How you guys earn from writing Novel?

[Storyteller61439]

Hello everyone, I'm just new to SH and new in writing webnovel.

I've a question, how these writers earn, are they writing just because of their hobby or do they also make their living from these writing work?

and if yes they earn, is it from Patreon only? and why they publish these stories here if everyone can read it for free?

 

[Owl]

Probably different for everybody!
I write as a hobby, because I love writing and I'm happy seeing people read and enjoy my works. I do have ko-fi for those who want to support me, but don't have Patreon because I feel like that's too much. I might edit and cheaply sell it as an ebook later.
Generally, a lot of people here write only as a hobby, but some do earn through ko-fi and patreon. Likely also some through ebooks. I also remember one person taking their story down from here after they made a contract with webnovel

 

[Jemini]

Hello everyone, I'm just new to SH and new in writing webnovel.

I've a question, how these writers earn, are they writing just because of their hobby or do they also make their living from these writing work?

and if yes they earn, is it from Patreon only? and why they publish these stories here if everyone can read it for free?

The funding is from 3rd party sites such as Patreon, yes. The reason why we publish here is simply because this is the low-bar for entry. In other words, anyone can get their story up on this site without having to prove themselves before hand. There is also the fact that readers can read for free as well, which increases exposure.

Also, it's very rare that any of us actually "make their living" off of this. Even if we are getting paid, it's usually only enough for us, in turn, to use that money to commission an artwork or something of the sort. There are a rare few that earn around $1,000 per month, which is about enough to be considered a good side hussle, but it's really not a living. I think I've only seen 1 person in my time here who actually makes enough off the donations for it to be considered a living. I suspect he's some kind of real skilled self-promoter or something to be earning so much.

 

[Yorth]

Most don't, honestly. It would take you a long time to get a following that is big enough to get some money off patreon. Enough to earn a living? Probably not. What you could do is have your own website where you get to take home that sweet ad revenue, but unless you're bringing in tens of thousands of views every day, it probably won't work. The last thing you could do is sell your story on Amazon, and that might work out well for you if you get it professionally edited, have a clean cover and follow a good marketing strategy.

 

[AliceShiki]

Also, it's very rare that any of us actually "make their living" off of this. Even if we are getting paid, it's usually only enough for us, in turn, to use that money to commission an artwork or something of the sort. There are a rare few that earn around $1,000 per month, which is about enough to be considered a good side hussle, but it's really not a living.

If I earned 1000$/month, I'd be earning enough to not only live on my own, but to also adopt a child or two! xD

1000$ is a lot~

 

[CupcakeNinja]

If I earned 1000$/month, I'd be earning enough to not only live on my own, but to also adopt a child or two! xD

1000$ is a lot~

On your own, yeah. Its a bit above what you get for minimum wage. A small cheap house and a few bills...i dont even watch TV so i just pay for streaming services and it still comes out a bit less than what you for Directv, for example, which is like 125-130

I dont know where they earn this money tho. I published to amazon and wont get any royalties until 66 days after publish date, but i also publishedtp google play books and that you get on the 15th of each month i think.

For amazon my "paid rankings" is normally around 100k to 300k and whn i first started it was like 600k and the highest i got was 60k in rank.

I'll report how much those earn me combined when i recieve whatever money i get from my cut so that we can have some kinda standard. I dont think any author has shared how much they make from such sites yet

Also note that you can post your novel at other sites apart from those, like barnes and noble (i started but its a bit complicated and so i gotta look up a tutorial i think on how to do all the steps.) And if you post multiple works to multiple sites and have a solid reader base that can help you spread word of the stories...or even pay for advertising (i did that. For a couple weeks of an ad campaign on Amazon in which it kinda promotes your book if readers are searching for certain keywords you pay like 30 dollars i think? I coulda prolly done it better. Might wanna google how that worls exactly cuz either you are charged based on howany people are clicking on the add or how many times your keyword is searched for...or i dunno i kinda skimmed that)

I wouldnt mind paying a hundred for a couple days of having an actual ad put up on a site, even
Like seeing the cover and just being able to click on it and you can go to the amazon page or whatever.

Which im not sure how much that even costs to begin with but a hundred seems reasonable

 

[TLCsDestiny]

Me: nothing.
All up, everywhere (blurb, us website and here) i have received no money yet.
I hope at one stage I'll have something to withdraw!!!!!

 

[FortySixtyFour]

Hello everyone, I'm just new to SH and new in writing webnovel.

I've a question, how these writers earn, are they writing just because of their hobby or do they also make their living from these writing work?

and if yes they earn, is it from Patreon only? and why they publish these stories here if everyone can read it for free?

I make a living through my writing income via Patreon (879 patrons, $1835/month atm). Generally, web fiction writers post to multiple free reading platforms (often every one they can) and then provide incentives to entice readers to become patrons. Different increments of chapters in advance of public release is the normal way of going about that, but there's any number of things you can offer for Patreon tiers.

For $1, $5, and $10 a month you could maybe allow readers to read five, ten, or twenty chapters ahead of where the story is in its public release. For certain higher-priced vanity tiers, the supporter's name could get a "shout out" thank you from the author every public release, or allow the patron to create a character to cameo in an upcoming chapter. You could set the polls on your Patreon that vote on your next sidestory content to only accept votes from a specific tier or higher. Since many popular reading platforms online limit how explicit sexual content can be in fiction posted, another popular option is to set aside all of the raunchy scenes as Patreon exclusive chapters, while in the public release version the scenes simply 'fade to black.'

