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How to Make the Most Money Being a Writer?

Welcome to Writing.com,”the leading online resource for aspiring
and freelance writers”. This blog post will tell you exactly how
to make the most money being a writer, including some practical
advice on how to get started. So, read on and enjoy!

Find Your Niche

To begin with, you need to find your niche or speciality.
There are numerous ways to make money as a writer, but not all of
them are going to be lucrative. For instance, if you are a science
writer, you will most likely be able to land some lucrative
contracts with publishers. However, if you are a travel
writer, you might want to consider other ways of earning, such as
selling your photography or painting skills or even running a
bilingual children’s book website. Find your specialty and
specialize in it. This will naturally lead you to write primarily
about issues related to your chosen field. It might also lead you
to establish yourself as an expert in your chosen field.

Once you have found your niche, you should consider creating
blogging platforms or websites devoted to your specialty.
These are known as ‘hubs’ or ‘umbrellas’ in the blogging
world and can be extremely lucrative. Once you have a decent
audience built up on your platform, you can look to move over to
Amazon or Medium and begin monetizing your content. You can use
the same platform to distribute your ebooks and eventually
transition to a full-time career as a writer. A good niche should
be able to support you financially while you are getting
your feet wet. It is never easy to find your foot in the
writing world, but if you are passionate about what you do,
finding your niche will not be difficult.

Get A Manuscript From A High-Profile Writer

So, you have finally found your niche and you have established
yourself as a decent writer. Now, how do you make money? One
solution is to get a manuscript from a high-profile writer.
Fame, fortune, and success are usually the prerequisites to
finding such a commission. For instance, the bestselling
self-help author, Stephen Covey, has a joint venture with
HarperCollins that could earn him up to four million dollars
over the next five years. Stephen Covey’s latest book,
“Zen and the Art of Leadership”, was published a few years
ago and has already sold over a million copies. In case you
are wondering, Stephen Covey also wrote the bestselling
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, which has sold
over 16 million copies worldwide. If you are unable to
succeed as a self-help author, try your hand at fiction and see
if you can’t make it big in mainstream publishing.

Freelance

Another way to make money as a writer is to become a
freelance writer. This is someone who is essentially self-employed
and is able to choose the projects they take on and are confident
of being able to complete. Some of the best-known freelancers include
Grant Cardone, who is famous for creating the hugely successful
“The Millionaire Messenger” and “The Cardone Method”,
and John Grisham, whose numerous accolades include being named
the greatest living American author by the Library of
Congress. If you are looking for a way to make quick cash, you
can’t go wrong with this option.

Consulting

For those who want to make a full-time living as a writer,
a third option is to become a literary agent or
‘literary business partner’. To begin with, get a
degree in literary business or law and then start by looking for
clientele or contacts in the publishing industry. You can also
create a brand for yourself that will lend itself to both
literary and non-literary projects. It is well worth having a
look at companies like Writers’ Lab, Inc., and United
Arts/Agency. Finally, you can create a personal brand that
will help you to find work both within and outside of the
publishing industry. This might entail creating a
photographic or sculptural artwork for yourself that you can use
to highlight your writing. If you can become exceptionally
good at presenting yourself in the most positive light, this
could lead you to become one of the most in-demand
literary agents in the country. Your career as a
writer could then become full-time, or at least a
significant part of it. This option can also lead you to
establishing yourself as a speaker or expert in your field
and can subsequently lead you to earn massive fees as a
consultant or coach.

If none of the above options seem like a viable choice,
you could always consider moving abroad and getting yourself a
stable job in a prominent publishing house. Many high-ranking
publicists, literary agents, and publishers are often based in
London and will travel the world for the stories they need or
want to tell. If you can become indispensable to an
enterprising editor or publicist, you could potentially end up
making a nice living from your craft. The trick is to be
selective about the work you take on and develop the
right set of skills. It might not be easy, but you can
certainly make it happen.