Post by dormouse on Dec 24, 2018 12:15:20 GMT
I am planning on publishing my 19/36 all on K'Sennia, so I can build up that name. And then do bundles. I really don't want to do smut anymore. So I'm trying to be my own Eelkat.
Apart from sheer luck and selling 'expertise' to budding authors, there are three main ways of setting out to make money as a writer, all requiring persistence.
- Starting with a different, paid writing role. Can be anything, but is frequently journalism. Some people work for a publisher Charles Dickens started as a parliamentary reporter. Offers the opportunity to develop skills without starving and to make contacts that can be leveraged later. Working for a publisher offers some of these benefits but not usually the writing practice.
- Cold bloodily writing for a market. It seems that many indie writers have ambitions to be on the genre treadmill. But most lucrative outside the genres. Need to be a good storyteller and best to start with some variety of celebrity and useful trade contacts. And are very, very disciplined (as far as the writing is concerned). Jeffrey Archer is a good example.
- Write about what interests you or are passionate about. Self-discipline required again, but can be easier if you are doing something you believe in. Tolstoy borrowed money to self-publish War and Peace as a book (but had some years before been a feted author). Not great on the self-discipline front but had a wife who kept everything in order (& interpreted notes, made suggestions & probably etc). Of course, he'd never been worried about actually starving. JK fits, but eventually got a publisher. Georgette Heyer, started with sheer luck, and stumbled into her trademark light Georgian romances but became trapped by them as she switched to the second category because she 'needed' to make money.
None of these are guaranteed to work; and most people don't achieve success (success being individually defined). For the writers who don't, the first category provides a writing income (and often something of an interesting a career) and the last provides enjoyment, fulfilment and satisfaction; without financial success the middle category leaves you with nothing. So go for it! And I wish you luck.
