In this series, we’ve talked about ten ways to make money as a writer:

1. Book sales
2. Freelance writing
3. Ghostwriting
4. Editing & publishing services
5. Speaking
6. Coaching
7. Courses
8. Products
9. Membership & masterminds
10. Affiliate marketing

These aren’t the only ways to make money as a writer, of course, but these are ten of the most common ones.

Now that you’ve heard about them, what’s next? How do you get started?

While you may want to eventually make money with all of these income streams eventually, you can’t put them all into practice right now. I suggest that you reach for the low-hanging fruit first—meaning the easiest options. For most writers, that is probably going to be doing freelance writing or ghostwriting, plus getting some book sales.

If you’re getting started with making money as a writer, I’d recommend the following course of action over the next 90 days. Choose one, two, or all of them.

1. Start working on a very short book you can complete and publish in three months. Shoot for about 20,000 words or 120 pages or so. A short book will validate you as a writer and give you immediate credibility.
2. In the meantime, tell people in your network that you’re building a writing business and you’re available to write blog posts, social media posts, podcast show notes, or other short-form content. Create a sheet with your pricing options and make this easily available. Do a bit of work for free in order to get a testimonial and referral, then build on that momentum as you get more paid work.
3. Become an affiliate for a couple of products or services that you love. Then, start promoting those to your email list and other places. If you don’t yet have an email list, it’s time to get started. I recommend ConvertKit.

If you get to work immediately and take consistent, daily action on just these three items, within three months you are almost certain to have some income from writing. It will be slow at first, but keep at it and you will succeed over time.

Question: Which of the three steps I’ve mentioned are you willing to commit to over the next 90 days?

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As a writer, you use lots of different products and services. Many of those have an affiliate program that pays you a percentage of what they receive from the customer whenever the customer purchases through your individual affiliate link.

I love affiliate income because it’s like getting paid to recommend things you are already using. For example, I’m an affiliate for ConvertKit, the email marketing service. When people use my link to sign up with the service, I get a portion of what they pay ConvertKit. The basic idea is that ConvertKit is rewarding me for recommending their product because they may not have had that customer without my recommendation.

Another example is the course Book Marketing Mastery, created and taught by Honorée Corder. I promote this course a couple of times a week here on the podcast because Honorée is great, the course is great, and I know it’s something that will benefit you. Plus, it doesn’t cost you any more to sign up through my affiliate link because Honorée gives me a portion of what you pay her for the course.

And by the way, if you’d like to sign up for Book Marketing Mastery, visit https://dailywriterlife.com/bookmarketingmastery and use the code “DailyWriter” (that’s all one word) to get 10% off.

One thing I want to mention is that an affiliate is different than a sponsor. The difference is in how you get paid. With an affiliate partnership, you get a percentage of what the customer pays the affiliate. With a sponsorship, the company or person behind the product or service you’re promoting pays you directly to advertise it. For example, starting next month, the Vellum app will be a paid sponsor of this podcast. That means they are paying me directly to promote their product on my show.

Here is the main key with affiliate marketing: you must do it in an ethical and responsible way. I never promote things that I don’t personally use or recommend, whether it’s an affiliate partnership or a sponsor. If you’re already using and recommending certain products or services, check to see if they have an affiliate program, then start promoting them in an ethical way. It’s a great way to grow your bank account and have a lot of fun in the process!

Question: What products or services are you already using that have an affiliate program?

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I understand that memberships and masterminds are two different things, but they are similar in many ways, which is why I’ve lumped them together in this episode. The main idea of both of these is that people have access to you on some type of ongoing basis. They are paid products that have a barrier to entry in the form of a payment. By definition, it means that people are generally more serious about growth and learning because they have to pay more than they would for a book.

Now don’t get me wrong, we should offer free help. This podcast, as well as my blog posts and free Daily Writer Starter Kit guides, are my main ways of offering free, helpful content. But if people want to grow, they need to have some skin in the game. The way they show they are serious is if they pay for access.

Memberships and masterminds can have all kinds of different structures. But in general, a membership is a group that has a recurring monthly charge and offers resources, courses, calls, and community interaction. A mastermind is a higher-level group where you have more access to the leader, and you are actively adding value to the other group members to help each other succeed in specific areas.

I currently offer a membership, the Daily Writer Club, which you’ve heard me promote before. I’m also getting ready to launch a higher-level Daily Writer Elite Mastermind in March. I love offering these paid experiences because I know that when people invest in themselves, they will accelerate their success.