I usually recommend that everyone who's looking to pursue hobbies in writing fiction fire up a Patreon, because you can make a living at it if you work at it and don't give up.

 

[gaylolis]

I did earn a $30 once, when one of my acquaintance told me to participate in a writing contest he hosted.

for some reason, he gave the participants all of his extra money 'cuz he felt so damn rich. and such, he asked for my paypal and i made a paypal.me just to get it.

i end up using $25 of them to purchase a E-programming course bundle. though I'm kinda too lazy to continue.

while it doesn't count as writing, i kinda help in translating some comic from my country's language to english. i did went at it liberally, but it somehow got well-received. the novel's kinda discontinued though, but i got about $5 from translating the few chapters (the dialogue was kinda little though).

for the $5 i just gave it to the artist since I admire his artwork.

both of them was quite a long time ago though.

 

[XianPiete]

I make tons of money selling artwork but I lose money writing (when you factor the time I spend, electricity, computer, etc.). I think you'll find that most writers aren't in it for money, we just really want to tell stories that someone will enjoy.

 

[Storyteller61439]

I make a living through my writing income via Patreon (879 patrons, $1835/month atm). Generally, web fiction writers post to multiple free reading platforms (often every one they can) and then provide incentives to entice readers to become patrons. Different increments of chapters in advance of public release is the normal way of going about that, but there's any number of things you can offer for Patreon tiers.

For $1, $5, and $10 a month you could maybe allow readers to read five, ten, or twenty chapters ahead of where the story is in its public release. For certain higher-priced vanity tiers, the supporter's name could get a "shout out" thank you from the author every public release, or allow the patron to create a character to cameo in an upcoming chapter. You could set the polls on your Patreon that vote on your next sidestory content to only accept votes from a specific tier or higher. Since many popular reading platforms online limit how explicit sexual content can be in fiction posted, another popular option is to set aside all of the raunchy scenes as Patreon exclusive chapters, while in the public release version the scenes simply 'fade to black.'

I usually recommend that everyone who's looking to pursue hobbies in writing fiction fire up a Patreon, because you can make a living at it if you work at it and don't give up.

It's good to hear at least someone is making money by following own passion. Thanks for sharing your idea, $1835/month is really a good sum of money. I do hope to follow your way but it might be really hard to get Patreons. And thanks everyone who replied.

 

[Mejiro]

There's basically a massive jump from 'hobby that earns a bit of beer money' which isn't that hard (Patreon, Ko-Fi, PayPal donations, putting collections onto Amazon etc.) to 'actually useful amounts of money'. You can sort of 'work up' to the latter, but it takes a fair amount of hard work, dedication and luck, but you're going to need a lot of all of those to make it work as a full-time gig.

 

[Koce]

That sounds great! Where else do you publish except on here? I mean what other free reading platforms would you reccomend?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I earned $5. Carefully.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I have earned a total of $13.12 USD and some lovely fanart over the past 4 years of writing as a hobby. I'm currently trying to physically public my works right now so that I can actually make some money off of it.

 

[Lloyd]

That sounds great! Where else do you publish except on here? I mean what other free reading platforms would you reccomend?

I earned $5. Carefully.

I have earned a total of $13.12 USD and some lovely fanart over the past 4 years of writing as a hobby. I'm currently trying to physically public my works right now so that I can actually make some money off of it.

You guys necroed a thread from 3 years ago.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

You guys necroed a thread from 3 years ago.

I didn't realize that. I just saw a thread.

 

[Jemini]

You guys necroed a thread from 3 years ago.

Well, that explains why my comment mentioned having only ever seen 1 author who makes enough to be considered "a living" off his Patreon. I've seen at least 4 at this point, but I guess that statement that I've only seen 1 was probably truthful 3 years ago.

That said, this pretty much means I run across 1 per year who can actually earn a living off their novel, so the point in terms of the rarity of it has even more weight behind it now than it did then with that in mind.

Also, from the actual earnings comments from a few of you, it's sounding like even my comment about "most only earning about enough to commission some artwork" is something that refers to only a high-performing few, of which it seems I'm a part of. I've managed to earn enough to commission about $800 worth of art and fund a few add-buys on Royal Road, so I guess I'm doing pretty well.

(That's lifetime earnings in my 4 years of writing and maintaining my Patreon.)

Anyway, just about 100% of what I earned has all gone back into supporting my writing in one way or another. I've actually made a policy of pocketing none of it unless and until it reaches a level where I could feasibly cut back on my work hours in order to focus more time on my writing. Any funding that's earned from my writing has to, in some way, go back into my writing. The only way pocketing it can be considered to be supporting my writing is if the funding I'm earning is enough to let me dedicate more time to writing. That hasn't happened yet, so for now it goes into artwork and add-buys instead.

 

[thetruejacob]

If I earned 1000$/month, I'd be earning enough to not only live on my own, but to also adopt a child or two! xD

1000$ is a lot~

Wow, must be a cheap cost of living, where I am that is enough to rent a smallish bedroom in someone's house. You wouldn't even need to file taxes I don't think.

 

[AliceShiki]

You guys necroed a thread from 3 years ago.

Remember to report those things instead of quoting them...

Wow, must be a cheap cost of living, where I am that is enough to rent a smallish bedroom in someone's house. You wouldn't even need to file taxes I don't think.

Different currencies.

1000$ is a lot when your currency is 5x weaker than USD.