IN THIS ISSUE
- From the Editor’s Desk: A clear strategy for what you should do next
- On The Wordling: How to build multiple streams of income
- News & Views: There’s a new type of book publisher in town
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Happy Thursday, friends!
“I just don’t know what to do.”
I’ve heard this sentence from three people in the last week and countless times over the last few months.
The truth is, the market is difficult right now. There are a ton of opportunities for smart, clever writers who know how to read the market and position themselves to meet current needs. Those writers will make more money than ever before because they’ll find niche clients with money to spend.
But writers who’ve spent the last ten years writing lifestyle, parenting, or personal finance content that is easily replaceable, both by AI and newer writers, will find it harder and harder to get work. That’s true regardless of whether you’re a freelance journalist, a content creator, or an author.
If the work you’re doing doesn’t require specialized knowledge or reporting skills, it won’t pay highly and it won’t last for long.
So, what do you do if you want to have a profitable career as a writer? How do you become the person with the niche clients who have money to spend?
- You learn to spot current market opportunities.
- You effectively communicate your unique skills.
Honestly, 99% of writers can easily do both.
And yet, a large majority just don’t know how.
That’s where I’m offering to help.
For the next few weeks, I’m offering free strategy sessions to members of my community and readers of this newsletter. During these sessions, I will help you identify your unique skills and show you how you can use them to take advantage of the gaps in the market.
To be clear, these are not sales calls. I’m not trying to get you to buy anything. I only have two available offers—Wordling Plus and 1:1 coaching—and I don’t need to get on individual calls to tell you about those.
I have only two motives for getting on these calls:
- I want to get to know my community more intimately, and understand where you’re struggling, so I can create better resources.
- I know a lot of people are hurting, and I want to help.
These calls will be helpful for freelance writers, content creators, and authors who find themselves stuck in their careers and can’t figure out what to do or where to go next.
I can’t teach you how to do things (join Wordling Plus if you want help with that), but what I will do is understand where you’re stuck and what your biggest goals are, and help you figure out the best way to move forward.
Basically, I’ll help you map out a plan for the next right steps in your career.
Right now, a lot of writers are scared and worried, and this has never been a particularly easy career to begin with. Since there is no clear roadmap to follow, you may find yourself feeling lost and confused, unsure of what is likely to be the best choice given your circumstances and current needs.
Making complicated things simple is my forte. I know how to get to the heart of the problem. I can’t promise that the work will be easy or effortless, but most writers are not afraid of hard work. Where most struggle is with focus.
In our call, we will simplify, clarify, and amplify. That is, I will show you how to cut to the heart of the issue and simplify your business model, clarify your next steps, and amplify your effort so you’re actually getting results.
If you, like many in my community, have been saying that if you only knew what to do, you’d do it, then book a call with me, and let’s get you on a path that’s both simple and doable, and gets you fast results.
Enjoy the issue!
Natasha Khullar Relph
Editor, The Wordling
NEW ON THE WORDLING
Free Masterclass: The $100K Blueprint for Multipassionate Writers
In this 45-minute masterclass, I will show you…
- How to turn your multiple and unique passions into a superpower
- How to get to a six-figure income in less than a year
- A new way of thinking about your writing career, one that is profitable and expansive
UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS
APRIL GROUP COACHING
with Natasha Khullar Relph
When: Wednesday, April 3
10am New York | 3pm London | 7:30pm New Delhi
Our monthly group coaching call! Sessions typically run 60-90 minutes and in these live calls, we’ll help you work through mindset challenges, brainstorm story ideas, come up with ideas for publications to pitch, critique your work, and give personal guidance on the next steps in your career.
THE 7 PATHS TO FREELANCING SUCCESS IN 2024
with Natasha Khullar Relph
When: Wednesday, April 10
10am New York | 3pm London | 7:30pm New Delhi
Right now is probably one of the most difficult times to be a freelance writer. Yet, smart writers are making more money than ever before. How? They’ve figured out which clients are assigning and, most crucially, what type of content they’re looking for.
In this training, I will lay out the 7 paths to freelance riches that are working in 2024. These are the areas where you should be placing your focus, and how to ensure that you have work not just this month, but for the rest of the year.
NEWS & VIEWS:
Is this new publishing model right for you?
