So, the thing is. I love writing. What started as therapy became something that I liked a lot, and I can't say I have much of those things. BUT! Life, especially work, has become quite a hassle when it comes to consuming my daily time, and sadly I have no time to dedicate to write as I would like to. So, the question I want to make is.
Do you guys have tips to make a living with writing?
Tip number 1, never think you will make a living with writing alone. At least definitely not in a short period of time. Even if you spend years, you might not get anywhere. I’ve seen people who haven’t made a single cent off their work after years of work and have nothing to show for it at all.
Tip number 2, keep your day job. Write up a story and see how the first few chapters are received(probably up to the first 10k words). If the reception is good then slow releases on it and write up a complete volume worth of material all in one go(70k-100k words is what I’d suggest).
Tip number 3, start posting to Amazon with kindle unlimited immediately and try to get yourself picked up in the algorithm or work on building up a Patreon. Maybe even do both using more than one story.
Tip number 4, don’t bother with paid advertisements when you’re a newbie, they’re just a waste of money for the most part. Use free methods to advertise your work on Amazon such as occasionally leaving a author note in a chapter of a story you might be posting for free on a platform.
Tip number 5, if you see a story isn’t gaining traction, you can’t have the mindset of treating it like your baby the way you do when you’re writing for your own enjoyment and fun. You’ve got to be merciless and move on.
Tip number 6, when you hit a roadblock and can’t think of what to write for the story next, you should change it up immediately and start writing a new story and try to monetize that during your block phase for the story you were originally writing. Writing for a living you cannot get hung up, you have to do stuff even if it kills you on the inside.
Tip number 7, you cannot write what you want, you must write what you know is popular and will sell. Isekai power fantasies with action and comedy sells.
Those are just a few tips, there’s a lot of stuff that comes with writing for a living. It is by no means something easy and I’d definitely make sure to keep a full-time or part-time job while doing so to fall back on as it’s unlikely to go your way. Everything is stacked against you. There are things that might even seem counterintuitive as well.
Such as bad reviews. Sometimes they can kill your sales, other times they might actually be a good thing(rarely). People might think it’s a troll for example. Having a mix of reviews is actually good at times. If everything is a five star without a single lower star review, people may come under the impression you paid for those reviews or something. I personally don't bother with any of that, but if you do find yourself trying to write for a living, you might find yourself in a position where you need to implement those sorts of under the counter transactions. There are certain types of reviews that will actually pull in a good number of sales and if you find a popular reviewer with people who take their reviews seriously you could do pretty well.
