in this age of the “writer as an entrepreneur” responsible for a growing share of the work required to not only create but also sell a book, adding management skills to our repertoire of abilities is not at all a bad idea.
as launch time approaches, authors get overwhelmed by thinking that they have to do “everything:” Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, ad campaigns, bookstore talks, conference panels, media articles, email newsletters, book clubs…you name it.
Based on our mission and our definition of success, we can then work out a manageable set of steps to take in line with our specific interests and goals. We feel more in control and less anxious about having to “do it all.”
A more viable definition of success does have a quantitative element, but it doesn’t necessarily mean “number of copies sold or dollars earned.” It can mean other measurable outcomes such as landing a teaching job or a column in a respected publication.
How, then, do writing opportunities work?
To be paid for writing, you need to look for a person with two characteristics:
They’ve got money to spare.
They’re looking for writers.
This could be:
A magazine editor who is looking for feature articles.
An aristocrat or multi-billionaire who wants to support the career of an aspiring artist.
A blogger who makes money from advertisements, or from selling information products, but is too busy to do all their blogging themselves.
A book publisher who is looking for the next Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter.
A business owner who needs help from a writer to promote their business.
Do you see where this is going? There are writing opportunities out there, if you know where to look, and if you know the right people.
First, the more money a potential client has, the more they’ll be willing to pay you. Bloggers and content creators don’t typically earn much money from advertising. That’s why revenue sharing sites, which share advertising revenue with writers in exchange for content, often pay a relatively low rate. Magazine editors and book publishers are somewhere in the middle. They pay reasonably well, but they’re looking for extremely high quality, so you’ve got to be real good to get their attention. Business owners who have a steady income usually pay the most generous fees to writers. Businesses have a budget for marketing, so they’ve got cash to splash.