A membership or mastermind might be something you should consider, as well. Think about the different types of value you could add to others and if people would be willing to pay for ongoing resources or access to you in these types of formats. You might be surprised how much you enjoy running them and helping your fans and readers in a more direct way.

Question: What specific ways could you help people be more successful by offering a membership or mastermind?

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Many writers create hats, t-shirts, mugs, journals, and an endless array of other merchandise and products based on their brand. One of my favorite examples of a writer who creates unique and interesting products based on his writing is Ryan Holiday. His products include special editions of his books, coins featuring figures and mottos of Stoicism, a calendar, rings and jewelry, prints, and much more. See https://dailystoic.com for some great examples.

Products can be a great way to set yourself apart from others who are writing about the same topics. But let’s be honest: most writers don’t have the business mindset or the persistence to go through the stages of developing a successful product. However, if you are committed to building your audience and thinking like a business owner, and not just a writer, products can be a great source of income.

This is an area I absolutely want to dive into more over the next couple of years. At our recent Daily Writer retreat, I had special journals, pens, and tumblers made with the Daily Writer logo. Everyone loved them! This was an experiment to see the response to some potential products, and it convinced me to dive into this area more.

My personal view on products is that you need to be willing to test some products and have a real entrepreneurial spirit to make these successful. You also need a customer base who can buy the products consistently in order for them to be profitable and justify the time and effort to create them.

That said, products can be a great way to stand out as a writer because most writers won’t go to the trouble of messing with them. So I definitely encourage you to give it a shot!

Question: If you were going to design a product with your logo or brand, what would it be?

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As a former college professor, courses are honestly one of the things that come most naturally to me. When you spend seventeen years thinking about curriculum, lesson plans, and assessment day in and day out, it becomes second nature.

But chances are pretty high that you are NOT a teacher by trade. And that’s perfectly OK, because you just need to know that you can put together a great course! One of the keys to putting together a great course is to figure out the specific objectives you want the learner to achieve by the end of the course, and then work backwards from there to give them the information, experiences, and learning activities to take them there.

But it’s not just about the information in a course—it’s also about the marketing. Because if you don’t have marketing for your course, you probably won’t have sales. Marketing is a giant area that I don’t have time to get into right now, and to be honest it’s not my area of expertise. But suffice it to say that if you are going to be successful with courses, or anything business-related for that matter, you need to become comfortable with marketing and learning how to do it more effectively.

From a business standpoint, courses are a fantastic addition to your streams of income. Readers and learners value courses at a much higher level than books. You can take the same material you have used for a book, translate it into a course, and charge much more for it.

If you enjoy teaching and putting together material in a way that helps other people experience transformation, courses are a great way for you to add value to others and increase your income.

And by the way, if you are interested in learning how to build and market online courses, I highly recommend you connect with my friend, Lucas Marino. He is an expert in these areas and has developed some courses to help you. Check out his website at https://www.marinotraining.com/.

Question: Do you enjoy teaching? If so, have you ever considered developing online courses?

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Coaching is a very broad term that can mean different things in different contexts. But generally, you are there to help the client become more successful in a certain area.

Coaching is usually done in either an individual or a group setting. It can also be done as a one-off coaching session, or it can be ongoing over a period of time. If you have specialized knowledge in a certain area, it can be a great opportunity to help people in a deep way.

I have benefited from coaching in a lot of different ways over the years. Two of the paid masterminds I’m in right now include individual coaching as part of the group structure. And twice in the past year, I have paid coaches for one-off sessions on specific topics.

I’m a huge fan of coaching because it’s basically a fast track to success in a specific area. For example, I hired my good friend John Schuchman, a social media coach for real estate agents, to do an hour of coaching with me on social media for the Daily Writer. I learned things from him in one hour I couldn’t have figured out on my own in the course of a year.

I have never offered group coaching, but I’ve done a lot of individual coaching, primarily related to helping people with their books.

As a writer, you have specialized knowledge in certain areas. A simple way to get started is to offer one-on-one coaching around the same topic you write about. Your books and other content can be a great way to promote your coaching services, which allows someone to get individual help in a way they can’t experience just by reading your books.

If you’re just getting started with coaching, I recommend the incredible book The Prosperous Coach by Rich Litvin. It’s one of the best business books I’ve ever read. I’d also recommend offering a few coaching sessions for free as a way to help you get some practice and also provide you with some testimonials if you want to take your coaching practice further.

