By: Ashley Shannon
When I was a kid, we were pretty poor. Not quite living-on-welfare poor, but my mother was a single mom raising four kids on her own and working as a school cafeteria lady. We didn’t have much, and what we did have was spread pretty thin to make sure that all four of us girls got what we needed.
In order to get anything special — a candy bar, or a new book — I had to learn to save money. If I wanted to buy a new book, then I would have to fight my urge of instant gratification to hop on my bike and ride down to the tiny gas station on the corner to buy a Cherry Mash candy bar.
As important as saving my money was, collecting it was even more important.
My mother didn’t believe in paying children for chores but sometimes would offer me a dollar here or there for extra work like watching my siblings or helping with yard work. I cherished those dollar bills as if they were hundreds and tucked them away in a coffee can I used as my savings account.
But because money was always so tight, it wasn’t often my mother would offer to hand out extra dollars, so I was left to my own devices. Too young to get a real job, I walked our neighbor’s dog, picked up cans discarded along the roads of our tiny town, and made a habit of picking up every penny I saw lying on the ground.
Every penny, dime, and nickel I collected went into my jar, to wait until I reached my goal.
Creating an income from writing is a lot like collecting pennies.
I often coach writers who are making zero income from writing but want to start making a thousand dollars or more in their first thirty days. I’m not saying it is impossible, but it is a bit impractical. Because it is such a significant goal, writers often get discouraged and give up, having only made a few dollars and unaware of the next steps.
As a kid, if I would have set out to collect all the money I needed to buy a hardback copy of my favorite book, Gone with the Wind, in one day, I would have been sorely disappointed. Even at a young age, I knew that there was no way I could pick up enough cans and pennies to reach my goal in a single day or even week.
But that didn’t mean I stopped picking up pennies.
When it comes to making money as a writer, the name of the game is multiple income streams.
Finding a single writing job or outlet that will pay you twenty-five dollars seems challenging when you’re starting from nothing. Doesn’t it seem more manageable to find one thing to write that will make you five dollars? Whether it is a paid newsletter, blog post, product description, or something else?
Writing a short story about a character in the novel you haven’t finished yet could be the first step. Spend a few days writing and editing it and sell it to your newsletter list. If you charge one dollar, I bet you have five fans of your writing that would buy it. That is your first five dollars.
Joining an online challenge like the Blog Your Own Book Challenge in August could give you two more income streams. During August, writers are banding together to write a blog post each day on a single topic. At the end of the month, each writer’s posts will be put together into an ebook to sell. That means the writers will be earning income from the blog posts themselves and the book’s sales.
The above examples are only a few ways that every writer could make five dollars.
The idea of making your first twenty-five dollars as a writer can be daunting when you don’t know where to start. Like any goal, it is easier to work towards when you break it down into smaller parts.
Sit down and make a list of every single way you can make money from writing.
Don’t skip a single thing. Write down every single idea that pops into your head. Don’t stop until you hit ten or fifteen, don’t erase or cross items out. Every concept you write down is a possible way you can make money.
Dive into your skills beyond writing.
Are you good at copy-editing? What about writing content for social media posts? Can you write poetry or personal essays and put them together in an ebook? Have you looked into freelancing or creating an ad to write for people on Fivver?
There are thousands of ways to make money as a writer, and as you start to brainstorm a few ideas, more will come.
Keep your list handy. Even if it is filled with wild ideas you aren’t sure you will ever do, having the options to look into will always benefit you when building your online income from writing.
Creating an online income takes time and patience.
Building an income from writing will never happen overnight. It takes forming a plan and looking at all of the different ways you can make a small amount of money from your writing.
Sometimes, it feels like I’m still collecting pennies like I did when I was a kid. I’ll publish a blog post, and it will make twenty or thirty cents on its first day. But that is thirty pennies, and every penny adds up. As adults, we often want things to happen as quickly as possible; but having the mindset of a child working towards a goal will get you much further than the stress and pressure of trying to reach a giant objective. Start small and celebrate every bit of earnings.
Creating multiple income streams that bring in a few dollars here to start with, and a few more that bring in a few dollars there will add up over time. If you are passionate, dedicated, and patient, you’ll be a working writer with a substantial income.
Every writer could use a little guidance, especially when just starting. If you are interested in learning about creating more income streams and working remotely, check out this free webinar on how to start building an income from your writing.