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How can a professional author transition to make money online?

by MChai
10 replies
Not me --my sister. She started in local print journalism, then national magazine articles. Broke into children's fiction, fantasy stuff (preceded JK Rowling but not matched the sales!), then she went into travel writing --think of the most prestigious printed travel guides, she's at the top of the tree in that field, but she has to pay all her travel expenses herself and the royalties are so low it's a tough life. She has a hole in her roof and the rain's coming in, no cash to fix it.

I'd like her to write content for my niche sites, I'm sure she can do better than that though! She's proven herself in the print game, so her content must be good right? Appreciate your ideas, or PM if you know how to use a proven published author...
#author #make #money #online #professional #transition
  • Profile picture of the author Bluestarace
    She could offer ghost writing services and provide content for websites or blogs. She could also do some kindle publishing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by MChai View Post

    I'd like her to write content for my niche sites, I'm sure she can do better than that though!
    I found that owning my own niche sites and writing all the content for syndication to promote them was the highest-paid form of writing I could do (that I was willing to do). For a professional writer, it's a particularly appropriate and very profitable way to make a living.

    I found it incomparably better, in the long run, than "writing articles for others", because it's your own business you're building up, rather than getting $100/$150/whatever per article (for an article that may take you 3 - 4 hours to write, which really isn't such a great rate of pay for an educated, professional person) from customers who then use the article to make their livings instead. Not to mention the fact that you don't even have to find the customers, if you do that instead!

    Originally Posted by MChai View Post

    She's proven herself in the print game, so her content must be good right?
    We're assuming that, certainly. But maybe not much of an assumption? She'll quickly be able to learn how to write articles that ezine publishers and webmasters are willing to syndicate? And she already knows how to get articles into print media, so she should be well away, there.

    She'll need to learn how to be an article marketer, but one heavily dependent on her writing skills - not nearly as bad a learning curve as many people have with this stuff.

    See if she wants to have a long, slow, careful read through the posts linked to here? Those should be enough to give her the flavor and decide whether it's something she'd like to do?
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    • Profile picture of the author MChai
      I'd love to show her Clickbank and see her reaction! You won't see nothing but a dusty blur zooming to the far horizon!

      I showed her what I was up to with my article writing, it was like I trod dog doo all over her living room carpet

      I get what you guys are saying, but these are new and frightening concepts for a dead tree writer. It's a different world (Cambridge graduate, she deals with editors and publishers from the same milieu). I sound like a real snob I'm sure, but have you tried showing a non IM person <edit: I mean a fancy pants writer> money pages and got a positive reaction?

      I would recommend her to start a travel blog for starters but she is worried about her contract with her publisher...
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by MChai View Post

        It's a different world (Cambridge graduate, she deals with editors and publishers from the same milieu).
        So did I. I've done freelance editorial work for "University Presses" and academic journals, have a first-class honours degree, and am currently a PhD student. What does any of that have to do with what we're talking about?

        Originally Posted by MChai View Post

        I sound like a real snob I'm sure
        No, I'm afraid you just sound like someone whose opinion of "ClickBank products" is a prejudiced one.

        Rightly or wrongly, I suspect from your comment that you may be thinking only of the hyped-up crap in the "Make Money Online" and "IM Advice" niches and ignoring about 298 other niches. Well, you know your sister better than I do, but I was in exactly her position (a highly educated professional writer with no money) and am now earning far more than anyone else with whom I was at university, and I'm wondering whether maybe your sister would be a little more open-minded than yourself, if you give her the opportunity rather than "reacting for her" in advance on the basis of your own impressions? I'd say, if she's the one with holes in her roof and the rain coming in, that it's her call. I'd be happy to try to steer her in the right directions, if you want to put her in touch with me. Just a suggestion, of course ...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Good travel writers are in demand on elance and other freelance sites but as she has written children's books and, especially, fantasy...I'd think she's a good fit to write books for Amazon Kindle. Quite a few authors who couldn't get published in the print world are doing exceedingly well on Kindle.

        She could also have sites where she promotes her own books and specialized in the niches she writes about.
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          An option to consider would be to use a pen name which many writers do, especially within multiple genres/niches. In addition, accomplished writers can leverage their skills by writing for a wide variety of paid publications such as are listed in Writers' Market. Most offline publications have online components, which can be extremely effective for optionally generating traffic to relevant affiliate products. With some research and perhaps a bit of an attitude adjustment, such writing skills are transferable to many different flavors mixed within free lance writing and online affiliate marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author MChai
    Alexa,

    Sorry - I am putting words in her mouth I am bang out of order for doing so, it reflects on where I'm at, clinging to the bottom rung of the content ladder - that's me though!

    I can send you a list of published works so you see she's got an incredible work ethic and a solid background of quality work going back over ten years.

    It just makes me want to weep that she's written so many thousands of words with meticulous research for such little payback, and I think about what could have been done with that all that work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MChai View Post

      I can send you a list of published works so you see she's got an incredible work ethic and a solid background of quality work going back over ten years.

      It just makes me want to weep that she's written so many thousands of words with meticulous research for such little payback, and I think about what could have been done with that all that work.
      Not questioning it at all - but that's "academic writing" for you, isn't it? I have no brother, myself, but I do appreciate your vicarious frustration about her situation.

      But one way or another, if she's able and willing to make the transition to writing "marketing material" (note: I'm not suggesting she should write "sales copy"!), she may be able to earn a lot of money from it - this is all I'm saying. There are plenty of perfectly good and respectable and decent products available online, which she could promote if she wishes to, you know?

      Personally, coming from "a very similar educational background to her own" (I think), I suspect that affiliate marketing may actually be a much better fit for her than "writing her own e-books and trying to sell them", but I do recognise that that's very likely to be the popular advice from others here.
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  • Profile picture of the author vgvetter
    ebooks are where it's at for a person with your sister's credentials.

    Self publish, automatic distribute, high royalty, ... website not required. No rejections unless it's because of formatting errors.

    Check into Smashwords for a package that covers everything but Amazon which you can cover directly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Krisz Rokk
    Paid press releases. There are tons of online businesses who need expertise in writing catchy press releases.
    E-Books for kids, fantasay, travelling - she could sell these on Amazon, eBay, Clickbank.
    Than there's oDesk and Elance in case she wants to write blog posts, articles, that kind of stuff
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