Question: How could you expand your knowledge and impact by offering group or individual coaching as part of your overall business?

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If you, like many writers, label yourself an introvert, you probably think of speaking as something you’d want to avoid. It involves interaction with groups or crowds, standing up in front to deliver a talk, engaging with strangers, and maybe traveling.

As an introvert myself, all of those things drain my energy. For years, I tried not to admit to myself that they do, but it’s true. There are certain activities that, no matter how valuable they might be, simply drain my emotional batteries.

However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid them. It just means you need to take advantage of those opportunities strategically and prepare for them accordingly.

Speaking can be a great way to get in front of groups to test out ideas. You can meet lots of new and interesting people that you otherwise might not connect with. And, of course, you can build new customers, clients, readers, or fans through those speaking opportunities.

I come from the worlds of church ministry and higher education, so I was regularly speaking in front of groups on a daily or weekly basis as part of the job. But as a ghostwriter and author, I haven’t spent nearly as much time speaking. And honestly, it’s not really part of my business strategy right now.

However, that doesn’t mean YOU shouldn’t consider it. Since the pandemic, the world has opened up a lot more and people are hungry for in-person events. If you’re just getting started with speaking, I recommend doing some local events for free. Try business groups, your library, or church events if you’re a person of faith. Or just invite some friends for coffee and do a short presentation. It doesn’t matter HOW you start… it just matters THAT you start.

You might be surprised at how much you enjoy speaking once you get into it. Even though this might not be your primary strategy right now, it can be a great addition to what you’re already offering.

Question: Do you like the idea of getting into speaking? Do you feel it’s something that would give you energy or drain your battery?

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These are related but not the same thing. Let’s begin with editing first.

The essence of editing is that you are getting someone’s writing or book manuscript ready for publication. But there are different types of editing.

If you are great with content organization or story structure, you might consider developmental editing. That means thinking through the structure and flow of the book on the front end. Or, it could mean re-working a book that has not been properly organized or written. Maybe the author is stuck and needs expert help.

You could also consider line editing, copyediting, or proofreading. Line editing is more of an art than a science. It mainly concerns making sure sentences flow as well as possible. Copyediting mainly focuses on the mechanics of language, ensuring that the writing adheres to correct English usage, grammar, punctuation, citations, and so forth. Proofreading literally refers to reading the proof, which is the final version just before or after it goes to print as a last measure of defense against errors.

Another form of editing is working for a magazine or publication. A few years ago, I worked for The Good Men Project as a lead editor. This means people sent me articles, and I decided which ones to run in my sections, which are also called “verticals” in the publications world. Then, I would give the authors feedback if I needed changes. I almost always made changes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so forth. It did not pay very well but the experience was absolutely priceless because I learned to think, write, and edit quickly.

If you enjoy the self-publishing process, you can also help others navigate their way through getting their book published. If you are detail-oriented and like to manage complex projects, you can help people get their book cover and interior formatting designed, manage editors, get their book uploaded to Amazon and other online vendors, and market their book.

The bottom line is that if you can write and publish your own books, you can also help other people do the same thing. Most of the writers I know, no matter their level of success, do some type of client work in addition to writing for themselves.

I really like doing client work as one of my income streams because I learn something from every project. Whether you are editing or helping other people publish their books, it’s a great way to serve authors and make money at the same time.

Question: Have you ever considered helping other writers with editing or publishing services? What specific services could you offer?

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Ghostwriting is essentially writing books for someone else. Sometimes, the client is highly involved in the project, almost like a co-author. Other times, they are not very involved, or not involved at all. Whatever the case, most of the time your name is not on the book. That’s why they call it ghostwriting: you are invisible.

Sometimes, however, you can negotiate to have your name listed on the book cover. They call this a “with” credit. I’ve been fortunate enough to negotiate for a “with” credit on a couple of books so far, including The Faith of Elvis, which I wrote with Billy Stanley, Elvis Presley’s stepbrother.

There are a few reasons why I like ghostwriting:

1. It’s fairly straightforward. Writing books is a pretty straightforward process once you understand how to plan, outline, and draft a book. I like being able to explain to people that I write books for people who don’t have the time or talent to do it themselves. It’s very easy for others to understand.
2. It can pay well. My projects have ranged from the low five figures to the high five figures per book. Because of this, it doesn’t take many projects per year to make a decent living.
3. You learn a lot with each project. Every book I write gives me more knowledge and experience that I can apply to other projects. I feel like I’m getting a master’s degree in a specific topic every time I write a book.

