This is me- the writing goddess Melanie

This is me- the writing goddess Melanie
The writing goddess at leisure

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Write Books You Love. Think Global. Consider Multiple Streams Of Income | The Creative Penn

Write Books You Love. Think Global. Consider Multiple Streams Of Income | The Creative Penn: "Multimedia courses, merchandise and affiliate income

Many non-fiction authors offer multi-media courses through sites like ClickBank or Udemy. The Self-Publishing Podcast guys are now doing this for Write, Publish, Repeat, as is J Thorn, with his Finishing a manuscript in 60 days course. I have been selling courses for the last 4 years but have recently moved away from them to focus on more evergreen products that don’t need updating. I may revisit that decision at some point.

Some authors are also doing merchandise. My favorite example is comic creator and author, XKCD, since my husband has been a fan for years and has lots of his t-shirts. Hugh McLeod has a similar model at GapingVoid with Motivational Art for Smart People – brilliant branding!

Lawyer and indie commentary blog, The Passive Voice, now has a good selection of pithy t-shirts as well. I’ve had a look at Zazzle before and have thought about a ‘creative’ range – this is something I am certainly considering but the quality needs to be good. [I’d love to hear about other merchandising examples or service providers that you think are good for authors. Please do leave a comment below.]

If you have a content-rich website with decent traffic, you can make an income stream through affiliate links, which is a commission payment on sales. I have a small income stream from this method, but I am scrupulous about only recommending things I both use and am happy to recommend.

Currently, I recommend the Learn Scrivener Fast training, Joel Friedlander’s Book Design Templates, Jim Kukral’s Author Marketing Club and I use Amazon affiliate links for books. If you want to look at the affiliate method in detail, I recommend Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog.

Professional speaking and audiobook narration

One of my other primary income streams is professional speaking, which also feeds my travel junkie soul. I’ve written extensively about this in my book, Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives and Other Introverts, if you want to look into that as an option.

In 2015, I will be adding another income stream from audiobook narration. I’ve been podcasting for 5 years now and after narrating my own non-fiction books, I’ll be opening up for royalty share deals with other authors with decent platforms. Audiobook income has been a revelation for me in 2014, and I believe this is a growth market so I want to be involved. I also LOVE the royalty split deals as it means ongoing revenue for the long term, which is what we all want.

There is a technical barrier to entry with this, but if you fancy giving it a go, Audiobooks for Indies by Simon Whistler is a must. You can also listen to the interview with him here on this topic, including the moment I decided to become a narrator!

There are many other creative ways to make money from your skills, from your books and your knowledge. But in the end, it all comes down to creativity. I love all these other ways to make a living but I’m an author first, so I want to …

(3) Write something magnificent

This quote from Penelope Trunk caught my eye in a post about workplace revolution.

“I want to be writing the ideas people read late at night, with a glass of wine, to dull the searing impact of the life they’ve already chosen.”

Personally, I write for those people who are still stuck in the cubicle jobs that I once was. For those people who cry with frustration and unhappiness as I used to. For those who spend their commute plotting escape and their lunch hours reading escapist fiction to get out of their heads for an hour or two.

On my wall I have a sign that says, ‘Create a body of work I am proud of.‘

Yes, I want to make a good living but I don’t want to write books that are a waste of my time and yours. I want you to wake up thinking about something I have written.

I want to keep you up all night.

I want you to remember me when I die."



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