Increasing Your Income as a Writer

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It can be tough, financially, to be a writer, especially if you’re just starting out. There are costs associated with self-publishing (covers and editing, in particular) and earning that money back usually takes a while.

Often I’ll read posts in forums from writers who are putting everything they have into their one book and are getting more and more frustrated by their lack of sales or lack of reviews. Here are a few things for these writers to consider:

5 Tips for Increasing Your Income as a Writer

Consider “going wide”:  It’s sometimes recommended for writers to be part of KDP Select if they have only one title. But if you’re looking for a career in writing, I’d recommend going wide to reach a broader audience. List your books on Apple, Kobo, and Nook. Have them available in libraries through Overdrive. Make your books available in foreign markets and subscription services through distributors like PublishDrive, StreetLib, Draft2Digital, and Smashwords.

Expand into multiple formats:  I see a good number of writers who’ll only have their books available in digital format (or, occasionally, the other way around…only in print).  Instead, make sure your book is available to readers however they like to read: whether it’s on their phone, in print, or in audio. Use both KDP Print and IngramSpark to maximize your international reach for print.

Expand into multiple languages: By listing your book as available to translate on a platform like Babelcube, your book has the opportunity to be discovered by readers in other countries.

Keep writing books. I think this is the most important of the five tips. When you have only one book, your whole life revolves around the book. You’ll spend too much time worrying about switching out the cover or changing design elements or finding reviewers. If you continue writing books, not only does your perspective change, you also end up with more books to sell and more potential income.

Write in series: This falls in the same category as the tip above. When you write in series, not only does it please readers who’ve invested time in learning about your characters and your story’s world and would like to apply that knowledge to more stories, but it makes writing a book quicker and easier for you since you’ve already developed most of the story’s key elements.

Do you have any tips for increasing your writing income? What have I left out?

Photo on Visualhunt