There’s a new book publisher in town, and they’re already making waves. Authors Equity, founded by Madeline McIntosh, the former chief of Penguin Random House, Don Weisberg, the former chief executive of Macmillan, and Nina von Moltke, the former president of strategic development at Penguin Random House, claims to prioritize authors by offering them a larger share of profits instead of upfront advances.
With bestselling authors like James Clear and Tim Ferriss supporting the initiative, Authors Equity promises both financial rewards and broader exposure for writers.
But what’s fact? And what’s marketing fiction?
1. No upfront advance
In the traditional publishing model, authors typically receive an advance payment upon signing, manuscript acceptance, and book publication. Beyond this advance, authors earn royalties only if their book surpasses a certain sales threshold. It’s worth noting, however, that many books don’t turn a profit, and publishers spread risk across various titles, relying on successful books for consistent revenue.
Authors Equity offers authors between 60% and 70% of each book’s profits, compared to the traditional 10%. But they’re also placing a higher risk on the author. That said, this is not an entirely new model. Publishers such as Bookouture (now a Hachette UK imprint) have been offering this model for years. The writer invests their time and effort into writing the book, the publisher invests money into editing, publishing, and distribution. The profits are split between the author and publisher.
For authors who have an audience and can afford the risk, this can actually work out to be an excellent deal.
2. A freelance publishing team
The New York times reports that “the publishing team for each book, including editors, publicists, and marketers, will be assembled from a growing pool of freelancers. Authors and their agents will help decide who gets hired.”
Not everyone likes this. “Authors Equity wouldn’t be the first media company to choose to work with freelancers rather than a staff. I’ve watched such decisions destroy so much of the ecosystem of journalism and contribute to the length of a massive strike in TV writing and production, and I would hate to see it happening in the book industry, too,” writes Maris Kreizman.
This is, however, based on a complete lack of understanding of (and respect for) freelancing and the people who choose that path.
As Kathleen Schmidt writes, “Many of my peers and I do not consider ourselves gig workers. We have founded our own companies that provide services for authors and publishers. Some of us did this by choice because we were tired of how corporate publishing operated. Others did it because ageism is rampant in the industry, and the older you are, the harder it is to get hired… is it not the responsibility of Authors Equity to create in-house jobs with great benefits. Their service is to authors, as it should be. By not having the overhead of staff, the company can take some risks that other publishers can’t.”
If you’re not the sort of author who is entrepreneurial and willing to launch, market, and promote long term in the way that self-published authors do, this is not going to be the right business model for you. In fact, I would look at this as self-publishing with benefits. You don’t have to worry about the quality, the distribution, or the up-front investment, but at the end of the day, the only authors who’re going to benefit from this arrangement are authors who aren’t afraid of the hustle, and are ready to go out and build a massive audience on their own.
ALSO SEE
Turns out, you can train an AI model without violating copyright. Here’s one how language model is doing it.
Book boxes are the new hot craze in publishing, and they’re propelling books to the top of the charts.
Also? Books featuring older protagonists are trendy right now.
GLOBAL REPORT
NORWAY: “Norway, a country of 5.5 million people, has in the last decade exported more buzzy books than any of its larger neighbors. I was here to report on the great mystery of why that was. Why does Norwegian literature do disproportionately well abroad? Is it just a matter of state funding? Or could it have something to do with Norwegian habits of self-portraiture and the way that books made in Norway tend to correspond to expectations and demands elsewhere?”
CZECH REPUBLIC: “Asked about the potential impact of the reduced VAT rate on book sales in Czechia, Sviták says he expects the tax cut “will help us get back on track for growth and help stabilize the Czech book market as a whole. We can continue to publish a wide spectrum of books from fiction that people enjoy, along with personal-development content, and professional books for specific smaller target groups.”
VENEZUELA: “The informal networks smuggling Venezuelan gold have rarely been reported on in a systematic way. For our previous project we had used artificial intelligence to map illegal mines and clandestine runways in the Amazon, with the support of the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN). For our second investigation, we had to find a new methodology to document the cases outside the country that Venezuela’s justice department does not prosecute, ignores and even covers up.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.”
– Patricia Fuller
HOORAY! YOU MADE IT TO THE END!
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