As an author, you probably not only want to write, but you also want to make money from your writing.
If you just want to write and have no interest in generating income, this post is probably not for you. However, if you want to make a living writing, read on.
The first thing to do is realize that there are many ways an author can earn money from their writing. Selling books is obviously one way, but not the only one.
You also have opportunities through talks, consulting, coaching, and information products.
To be clear, these opportunities are more available to nonfiction writers than fiction writers. However, there are a variety of ways that fiction writers can generate income as a branch of their books. To be clear, for this post, I will focus on nonfiction authors.
Book sale
Obviously, book sales are the first level of income for an author. Amazon is one of the most obvious. But it takes more than just having your book listed on Amazon. To increase sales, you need to drive traffic to your Amazon listing.
There are many ways to do this, including blogging about the book, interviews, article marketing, and social media posts.
Driving traffic is an ongoing process. The more consistent you are, the more sales you will make. They are simple math.
Opportunities to speak
Many authors, including myself, make a lot of money from our lectures. There are paid and unpaid opportunities. Paid commitments can be the direct result of a meeting planner or decision maker reading your book., review your website and your online presence, which makes them contact you.
Other speaking opportunities may not be paid engagements, such as at the local chamber of commerce, but you are invited to sell books and make other offers. You can earn hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on the back of room sales.
However, you need to know how to bid. This is a skill and an art unto itself. Take the time to learn how to do it and you will NEVER have to wonder how to make money anymore.
Consultant
As an author, you are considered an authority and influencers. Use this to your advantage.
Suppose you write about team building and a company manager reads your book because he needs team building solutions. If your book offers a great solution, they may contact you for information on your consulting services.
To optimize your chances of having an initial conversation, make sure your website provides a list of services.
Training
As with talking and consulting, coaching opportunities often come from those who read your books.
As a coach, it is recommended to be specific in the type of training you do. Simply listing “coach” or “life coach” rarely makes someone jump for joy that they found it. The more specific you are, the better. After all, if someone needs a presentation coach, that’s exactly what they’ll be looking for below.
Some different types of trainers are:
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Financial coach
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Coach performance
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Coach presentation
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Book writing coach
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Executive Instructor
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Health coach
Take the time to clearly define your experience. You will get a much higher result.
Information Products
Information products can be an incredible opportunity to generate income.
If you have yet to create information products based on your book’s topic, this may be the first area to consider increasing your income.
conclusion
The conclusion is the following; There are incredible opportunities for authors to earn a living from their writing. I’ve been doing it for years.
The fact that any author says they cannot make a living from their writing probably means they are not considering the many options.
Plan the various ways you can generate income, come up with a plan on how to generate traffic, and work with your plan.