Writing a Novel Can Make You Rich
So far, I haven’t talked about money. I’ve discussed other reasons to write, mostly to free the story you’ve always wanted to tell. I’ve focused on this because it’s the best reason to write. Giving your story life is spiritually freeing. It gives you the creative outlet that is a necessary human experience.
But people often wonder if they can make a living writing. It sounds great to sit around all day penning the next great American novel, but it is not appealing to most to become a starving artist, especially if they have a family to support and bills to pay. So, it’s good to wonder and ask if writing can be a worthwhile career economically.
Then there are others who not only want to know if they can earn a living wage but hope to become wealthy. Because . . . why not?
The short answer to both can you make a living and can you become rich is yes. But how is a better question.
Back when I was in college, starting out as a freshman student and I had my first appointment with my guidance counselor, she told me that if I wanted to write, I should write. I should not major in English, like I wanted. I needed to get a degree, in her expert opinion, in something that would allow me to get a J-O-B. Her bored demeaner and body language told me that she wasn’t all that excited about her job, and I was about to tune her out and ignore her advice, then she said something that made me straighten and listen. She said that most writers were poor, and unless I wanted to be broke the rest of my life, I’d better figure out what I could do to earn money. As the daughter of hardworking but poor immigrant parents, who at the time were living in a one bedroom dump where I was sharing a bedroom with my teenage brother, there was only one thing I did not want to be, and that was broke.
I didn’t know anything about the publishing world and I figured she did, so I listened to her, and I even changed my major to computer programming because she said it was the “wave of the future”. She was correct about computers, but the advice she gave me was uninspiring and so wrong.
As I entered the world of publishing years later, after becoming a teacher and earning a full-time wage, I understood what she meant. Publishing is a tough business, true. And back when I started writing if you wanted to self-publish you had to have money, and it was close to impossible to get distribution of your book which meant the book would not be on a bookstore shelf. So, an author’s only real avenue to publication was through traditional publishing. If a publisher was not interested in your book, it did not get published, and they only published so many titles per year so they could be choosy.
So, yes, it was difficult, but new authors were published every day. I decided that if others could do it, I could too. Somehow, I would figure out how to make money with my writing.
Publishing Is a Business
The key to making money and to becoming wealthy as an author is to look at publishing as a business.
Those who realize and understand that publishers are not in the business of publishing books because they love your story but only because they think they can make money from selling your book, will understand that it is crucial to treat writing and publishing as a business.
If writers are interested in writing for the art of writing, then this does not apply, but for all writers who want to make money writing, then this career has to be looked at both from the point of view of the creative writer and from the strategic and tactical aspect of a business person.
How To Make Money
No business in their right mind produces a product unless they know people want it. But we writers do it all the time! We spend months and years creating a product without knowing who will want it, where to find those people who might want it, or how to get the product in their hands. This is because most of us are again, really not writing to make money. I hear many writers say, they hope their book sells or they hope people like it. I doubt anyone at Nike ever said that.
Here are the secrets to being a successful, money-making writer.
1. Take this business seriously
This is number one on purpose. Any business owner who wants to be successful takes their business seriously. They do not go into work only a couple of hours a day. They don’t work on their free time (unless they are building their business, and this is where you might be right now which is fine). They have all the tools needed to work. This includes their equipment, so a computer for writers, cameras and lights and a computer for photographers, etc., but also a business bank account, a website, professional photos, maybe a P.O. Box, stationary, etc. It might also call for self-publishing writers to interview and find editors, cover artists/designers, book designers, and other professionals. Writers should make a list of what they will need and what it will cost, then set aside the money to have what is needed to start this business.
2. Become a Brand and Create Your Platform
It’s never too early to begin creating your platform as a writer. I was already a multi-published author working with my third publisher when I sat with someone from marketing and a senior editor, and they asked me about my platform. I didn’t really have one. Sure, I had some followers on social media, but that was about it. I should have started creating a platform before I ever got published, but this was something I didn’t know. Successful authors who sell multiple books and make money have created a brand around their novels. They are known for writing a certain kind of book. Think of Stephen King or Nicolas Sparks, look at their book covers, think of what themes they write about over and over — especially Sparks. They have branded themselves and readers know what to expect from them.
3. Promote and Market Yourself
Part of building a brand is learning how to market yourself as a writer. Personally, for me, this is the most difficult part. People go to college for years to become marketing experts. As writers, we are not salespeople, we are not marketing professionals. Perhaps hiring someone to help with marketing would be a good investment. However, this can be expensive and not and available option for many of us, so we can learn enough to market our books in our own niche. Have a strong presence on social media. Do more than write. Speak at conferences, speak anywhere. Have contests where you give away small gifts or free chapters of your work in progress. Talk about what you are writing and give readers a sneak peak to get them excited about your upcoming book. Make connections with people not in the publishing industry. When I wrote a book about a racecar driver, I asked a Ford dealership if he would allow me to sign my book in the lobby. He said yes and were excited about the joint promotional event. I ended up not doing it because the publisher did not agree, but if I had self-published the book, it would have been a nice marketing opportunity. Teaming up with others is a good strategy. Most importantly, remember to look at building a business as a long-term journey with multiple marketing campaigns.
4. Consider Self-Publishing
As self-published authors, we have the most control over our business. As I mentioned in #3, sometimes traditional publishers actually impede our ability to promote ourselves. As self-published writers we do have the complete job of doing everything ourselves from writing to finding editors to publishing to marketing and selling. However, most of that falls on our shoulders as writers anyway that there are many benefits to doing all of it ourselves. Financially, as beginning writers, self-published authors will make more money per book than with a traditional publisher who will most likely not offer a first-time writer a big contract. So, from having more control, to being able to sell and market where we want, to making more per book, if your goal as a writer is make more money, self-publishing is the way to go.
5. Hire the right people
Interview editors and book and cover designers. Perhaps hire a web designer. Find a marketing expert who is familiar with writing and publishing. I don’t recommend doing this all at once if you can’t afford it. You can learn to do some it on your own. Creating your own website is not that difficult if you have some experience with technology and have the time. But it’s worth hiring the right editor or editors to look at your book before you publish it, in fact, I would say this is crucial. Independent publishers must hire an editor to review their novels. Writers who do, sell significantly better than authors who don’t, so they make more money as a result. Only the wealthiest writers have a team of people to help them, so don’t feel back if you can’t afford that immediately, but all writers should at least invest in an editor. The more you make as a writer, the more you will be able to put back into your business to continue to grow. Assistants and marketing people can come later when you are making enough to get extra help which will allow you to focus on writing.
6. Write daily and publish often
This may seem obvious, but most writers do not do it. Starbucks has a new “product” or type of coffee all the time. Every season has its own special latte. Nike has new shoes all the time. They don’t produce one product and sell the same thing for years. Yet, writers do. The most successful writers have new books out regularly. They have to be good books, of course. There is no point in releasing books that are terrible just to publish often. This will chase away readers, and you don’t want that. It’s better to publish less often and make the story excellent, but the more you can publish, the better.
If you do all of this, are you guaranteed to become rich and sell millions of copies of your novel. I wish I could say, yes, but of course, there’s no guarantee no matter what business you go into. However, your success and possibility to make a lot of money increases dramatically if you implement these suggestions.