The big challenge with ghostwriting, just like any client-based work, is finding and signing clients. I’ve had periods where I’ve had an abundance of work, and also dry periods when I was a little worried about when the next client would sign. It’s definitely an adjustment if you’re used to getting a regular paycheck from an employer.

The one thing people ask me all the time is, “How do you get started as a ghostwriter?” I’ll give you three very specific things.

First, you need to write a book if you haven’t already. I suggest a short book that’s around 120 pages, about 30,000 words or so. This will give you automatic credibility as an author, and as someone who can write books.

Second, you need to enroll in Ghostwriter School, taught by my friend and mentor Nick Pavlidis. This is how I got started, and I recommend you do the same as well. You can access it at https://ghostwriterschool.com.

And third, you need to start telling people you’re building a ghostwriting business. Don’t tell them you’re doing five other things on the side. Just focus on ghostwriting. If you have a book out there, and you’re going through Nick’s training, and you’re consistently telling people you’re building a ghostwriting business, it’s only a matter of time before you find that first client.

If you are a freelance writer doing a lot of little jobs for clients, I encourage you to consider ghostwriting. It generally pays more, and you can focus on a few higher-value clients than a bunch of smaller ones. Ghostwriting has been good to me and my family, and I know it can do the same for you.

Question: Have you ever considered ghostwriting? How could it impact your life and writing business?

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Freelancing is writing for hire. This is opposed to writing because you’re a staff member of an organization or have writing responsibilities as part of your overall job. When you freelance, you are getting paid to write a specific piece (or pieces) of content. It can be a one-off piece or part of an ongoing contract.

Many writers make fantastic money creating articles, blog posts, and other content for an endless array of different industry and special interest publications. My freelancing experience has been in a few basic areas:

1. I’ve written a few articles for traditional print magazines and journals.
2. For several years, my primary side business income was writing podcast show notes for a few clients.
3. I wrote lots of articles for The Good Men Project, a large online publication with millions of views per month. (However, I was paid as an editor, not a freelancer.)
4. I wrote lots of “pillar post” content for a ministry-related website for a year or two. (A “pillar post” is a long article—typically a few thousand words—designed to be an authoritative post on a topic. It’s also usually packed with keywords and phrases designed to maximize SEO—search engine optimization.)

Freelancing comes in all shapes and sizes. However, I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by the possibilities. Instead, stay focused on doing a few things well. Here’s how I would recommend getting started if you want to write for publications:

First, set up a blog and start writing there on a regular topic. You need to build your writing resume and show potential clients, publications, or magazines that you have some writing chops. Plus, writing regularly on your own blog is a good way to develop SEO and begin building some authority around your topic, whatever it is.

Next, write for free in some publications, such as The Good Men Project, which accepts articles on lots of topics, both by men and women (as long as it pertains to men or manhood). I would suggest writing for places that feature the same kinds of content or topics you write. The more your writing is online, and the larger the publications you write for, the more your credibility within that topic will grow.

Once you have one of these two things, then begin pitching paid publications. Be sure to strictly follow their guidelines. Editors are very busy people who will generally ignore you if you don’t play by their rules.

If you want to write for clients—doing regular blog posts, for example—you will still need a blog. And I’d also recommend writing for publications if you can, even if it’s for free for a while to build up your writing resume. But then you will want to connect with potential clients on an individual basis.

One final tip when it comes to freelancing: I strongly suggest that you don’t refer to yourself or promote yourself as a “freelance writer.” The reason is that freelance writers are a dime a dozen. Give yourself a more authoritative and specific title, such as “Content Writer for the Automotive Industry” or “Business and Personal Development Writer.”

Better yet, combine it with other titles such as Author or Coach. Titles mean something, and the way you refer to yourself is the way people will think of you. Don’t ever just call yourself a “freelance writer.” And for goodness sakes, please don’t use the “Open to Work” badge on your LinkedIn profile… it just screams that you are desperate!

Like most of the areas we’re discussing in this series, freelancing can take a lot of different forms. But don’t be afraid—just take the steps I’ve outlined here and you will make quick progress.

Question: What specific topics or industries interest you the most when it comes to freelancing?

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