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 books into readers hands.

The key is they know how.

I said yesterday in my blog that I figured there were a good twenty more ways besides the standard wide channels (that must be in place) to get books to readers. And those ways, call them cash streams, really add up. And I said I wasn’t including licensing deals like with movies or television streaming or games. Those licenses will come, but I was only talking about what a writer can control and do themselves.

And build themselves.

So I got a few comments and three letters asking me how, or talking about one way or another. Huge topics to just help writers understand the concepts of some of this. And some things, I must be honest, Kris and I have wanted to do for years and are finally, now that we don’t have help holding us back, are getting to.

I could make a list here of ways, but the list would mean nothing. For example, one person in the comments mentioned direct sales at conventions and book fairs. Sure. in six years during Pulphouse Publishing days, we made between $150,000 and $250,000 per year selling at conventions. It can be done, but you have to know what you are doing, understand the time and expenses, and like that sort of thing.

Information, knowledge, understanding on so many of these other methods can make or break your publishing and writing life. I have one friend in the early 1990s who did really well selling books at stores and conventions and destroyed his entire career in the process.

So Kris and I are thinking of doing another seminar. (Yeah, I know I swore we would never do another.) This topic needs the space and the room to inform writers about ways to make money with their writing, so each writer can make decisions on what is best for them.

It would be four weeks long, have five videos per day, so over 100 videos, all on ways to make more money with your writing and get you to $40,000 per year. Again, all in your control. And it would have four webinars for discussions and questions. (Basically the standard format we have done for seminars before. And no credits or subscriptions if we decided to do it. Limit to 25 writers)

It would start after Kris’s challenge in mid August and go to mid-September and there would be no assignments. Just go through it at your own pace and the webinars would be recorded.

And it would cover the 18-25 extra ways to make money with your writing, in enough detail that you could make decisions about it. And maybe make enough to get to $40,000 per year and more in time.

A seminar is just about the only way we can cover this huge topic clearly and help some writers. So we are thinking about it. Kris thinks we should do it, I am hesitating. Granted, it would be a ton of fun for me and more than likely focus me and Kris on a few areas on our list to do next.

So we shall see. Stay tuned.