Making Money as a Writer Has Always Been a Challenge
I’ve been writing most of my life. It’s a compulsion, an addictive habit that is in part a creative outlet as well as a therapeutic process.
I’ve written poems by the thousands, plays that I produced and directed by the dozens, and short stories long before the internet made it possible for writers to skip the queue and self publish.
I now have four self-published books on Amazon.
I have also been a guest writer for numerous travel websites, have had articles published in two well-known humanist journals as well as essays published in several books by other authors. I’ve been hired as a ghost writer and a blogger for companies in the U.S., the Bahamas, and Canada. I’ve received free lodging in exchange for writing about the place I stayed. I had a productive COVID project during 2020 where I searched for the many poems that I’d written over the years and compiled them into a series for posterity’s sake. So far, I have 20 books of poetry in the series. over the years, I ‘ve also maintained and written regularly on my own websites.
I think I probably qualify as a prolific writer in terms of sheer output.
The move into self-publication began when I went abroad for four years, leading a very nomadic lifestyle. During that time, I started a blog on My Space. Remember My Space? It was merely a tool for me to keep my friends and relatives informed about my travel adventures.
During that time, however, I discovered that the world of self publishing was becoming a viable option for writers to share their work with others.
I wrote a book and self published it in 2011 largely because anyone I met anywhere in the world always wanted to find out how I retired at age 54 and managed to travel the world longterm, living everywhere but nowhere on my small pension. In the meantime, I was a guest writer for a significant number of travel websites. My area of expertise was longterm travel, international house sitting, and travel after retirement. I found my niche audience and was able to promote my first book as a guest writer because these websites had a huge number of subscribers.
That took care of advertising and self promotion.
Amazon took care of self publication. My little book called Finding the Gypsy in Me/Tales of an International House Sitter did surprisingly well for a short period of time. I made around $8000 all told, but as soon as I stopped promoting the book, sales dropped drastically.
I built my first website when I published Gypsy.
I knew nothing about websites. I knew nothing about formatting a book for publication. I hired people to do that for me. I was winging my way through the whole process. I always find it rather amusing that my first book was probably my least impressive in terms of quality of end product. I hired an editor from that point on and it made a world of difference.
I was also lucky that I got in on the self-publishing mania before it was a complete shit show.
Now, it’s much, much harder to get noticed. Gypsy held the #1 and #2 positions in my category of travel adventure for a while and stayed in the top ten for almost a year. I was totally shocked.
I’ve never experienced the same success again.
I stink at self promotion. It’s hard work. However, if you’re an unknown writer, people won’t find you on Amazon without advertising. Even if your book is published by a traditional publishing company, you will be expected to promote your own work. To constantly promote a book is crucial. The minute you stop, book sales drop.
I soon discovered that like any of the creative arts, writing is a hard way to make money.
I didn’t need the money I earned from writing to put food on the table, however. Earning money via a hobby can be kind of fun, but I’m not sure that it would be as much fun if I was under constant pressure to bring home the bacon via my writing projects.
I also soon realized that the only way to actually make that happen, earn money that is, was to build a niche audience from the world at large.
Like most struggling writers, I originally sought the support of friends and relatives which generally led to tiny rewards with a larger sense of disappointment. Most of my friends and relatives haven’t read my writing. A few have read only a bit. Writers like to have people read their words, but frankly, I’ve received the most encouragement from total strangers. Fortunately, in a world entirely dependent upon the internet, I’ve been able to establish a surprising number of loyal readers from all over the world.
My motto: Take your writing out of your own backyard as soon as possible. Give your friends and relatives a break.
Believe it or not, I’m new to Medium. Why I waited so long to publish on Medium, I can’t say. I’ve been seriously enjoying it for a few months now. I’m not signed up to get paid for my efforts yet, however. Even though I got my first 100 followers weeks ago. I’m now approaching 300 followers and have even developed a kind of online friendship with a few readers.
Why am I hesitant to monetize my publications?
I’m not sure. I think that I may be a little tired of the hustle. If I’m not careful, the drive for ratings and money can kinda steal my joy. I love to write. I mean, I really love to write. But like all artists, once writers try to monetize their work, we enter a very competitive world where a sense of scarcity resides. The old saying, “Don’t give up your day job”, carries some truth to it. Because there’s a feeling of scarcity, not enough money to go around, the artistic world can become quite brutal, almost a fight for survival. For me, the feelings that come from such intense competition steal my joy.
Could I change my mind?
Of course, and I might, but for the time being, I’m enjoying the camaraderie with likeminded people. We shall see what comes next. In the meantime, I’m currently working on my third novel. I write psychological murder mysteries. If you’re a regular reader of mine then that might not come as a big surprise. My essays are often based upon observation. I’ve been trying to figure out what makes humans do what they do since I was about twelve years old. If you like psychological mysteries, you might want to check out Hearing Voices. It’s even on sale right now.
Every writer is on a journey.
No two journeys are the same. This is a brief summary of my journey. I feel honored that I get to share it with almost three hundred followers.
So, if you’ve read this entire article, clapped, and maybe even interacted with a kind response, thank you.
Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
