IN THIS ISSUE
- From the Editor’s Desk: Why it’s difficult to build multiple sources of income
- On The Wordling: Setting and meeting income goals
- News & Views: The best opportunities for writers in 2024
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Happy Thursday, writer friends!
A friend, who is also a subscriber to this newsletter, texted me the other day. “Are you still working on books?” she wrote.
It’s a good question. The short answer is of course, always.
The longer answer is gradually.
One of the biggest mistakes I see writers making in their careers is one I’m intimately familiar with. It’s the instinct to do all the things all at once.
Freelancing full-time while writing a novel on the side? Been there. Publishing eight nonfiction books and making them bestsellers while running a creative business? Done that. Finishing a novel for one agent and reworking a nonfiction book proposal for another while freelancing, running a creative business, and publishing a weekly newsletter on the side?
Been there, done that, and got the burnout and diminishing income to prove it.
So, yes, I told my friend. I’m always thinking of books. But at this very moment, I’m not actively publishing or marketing any of them.
See, when I was in my twenties, my goal was to make a full-time living with my freelancing. I did that.
In my thirties, I wanted to make excellent money while spending most of my time with my child. I did that, too.
As I’ve entered my forties, my priorities have shifted once again. Now, financial freedom is my key goal. For me, that means creating multiple sources of income in a way that’s consistent, sustainable, and creates opportunities for me to explore new aspects of the writing and publishing life.
I’ve tried this before and failed, so this time, I was strategic about the process. I decided to go right back to the basics and start from scratch.
I built up a full-time freelance income. This was easy. It’s something I excel at and teach. Within three months, I was making $7-10k a month and turning down projects.
Then, I cut my hours. I halved the time I spent on freelancing while keeping my income somewhat steady.
The next step was introducing a passive income source. Instead of going with books, however, which has always been my instinct, I chose to focus on this business instead. Partly because I really enjoy running it, but also because I know I still have audience building work to do before I’m ready to publish my book (I will be going the indie route.)
I followed a very specific process to create these streams of income, one that I detail in this free masterclass on how to get to a six-figure income in a year as a multipassionate creative.
As I explain in the masterclass, most writers will find their income decreasing when they create additional income streams because of three strategic mistakes.
It took me years and a lot of trial and error to figure out, one, what those mistakes were, and two, how to fix them.
And now that I have, I’m getting to enjoy my work and my life without feeling like I’m working all hours of the day or running endlessly on a road to nowhere. I have the peace of mind to know that even though I’m not publishing a novel right this very minute, there’s a plan for making it happen. And if I stick to it, then I’ll get to focus on a book launch exclusively, without worrying about money or sales, because I’ll have created a solid foundation for it to happen.
If you want to go deeper into the process and how you can implement it in your own career, you can watch the masterclass here. (No sign-up required.)
In the last couple of years, I’ve become very strategic in the way I do things. I have a lot of different skills and interests, but I’ve realized that if I am to honor those skills and interests, I have to do the hard work of prioritizing and creating space for them. When I’m ready to launch my novel, I don’t want to be in a position where I have seven deadlines in a month just to pay the bills.
So I’m being smart in how I approach my goals and next steps.
And if you’re a person with multiple goals and interests, that’s what I would recommend that you do, too.
Enjoy the issue!
Natasha Khullar Relph
Editor, The Wordling
ON THE WORDLING
Recurring Income For Freelancers
You don’t have to wait ten years to figure out how to make a reliable income. You can start right now, today.
The Ultimate Guide To Setting And Meeting Income Goals As A Freelancer
Knowing what you want and need to earn is essential in learning how to price yourself in your current stage of freelancing.
NEWS & VIEWS:
The best ways to make a writing income
I’m working on a redesign of the newsletter, which I’m super excited to share with you next week. Here’s a blast from the past in the meantime, which really resonated with readers.
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In last week’s newsletter, I talked about what you need to have in place in order to take advantage of the creator economy. Today, let’s talk about some ways.
1. Paid newsletters
There are always ebbs and flows with membership models (trust me, having run many memberships, I know!) but if you’re a good writer and know how to build a large audience, this can be an excellent way to make a regular, recurring income.
2. Ghostwriting
Books, articles, opinion pieces, influencer posts on LinkedIn, basically anything. There’s been a lot said about ghostwriting books in recent months, but not enough about ghostwriting articles and social media posts. There’s money to be made there. A lot of it.
3. Niche writing
The freelancers who are currently making the most money (up to $20k a month in some cases) have specialization in a niche subject, such as tech writing or medical writing. The more specialized the knowledge, the higher the pay.
4. Indie publishing
If you want to make a regular, recurring income from your books, indie publishing is the best way to do it. While traditional publishing can give you a lump sum advance, most authors I know who are actually making a sustainable income from books are now indie and selling direct. There is a learning curve, though, and a (small) initial investment will be required.
5. Partnerships
I’ll say this again: Build your audience. If you have an audience, a lot of avenues open up to you. You can sell your own books. Write a paid newsletter. You don’t even need your own products. You can sign up for affiliate programs and sell other people’s products.
ALSO SEE
“The small press world is about to fall apart.” How the shutting down of Small Press Distribution, one of the last remaining independent book distributors in the U.S. is impacting the industry.
An unexpected critic has emerged to evaluate The New York Times’ reporting on Gaza: an indie game developer.The New York Times Simulator puts players in the role of editor-in-chief, tasking them with creating the front page of the paper.
And finally, could a video game developer win the Nobel Prize for Literature? The Conversation has more.
GLOBAL REPORT
GHANA: “The spread of such false information, and climate skepticism in general, will only increase if journalists and fact checkers don’t dedicate more focus to environmental issues, added Albert Ansah, a science and environment journalist at the Ghana News Agency.”
GREENLAND: “Greenland, a North American autonomous territory of Denmark, has two official languages – Greenlandic and Danish. This means all communication – from admin to news – has to be in both languages by law. This makes news publishing in Greenland expensive and time-consuming, as most content goes out in Danish and is then translated to Greenlandic and republished a couple of hours later.”
RUSSIA: “Gráinne McCarthy, chief digital editor, international for the Journal, is part of the team working to free Gershkovich. She talked about the strategy behind what the Journal calls its “activations” for Gershkovich from the London offices where he once worked.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
– Ernest Hemingway
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