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?

The post Making Money as a Writer: How to Get Started appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

I know when I mention books you’re probably thinking, “That’s not something I can get started on today.”

To the contrary! All you need to do is to sit down and start working on a couple of things.

First, determine the main idea of the book. Second, who is the ideal reader? And third, start working on an outline. If you’re doing a non-fiction book, I recommend about 35,000-40,000 words, divided into 12-15 chapters.

It doesn’t mean you will be writing the whole book. It just means that you are working on the outline, which will help you get excited and want to move forward. The sheer act of developing an outline will be a huge push forward.

You can get the book written faster than you think. Even if you only write 200 words a day (which is an average page length), you can write a book of 120 pages in 4 months. You can write three of those a year if you just write 1 single page per day. Then, you can put it on Amazon and make it available to the world.

We make the process of writing a book much more stressful and complicated than it needs to be. Take some time today to get started writing your book. You’ll be amazed at what can happen when you take action and get moving.

Question: How could writing a book impact your life or business?

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Today’s episode is sponsored by the Book Marketing Mastery course. If you’re tired of being disappointed by your book sales and want to sell more books faster, easier, and with more fun than ever, sign up today. Use the code “DailyWriter” to get 10% off.

The post Start Writing Today: Your First (or Next) Book appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.