these podcasts, by the way.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I go off script and I just kind of go down a little rabbit hole, uh, which is totally fine, I think.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I have these all written out because these go in emails and other places and stuff like that.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I didn't have in here that I do want to mention is I think if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, or if you're in my network or you're in my circle, you know that a couple months ago a book came out called The Faith of Elvis.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that is a book that I wrote with Billy Stanley, who is Elvis Presley's stepbrother.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: That book was published by a major publisher.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's in all the Barnes Noble stores.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I went in the other day and it's on an end cap, and this is like nationwide in the entertainment section.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And around the Faith of Elvis book are books by Dolly Parton, William Shatner, Matthew McConaughey, Howard Stern, and many other, you know, A-list celebrities.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I gotta tell you, it feels kind of surreal to go into a store and see a book with your name on it that is like on an end cap surrounded by all these celebrity books.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you may look at an opportunity like I've had with this Faith of Elvis book.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if if you haven't stepped into this world of doing writing for payment or having a business around writing, that may seem like a far-fetched goal for you to do something like that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you something, and I want you to listen really carefully to me if you're just getting started in this world.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: What I want to tell you is you have to start somewhere.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, where I got started with all this is just six years ago, back in 2016, a friend of mine named Ray Taylor, one of my best friends in the world, he is a podcast producer, and he asked me if I wanted to write podcast show notes for a podcast client of his.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I got started doing freelance work.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: That was the first paid writing work I think I had ever done, except for writing a couple paid magazine articles way, way, way back when.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But that was the first client work that I had ever done.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was super nervous.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I sort of felt like I didn't know what I was doing, but I also knew I did have the writing chops to do it.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I got started.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that was only six years ago.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get started today, and if you uh I'm laughing because if you avoid some of the really stupid mistakes that I have made over the years, you'll probably have success a lot faster than what I've had.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to look at at people in my position who who now are in a place where I'm having having you know some success with books and uh you know I have a full-time business and I I'm able to work from home and do this as my full-time business.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to get discouraged by that because everybody starts somewhere.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And where I started was just networking with people and telling people I was a writer, and then, you know, if you do that often enough and you have some writing chops and you're really motivated and you're easy to work with and you, you know, deliver on time and all those kinds of things, um, then you're gonna get hired by somebody eventually if you have a clear service that you're offering.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to get discouraged by all this.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Just pick something and do it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Any forward step that you make, any forward momentum is going to get you closer to your goal.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a big reason why sometimes we get stuck in life and we get stuck with our business or with our creative things or with our writing, a big reason why we do that is because we don't want to make the wrong decision.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're afraid of doing the wrong thing.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we end up doing nothing sometimes for years or even decades.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's tragic because any forward momentum is going to lead you in the right direction.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like, you know, I live in St.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if I was going to take a trip to New York, um, you know, I could go to southern Illinois.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I could take uh, well, using highways, I could take Highway 70 east, or I could take Highway 64 east, you know, that goes a little bit south, but I could go the longer way, or, you know, I could take Highway 55 up to Chicago and kind of go that way.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different ways I could get from St.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Louis to New York, but you know what, it doesn't make any difference.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The important point here is that I'm traveling.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So don't get discouraged by this stuff.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Just pick one of these things and do it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if nothing else, the very easiest thing for you to do is start with affiliate marketing.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just find a couple things that you enjoy, see if they have an affiliate program, and just start promoting them to your email list if you have one.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, really that simple.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, this uh episode's gone on a little bit longer than I normally do with these short episodes, but that's okay.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got to apologize, my voice is a little bit hoarse today.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember what it was like when I was getting started and thinking, man, I just I don't know if I'm making the right decision.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is this what I should be doing?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And kind of wondering about all that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, you're gonna find your footing, you're gonna find your direction, you're gonna figure out things as you go along.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So just take a forward step.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, take action.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: The ones who win at this game are the people who do things and who take action and who are not afraid to take a little bit of a risk.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, if that describes you, I hope that this has been helpful to you today.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to say before I wrap up this episode that this has been brought to you by the Daily Writer Club.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of people who take action, this is a community of writers who take action.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We get things done.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are people in the group publishing books, creating websites, doing podcasts, doing speaking, doing client work.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Man, there's a lot of activity in this group.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I can't hardly keep up with it because uh this group really goes 100 miles an hour in a good way.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible has this phrase, it talks about running with the horses.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to take action in your life, you gotta run with the horses.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta get around people who are going places, people who are taking action and going the same direction that you want to go.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think you would benefit from being a part of a group of people who are taking action and building their business and making money at what they love, then I think you would really love the Daily Rider Club.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: You can find out more by going to DailyRiderClub.com.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you want to, just shoot me an email, Kent at dailyriderlife.com.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I answer all my own email and I do so usually pretty quickly.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to chat about the Daily Rider Club, uh let me know.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I would be happy to talk to you.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my friend, thanks so much for listening and thanks for putting up with a little bit of rambling on this episode today.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh hopefully it was helpful to you.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks so much, and I will see you tomorrow.