Newspaper and magazine reporters can make a good living but their subject matter is often closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be even more lucrative but even more tightly controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?
Forget all those old-school writing methods and focus on the Internet. Don't write for anyone but yourself. You really can profit from writing only about what interests you. Don't worry about the market or the editors. Write for yourself. Not only will it be more fun and rewarding for your soul but for your checking account as well.
I am going to share an easy (and cheap) 10-step formula that can help you start your own writing business today, but first I want to share one important fact.
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will take some time to earn, perhaps as long as three months to begin turning a profit, but if you keep working at it you should see your income grow exponentially each month and you should be able to count on that income and know what you have to do to increase it. You will have total control over your income and that is very powerful.
1. Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use http://Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your Internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one out of the many available, but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it, but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the Internet and the real reason you want an Internet presence.
2. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate account which will give you immediate access to something to sell.
3. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you'll start earning from visitors as well as customers.
4. Develop your blog. Make 10 your immediate goal then work your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or short stories; or articles.
5. Promote your blog through article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your primarily focus on article marketing as if offers the ability to not only develop links but also delivers traffic plus as a writer it is easy for you to create articles or use a selection of the material you've already created for your blog.
Yes, it really is that simple and while you can later grow by buying your own domain name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not need (and likely should avoid) investing money in expensive tools
Getting started on the web can be free (as you see above) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you really need. The simple truth is that you don't need a lot of fancy, expensive tools and programs. In the long run a domain name is a good investment. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don't need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.
At some point you may decide you want more flexibility and control than a free blog can offer and that is when you will want to run your own site. You can find a good web host for as little as $5 a month and shouldn't pay more than $20 a month for a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site--including blog software. Maybe down the line you'll need to upgrade but by then you'll know your income and your needs.
Really the only other regular expense that you might consider to make your Internet business complete would be a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotion. But this is not necessary to start out and you may decide that it isn't important to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.
Once you have your blog set up and monetized (by offering ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling text links) then you are in a position to begin profiting from your writing. The way to profit it to increase your traffic so you need to get serious about your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute will generate immediate traffic and create back links for search engine optimization. Also you need to continue to grow your blog by adding fresh content regularly. This will create repeat visitors as well as bring the search engines back again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week will increase your traffic. The more articles and entries you create -- the more traffic you will generate.
Once you have found your rhythm with your existing blog you may well decide to branch out and create a second blog on a different or related topic. Now you should be able to work even faster because you are more experienced but likely more motivated as well because you can see just how rewarding it can be to write for fun and profit.
I don't think it is. I reckon you should first of all write about what you ENJOY. Write about what you are enthusiastic about and would like to read about yourself. All the information you need to KNOW can be found with research. The library, your own bookshelf, the Internet (if you're careful), interviewing.
Get a handle on what gives you a lift first. Think about a subject that satisfies you and gives you pleasure to think about. Then find an angle or an aspect of the subject that you haven't read about or that you personally would like to know the answer to. Then get writing.
You should also ask yourself this question: "Do I want to write for fun or do I want to write for funds?" Get your motives sorted before starting to write.
If you say 'funds' then you need to make sure there is a market for what you want to write. Go to references such as the Writers and Artists Yearbook in the UK - every library has one - and spend some time looking through it for a publication that sounds right.
Having found a magazine that looks promising, drop the editor a line, or an email, with your idea and ask if they are interested. Don't be put off by a negative response, just give a mental shrug, take it on the chin and move on to the next magazine. If you continue to draw a blank, then maybe your idea is, shall we say, ahead of its time? Back to the drawing board, then, and work on something else.
When you've got something you're reasonably happy with, take it to your local writers circle and share it there. The other members will give you a fair appraisal of your article or story and may even suggest places to send it to. If there is no writers circle near you try one of the many online circles which can be a great source of help and inspiration, too.
One word of caution: it's probably best not to give it to a friend or relative for an opinion. They will tend to tell you what you want to hear rather than the unvarnished truth, and in any case, do they really have the experience to know what an editor actually wants?
If you're writing for fun, that's great. Keep doing it. Choose a subject that you love and write about it. Whether it's fiction or non-fiction, write something to please yourself.
So keep writing, and then one day you'll have something that suddenly hits you and you'll say, "Hey! This is really good!" That's when you should start thinking about writing for funds!
Finally, remember the ten-minute rule. Every day sit down for just ten minutes and write something. And write about what you enjoy.
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