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Interesting Questions…
BESIDES REGULAR STORE SALES… WHAT TO DO? How to make $40,000 a year regularly with just your writing. But if you are only depending on retail sales like Amazon and D2D and Kobo and such, even if you have far more than 20 books, you won’t make it in 2026. Just the truth. But lots and lots of writers make far past $40,000 per year with just their writing. Actually, far past $100,000 per year. They are not doing ads, not writing that fast or using AI crap, and are not in the cesspool of Amazon Select. They are just building fans, working on their writing craft, and getting their…
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Making 40K With Only Your Writing…
My 20 Books to 50K Post Got Me Some Questions… I tend to use $40,000 instead of $50,000 in any math. Just easier and I know of few writers who would not settle for making $40,000 on their fiction every year. And it is a number that can be grown from. Also a number that will cause you to change your business structure unless you are doing something really stupid like spending 35K to make 40K. The problem is that most of the questions I get about this boils down to: “How?” And that I can’t even begin to answer in five or six emails. Maybe in a three month…
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TWENTY BOOKS… The Reality…
Got A Letter From A Writer with Twenty-One Novels… This writer was making almost nothing and was angry that they had been conned by the twenty books myth. Clearly they thought when they finished and published twenty novels, they would be making $50,000 magically. You remember, the old 20 to 50 conference? And there is truth to the twenty major books exploding the discoverability exponentially. If… And there is truth if you reach that magic twenty number and are doing a bunch of things right, you can make from $40,000 to $80,000 on book sales per year. If you are doing a bunch of things right. Oh, boy… are there…
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Doing the Math…
Deadlines Drive Math… I was working on my challenge on my calendar for deadlines and realized it felt very familiar to me. Very. Took me a little bit to remember that with almost every novel I wrote for traditional publishing under contract, I did the same thing. I would set up when the book had to be turned in under contract. (Never missed a traditional publishing deadline in 106 books.) Then I would circle that date on the calendar and count backwards, doing a rough estimate on how long it would take me to write it. That would get me a start date and then I would mark page count…
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Discoverability is Worthless if You Block Your Sale…
Make Sure Buyers Buy Your Books When They See Them… In other words, don’t do things that will stop readers from buying your book or books when they discover them. I watch writer after writer go to all the work to build discoverability for their work, but then don’t give the reader a clear path to buying their books. The writer literally stops the buyer without even knowing they are doing it. And then they blame their writing or not being able to get discovered, when in reality they are creating roadblocks to anyone trying to buy their book. And just considering what I see on Kickstarters, most writers will…
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I Have Room in My Sales Mentorship…
Make Sure Buyers Buy Your Books… In other words, don’t do things that will stop readers from buying your book or books when they discover them. You go to all the work to build discoverability for your work, but then don’t give the reader a clear path to buying your books. You literally stop them without even knowing you are doing it. That is what my half-year mentorship will make sure you are not doing. I will help you make your covers attractive and branded, I will train you how to write sales copy that will not bore the reader or give the plot away, but make them interested in…
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Titles Do Not Sell Books…
But Indie Writers Love Their Titles… They make them huge on their books and at the top, as if it will help sell the book. Does nothing. Zero. Nada. Flat Nothing. Stephen King tends to be an exception. Readers remember his titles. But I challenge you to think of five Nora Roberts titles or Dean Koontz or five titles from any major writer. You might have a favorite book or two, right? But how do you tell another person about the favorite book? You give the author name first and then the title. Example: “James Lee Burke wrote this fantastic novel called In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead.”…
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Mentorships Still Open
Kickstarter and Sales Mentorships… I mentioned these on Thursday because I had two in both the Kickstarter mentorship and the sales mentorship opening. As of today, I still have one in each mentorship. First come. Write me directly for more information. Kickstarter Mentorship… I have done 60 successful Kickstarters and I will walk you through every step and make sure you fund and also help you fulfill the campaign when over. And then do it again. Two campaigns. Kickstarter can be scary for some, easy once you get going for others. The key is to learn how to do Kickstarters for your fiction that fund and promote your work. So…
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Two Mentorships Available…
Kickstarter and Sales Mentorships… Have not mentioned these in months because I had no room, but now I have two in the Kickstarter mentorship and two in the sales mentorship, both because writers are finishing up. Kickstarter Mentorship… I have done 60 successful Kickstarters and I will walk you through every step and make sure you fund and also help you fulfill the campaign when over. And then do it again. Two campaigns. Kickstarter can be scary for some, easy one you get going for others. The key is to learn how to do Kickstarters for your fiction that fund and promote you work. So you make a little money…
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You Do What You Can Do…
Standing Outside Looking In… So many fiction writers who want to make a living with their fiction feel like they are standing outside a huge house looking in at all the writers making a living and just not know how to get inside. There is no secret other than having fun with your writing. All the writers who are making a living longer term have a few things in common (not the flash-in-the-pan ones who appear and vanish.) They all love to read, love to keep learning, love what they are doing with both the publishing and writing. They are all hungry for knowledge concerning anything to do with writing…