It’s possible to make a living as a writer and live anywhere you want.
It’s true. You can actually make a living writing fiction and work at home in your bathrobe, or from a beach in Thailand, a cabin in the mountains, or just the local coffee shop if that’s your thing. The point is, there are plenty of authors making a living writing fiction. People like Mark Dawson, Derek Murphy, and myself are making enough from our fiction that we are free to travel the world, and guess what… The best thing is we make money while we travel.
I spent last month touring Europe while my books were busy making money for me!
Am I telling you this to brag? Not at all. Is this some cheesy sales pitch? Just pay me three easy installments of $99.99 and I’ll tell you the secret to making money from home! Nope. No sales pitch. And there is no secret. Any author who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you something or trying to sell you something. The only thing you need is a halfway decent book with a professional cover. That’s it!
Seriously, if you want to finally quit your soul-sucking day job and start making money as an author, you need to write a good book, get a professional cover, (don’t forget editing) and put the thing on the internet. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Will you be an overnight success and make millions? I sure hope so, but more likely you’ll be like myself, John D. Patten, and a host of other authors. None of us were overnight successes. But we keep plugging away at our craft, honing our ability to tell a good story with each new book, and every book adds to the bottom line.
Think of your books like products (because that’s exactly what they are). Most retail stores don’t have just one product. Does Levi have more than one style of jeans? You bet. Does Black and Decker have more than one hammer for sale? Of course. Both Levi and Black and Decker understand that you can’t make a fortune with a single product. You need a whole line of products.
As an author, you are essentially a business man or woman. If you’ve only got one product for sale, you are probably going to be living in your parent’s basement and eating ramen noodles. People who try to get rich quick in publishing, usually fail. Think of your books as a future investment and play the long game.
I’ll break this down for you in terms of sheer numbers: In March, on average, I made about $7.50 a day from the sale of my first book, NOBLE MAN. Now, I know what you’re thinking, you can’t quit your job on a measly $7.50 a day.
Don’t be so sure.
At $7.50 a day x 30, I net about 225 from the sale of my first book per month. You may be thinking that you still can’t live on that. But I take a long view of things. That’s $225 dollars every month for the foreseeable future.
Then I add book number two. Priced at 2.99, I get a larger portion of profits and with my monthly sales, the net from NOBLE VENGEANCE is around $1800.00 a month!
See how quickly things add up?
Book number three averaged around 100 sales a day in March and netted me about $3,000 dollars. That brings my income for that month to over five grand! Could you quit your job for five thousand dollars a month?
Some of you are already super excited. But some people are probably thinking that still isn’t enough. Well, it gets better. If your books are in Kindle Unlimited (and they absolutely should be), you also get paid for page reads. To break it down for you, every page read nets me .003 cent per page. Before you turn your nose up at .003 cents, understand that I had nearly a million page reads in the month of March. My income from Kindle Unlimited alone totaled over five thousand dollars. (Page reads add up quick when you have three books at 400 pages each). So my take home for March was over $11,000 dollars.
What started out as $225 dollars a month from one book quickly snowballed into over ten thousand dollars of monthly income. And believe me when I tell you, if I can do it so can you. Just ask some of my critics. They’ll tell you that if a no-talent hack like me can do it then anyone can!
And here’s the thing. I’m not alone. There are thousands of authors making the same or even better. Again, I’m not trying to sell you a marketing or writing course. I’m trying to encourage all of those authors with one book out, who are feeling like they are wasting their time. If you love writing and it’s really what you want to do with your life, DON’T GIVE UP! Write book number two. And then number three. Every book you write adds to your bottom line.
While we are on the subject, my first book, NOBLE MAN, didn’t start selling well until number two hit the market. Why? Simple really. Readers like series. They like knowing that there is another book waiting if they enjoyed the first. So dig deep, create an interesting main character(s), and give the readers great stories that they can get lost in for a while. Because in the end: you are a business man or woman. Readers are your customers. Give the readers what they want. It’s that simple.
I really hope this post encourages you. If you are a writer and struggling to get that first book published, reach out. Get in touch. There is a whole community of writers out there who are ready and willing to share their knowledge. Get plugged in.
Need a professional cover? Contact me.
Always wanted to write a book, but not sure how to start? Check out Crafting Fiction, Volume 1: Hard-Boiled Outlines.
