How I'm Planning to Make More Income From My Writing

Last week I took some time out to look at where I'm going with my writing this year.

I've been busily working away for weeks when I suddenly realised that I forgot where I was headed with everything.

You see, I always like to have a plan so that I know what I'm doing because if I don't stay on track, I'll get lost and forget my goals.

So one evening a couple of weeks ago, I sat down for a few hours and went through and updated my writing plans for the year.

It took longer than I thought and also took much more thinking too.

And below are 5 things that I looked at and made a few changes to make sure that I'm always working towards my writing goals and my income goals.

1. Revised my earning rate. I took a look at how much I'm earning compared to how much I want to earn this year. That helped me to look more closely at what I could do to make sure I reached my income target. One of the things was to only write for higher-paying freelance markets and not waste time on lower-paying gigs. I want to earn a minimum of $50/hour from any freelance work I do.

2. Worked on my editorial calendar. I also looked at what I've been doing so far this year and what I still needed to do as well as what I have to do to make sure I stay on track of everything I want to write and publish. If you don't have an editorial calendar, my advice would be to not only get one but make sure you stick to it.

3. Revised my weekly marketing plan. We all know that marketing can be more important than writing, that's why I always market my websites, books and affiliate products. Marketing has to be not only weekly but consistent for it to work.

4. Do more training. As you probably already know, I'm trying to learn more about being a marketer and studying books, audios and DVDs. It's a lot to work through and I realised that I needed to set aside time every week so that I can do it more often, instead of whenever I can find the time.

5. Take more chill time. Sometimes, well all the time actually, I find it hard to just sit and do nothing. But taking more downtime is necessary because of all work and no play, etc. So I sorted through all my books and put some that I want to read first, in a drawer, and I've started taking time out to sit and read every week. And it actually feels really good to do it.

So far it's working for me and I believe it can work for you too.

If you're having trouble staying on track with your writing goals, or you don't have any goals or you want to earn more money from your writing, try doing what I did and take some time out to look at the bigger picture of what you want to achieve.

Know how much money you want to make this year, decide how you're going to do it, design your editorial calendar, have a rigid marketing plan, learn whatever it is you need to know but you don't already know, and take some well-earned chill out time.

Then get back to writing.

Why is Writing Always Harder Than It Looks?

"Easy reading is damned hard writing." ~ R L Stevenson

Sometimes I have a brilliant idea about something I want to write.

In my head I see it as amazing and writing it is going to be a dream.

Yet the reality is far from the dream.

I find that even though the idea seemed simple in my head, it's a lot harder to write about it.

The reason for this is because it's much more difficult to write out a description clearly, to really go into the detail of describing what it looks like or how to do something.

That's why instruction books for new appliances are so big. There probably isn't much to know, and to use the appliance isn't hard, but the description in the manual of how to use it seems convoluted.

Recently I bought a new toaster oven. It's simple to operate but the instruction book had such detailed information about what each setting was for and how to set it, that it took a lot of reading.

Yet to use the oven is simple. Just turn it to the correct setting (grill, bake, pizza, toast, etc), adjust the time and oven temperature if needed, press 'start' and voilà.

But the written instructions of how to do it went on for page after page.

And it can also seem like this when you're writing.

The thing you want to write about is simple, but the actual writing is not as easy.

You might be able to see the expression on the face of your character, but describing it to your reader is difficult.

Or you might want to describe how to use a piece of software or a website, but it takes much more writing to describe it, especially when you can't point to the bit you're talking about or use hand gestures to help you to explain something. When all you've got is written words, it can seem daunting.

But never get discouraged when writing about something turns out to be much harder than the idea you could see in your head.

I always find that a detailed outline/blueprint of what I want to write about helps to keep my writing flowing.

It's far better than the dreaded blank page.

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Which Books Sell More, Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Last time we looked at which is easiest to write, fiction or non-fiction.

And today I we'll look at which books sell more, fiction or non-fiction?

And as previously, I can only speak from my own experience.

My fiction novels have been selling for years, both my horror novel, Playing for Real (http://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/PFR.html) and my romance book, Stand By Me http://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/SBM.html). My third novel, Two Weeks in Corfu, is still in draft mode and going through the editing stage.

Of my two published novels, they both sell a few dozen copies each week. I'm not sure of the exact amount because I rarely, if ever, check my online accounts (I have a bookkeeper for that).

As to my non-fiction books, I make fewer sales, maybe even half the amount of my fiction book sales. In the beginning, my non-fiction books start with high sales but soon settle down after a few weeks/months into regular lower sales.

The reason for the high sales in the beginning is probably because I find it easier to market them and often my marketing begins long before the books are published so that by the time each one is available for sale, I have people waiting to buy copies. I also sell them at an early discount for my subscribers which also helps to boost sales.

But even though I sell more fiction books than non-fiction books, it doesn't necessarily mean that I make less money from non-fiction sales. Far from it.

This is because my non-fiction books sell for much higher prices than my fiction books. Sometimes over 10-times more. The reason for this is because the non-fiction subjects are worth more because the reader can use the information to make money, so the book is really an investment.

So in my experience, I currently make more sales from my fiction books, but more money from my non-fiction books. Perhaps it would be different if I'd written many more fiction books.

What I do know is that to be able to write a lot of fiction, you must be an avid reader of fiction.

I myself read more non-fiction books than fiction, which probably explains why I prefer to write non-fiction.

So write whichever you prefer.

Just write a lot of books.

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Fiction or Non-Fiction: Which is Easiest to Write?

As you know, I've recently finished writing a first draft manuscript of my latest novel.

It's only my third attempt at writing fiction as I'm usually a non-fiction writer.  And I have to say that writing fiction is a lot different to writing non-fiction and in so many ways.

So I was thinking; which is the easiest to write? Fiction or non-fiction?

And these are my thoughts from my own experience:

To write fiction isn't as easy as most people think.

Before I even attempt to begin writing, I first have to plan out my characters, including their backgrounds, their appearance (including the way they dress and present themselves), their fears and their wants. The main character usually has to have a flaw or two that they have to overcome in some way.

As well and the main characters, I also have to plan out all the minor characters who have small, but significant parts to play in the story. So I need to know them well including their looks and personalities.

And then I have to figure out the main plot and the subplots which all has to lead to a satisfactory ending. To begin with, I don't need to know exactly how it will all lead to the end, only that it will.

I then have to pull it all together in a timeline of events, making sure that it all runs smoothly and avoid things like characters knowing about something before they should, and figuring out how they get to know things and when. Creating a good outline and blueprint is where my imagination really kicks in to help the story unfold.

For non-fiction, most of what I write is what I already know about, but it still takes quite a bit of figuring out because knowing something, and explaining it in writing, are two completely different things.

I also need to do some research to make sure of my facts, and to find out anything I don't already know, and to find other people's view on the subject just to make sure I'm not missing something.

Then I plan out the chapters I need to include and the correct order to write them in plus break them down into different topics within those chapters too.

So, for me, writing non-fiction is easier, but mainly because I'm writing about subjects I already know a lot about. No doubt it would be different if I had to write about a completely new subject, although I'd still handle it in the same way except that I'd need to do much more research.

Which means that whether fiction or non-fiction is easier to write, depends on the author.

And we all know what kind of books we like to write.

It's really down to having to discipline to sit down and do it.

The next question is which books sell more, fiction or non-fiction?

Which is what we'll look at next.

----------

Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less. 
Laid out in an easy to follow style and suitable for writing fiction and non-fiction. Just follow the advice as you go through the course and by the end, you’ll have your manuscript written.

http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html