Make money by writing

[VanLifeCrisis]

As suggested in another thread, i made this separate one.&nbsp; Since reading about self publishing, i have done some research and it is looking more and more viable.&nbsp; I found this youtube series a guy made that is probably the most specific i have ever seen on how to just make money doing it on amazon. I mean, he literally goes in to his accounts and shows you the money he makes, the money he spends, where to go and what to do etc.&nbsp; I think i am going to try this soon, as well as publish some fiction.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Also he mentions something interesting, iwriter, a website where people write articles or ebooks for you for money.&nbsp; So maybe you can get some freelance writing work that way doing articles.&nbsp; I might look into that too.

 

[Tara]

I responded in the other thread but it looks like it got deleted?

Anyways I'm on the slowest Internet in the world (I'm suprised the forum is loading) so I can't look up links, sorry.

There are a ton of Kindle books about Kindle publishing. I got started with one called the Kindle Publishing Bible, I think. If you google "reading of the green, anatomy of a book promotion" you'll find a great article. I'd click through and read all that lady's articles on that site.

My advice:
- Pay for a good editor! Bad reviews for no editing will screw you in the Amazon algorithm.
- For your cover order a few at fivver.com and pick the best.

Keep in mind amazon has been making things SO easy for independen authors, a lot of people have been abusing their system to get rich churning out crap. Eventually Amazon'll pull the rug out from under us. But then there'll be another way. Just roll with the punches.

 

[twokniveskatie]

Hey there sweetie are you sure it posted? I didn't delete it.

 

[dfunkt]

This post and that embedded video should be titled: How to exploit writers. &nbsp;

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

If you feel that way, you can just write it yourself?&nbsp; Ghost writing has been around for centuries.<br><br>The purpose of this thread is to talk about writing for money, so any discussion regarding that is viable.<br><br>I wrote articles on mturk for like 2 dollars, and it helped me out when i was broke.&nbsp; These people pay at least that much, and if you get 30 positive reviews (you move up in payscale) min. 5 dollars on a 500 word article.&nbsp; How fast can you bang out 500 words, now compare that time frame to an hourly (minimum) wage and determine if it is exploitative.<br><br>For example, this post is 122 words, and it took me a minute to write it.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

One problem i do notice right off the bat for iwriter is the lack of projects in english for standard members.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

Thanks for taking the time to do this Dazer. Hope I get time in the next few days to study it. I'm playing catch up with the yard and everything, this past week I made some extra money as art teacher at a kids camp 4 days 4 hours a day. Made pretty good money for having fun, 300.00, yeehaa! We didn't do crappy crafts either, the kids put out some pretty good work.

 

[McBe]

<p>The following &nbsp;link is to a podcast interview with self-published author Tarrin Lupo.&nbsp; I thought it was really interesting as he gives advice on how it works and what has worked for him.&nbsp; <br><br><a href="http://www.thevoluntarylife.com/2012/04/self-publishing-interview-with-tarrin.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.thevoluntarylife.com/2012/04/self-publishing-interview-with-tarrin.html</a></p>

 

[zombiewriter]

IHow fast can you bang out 500 words, now compare that time frame to an hourly (minimum) wage and determine if it is exploitative.<br><br>For example, this post is 122 words, and it took me a minute to write it.

Many people can bang out at least two 500 word blocks in an hour, thus earning $10 per hour, which is more than minimum wage. Taking 30 minutes to research a subject and write 500 words may satisfy some writers, but 500 well-crafted words often take more than an hour to create.

I suspect companies who pay $5 for 500 words are only going to get writing of a certain quality.

Like most things, you get what you pay for.

 

[zombiewriter]

It is just $5 for 500 words is insanely low.
So many writers are so closed-mouthed about pay that it seems like some conspiracy, so maybe $5 for 500 seems fair to writers just starting out.

But I'm going to break the taboo. I know one amateur writer [not me] who makes $150 to $250 for 300 words. But it takes him a lot longer than an hour to write an article of that quality. He is also an expert in his field.

So my advice is to become an expert in something - van dwelling, knitting, dutch oven cooking, whatever - and write as an expert on that subject. Practice writing, study great writing and hone your skills. Once you're established as an expert who can write well you'll be paid much more.

I'm an expert on one brand of cleaning chemicals, tools, and techniques. :s Plus I'm not to bad at writing. That is what landed me my writing job. I don't earn nearly as much as my other writing friend, but I make enough to pay for groceries.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I played with that iwriter a bit, and the quality of writing on there is terrible, really seems like cookie cutter info. I did find one or two people who seemed to be the real deal, but most didn't even have basic english skills. The tier system made it kinda hard to get started actually writing the articles for people.

I think the best bet is to write a small book yourself the normal way, on a topic you are an expert in and sell that on amazon.

