Where’s the money in writing?

I hope you’ve been enjoying my weekly writing lessons. I love teaching people about writing books. I know we all write for different reasons, but in case you’d like to make some money on your books, kept reading. That’s what I’ll be discussing this month.

Now the truth is that most authors rarely make a profit on one book. They either need to write more than one book, often a series, or build a business around their book by offering other products and services like CDs, seminars, and coaching.

Oh, you’ll find the occasional one-book wonder, the bestselling darling of the literary world, but that happens so infrequently that I wouldn’t suggest you count on it! And more often than not, it occurs with fiction rather than nonfiction.

So where’s the money in writing?

Here are some profit centers you can count on as a book or ebook author:

1. Write a book or ebook to a large enough target audience and promote the heck out of it. If you already have a following—a list or a large database—you may sell a substantial number of books to see a profit from one book or ebook.
2. Plan a series of books, like the Chicken Soup or For Dummies franchise. You can either write a number of books on one topic to many audiences such as dog training for different types of dogs (Collies, dachshunds, poodles, etc.) or write on several topics for one audience, like exercise, diet, dressing, etc. for pregnant women. (One subject, many target markets or One market, many subjects)
3. Build a business around your one book by adding a seminar, CD set, teleclass, or coaching services. People learn in various formats, so offer them. And this way you have multiple streams of income.

Yes, you can make a profit writing books and ebooks. Keep reading this month for more on these ideas.

Happy writing,

Andrea

Andrea Susan Glass
www.WritersWay.com