 

[JohnnyBe]

so if you offer your writing for such a low wage (eg. $5 for 500 words) it's not good for you, nor for the professionals who have more competition, nor for the readers because they don't get that quality. As cool as these services may seem, I more and more I'm dubious about them.
Another question that came to my mind, do you (have to) pay taxes on this type of income?

 

[zombiewriter]

Uncle Sam does want a chunk of pretty much any earnings. You'd have to check laws in your resident state to see if you have to pay state income tax as well.

 

[kyonu]

You can make about $10,000 before paying taxes, but you still have to file each year.

 

[pirateexplorer]

If your planning on writing do it because you enjoy writing and on a subject you enjoy as the money made by most people is not worth the time or effort unless you actually enjoy what your doing. Also if you're doing something your passionate about you'll do a better job as well.

I would suggest doing amazon books as opposed to a blog. A blog must constantly be updated, its hard to rank and ppc and affiliate money isn't that great unelss you have a huge active following. With an ebook you'll make more money plus it's more of a passive income, once you write a book its on amazon forever earning you a passive income, if you want to promote it you can probably make more but even just it being live will make money.

I have about a dozen blogs, all together maybe make me $100 to $300 a month, not at all worth the effort that goes into them, on the flip side I havn't written an ebook in over a year and make the same monthly off amazon

---

You can make about $10,000 before paying taxes, but you still have to file each year.

You are not excempt from taxes under 10k, very bad advice. All income legally needs to be reported. Now maybe fiverr or amazon or whoever doesn't report your income til you hit 10k but that doesn't mean its nt taxable or you shouldn't report it. Its like ebay/paypal, they dont report your income until you hit $20,000 in sales and sell 200 items but that doesn't mean if you fall under that your tax excempt.

 

[mconlonx]

I work for a small publisher and have been in the industry for a couple decades. For most authors, writing is not their day job. It's nice additional income, but not the most lucrative career in the world.

Self-publishing is a valid way to go, but you have to be a self-marketing/promoting monster to make it work as a decent source of income. Think of Bob's vandwelling book -- out there, self-marketed and promoted, this site to further sales; probably not his biggest source of income but a nice additional, occasional income stream.

If you can somehow swing it, getting in with 2-4 publishers as a regular, go-to proofreader or copyeditor in their freelancer pool would be a better approach. But freelance publishing services is a tough gig to break into from the outside -- too many ex-publishing people hogging all the jobs.

Good luck to all you writers out there!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I've had two magazine articles published. I got paid $150 for each of them, which was OK, but I wasn't gonna give up my day job for it. Basicaly, it was an itch I needed to scratch, and once I scratched it, I didn't really feel the need to keep writing.

It was a great ego booster, though. I was a minor celebrity at work for almost a week or so when the first one came out.

One of the articles is online HERE if any of you are interested in seeing it.

I may take it up again when I retire next spring and hit the road.

Years ago I read a description of how Winston Churchill "wrote" his monumental 4 volume History of the Second World War. He would sit for several hours every morning and DICTATE to a stenographer, who would go off and type it all up. A couple of research assistants with complete access to all of the British government archives would then take the typed pages and check the dates and names and all and correct the details as necessary. The secretary would then type a second draft with all of the corrections. Churchill would then skim over it and occasionally tweak it a little bit. Now THATS the way to "write"!

I'm not a very good typist, and I'm now playing around with a copy of Dragon Naturally voice recognition software on my Windows 7 laptop. If I do try "writing" again, I'm going to emulate Churchill and just dictate what I want to say.

Dragon Naturally claims that it is not only three times faster than typing, but you can also dictate into a good digital audio recorder and just upload the files to your computer later for Dragon to process.

You should be able to "write" while walking your dog or driving down the road!

Something for the rest of you to think about . . .

Regards
John

 

[Hereandthere]

I've used Dragon, the Mac version, but find it puts so many typos and msiunderstandings into my novels that on the novel I'm working on now I mostly just typed. When my husband and I hit the road (target: November sometime), I'll definitely be typing so he doesn't have to listen to me!

As for dictating while walking the dog or driving, I tried just walking around but found I really prefer to see what Dragon think I just said!

Regarding making money, my experience has varied a lot. Sometimes good.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

That's interesting. Can I ask how much you used it, and for how long?

Dragon claims that the more the program is used - and errors corrected - the more it learns the way YOU speak and the better it gets.

Regards
John

 

[Hereandthere]

That's interesting. Can I ask how much you used it, and for how long?

Dragon claims that the more the program is used - and errors corrected - the more it learns the way YOU speak and the better it gets.

I'm using the Mac version but it shouldn't be that different. I would say that it DID get somewhat better. I'm about to revise my 3rd novel in a series, each one about 50,000 words. I used Dragon for several weeks, most days probably, on the second one, and less on the third one. Recently, when I working on the last 1/4 or so of the third novel, I found that I didn't want to dictate because my writing is better when I type and there were a lot of subtleties going on in the plot. Different people are different, though... I'm in a writers' group where a lot of them always use Dragon!