Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Get Paid To Write Fiction For Clients

And make no mistake: there are BIG profits to be made in publishing fiction today. Novels which make the Top 10 in Kindle Best Sellers can make five figures daily.

I just checked today’s stats on the current Amazon top sellers. The novel, Unspeakable Things, which is due to be published on January 1, is currently ranked the top seller in the overall Kindle Store. It’s also the top seller in three Kindle sub-categories.

(A tip when checking rankings on Amazon: Amazon updates the rankings hourly.)

Published by one of Amazon’s imprints, Unspeakable Things is estimated to be earning $19,000 daily, and almost half a million dollars a month.

via medium.com

Publishing A Book?

Your book publishing choice today: establishment or indie?

Today, authors have a choice.

You can go the establishment route:

• Acquire a literary agent;
• Wait for the agent to shop your book around publishing houses; and eventually, you hope…
• Get a publishing contract.

Alternatively, you can do it yourself. Publish your own books. Take your own risks, and make money. Or not.

It’s a difficult choice to make.

via medium.com

NaNoWriMo Is Over: What Now?

You wrote a NaNoWriMo novel: kudos to you

Take a moment right now to congratulate yourself on your accomplishment — you wrote a novel. Yes, congratulate yourself even if you haven’t finished the novel.

How to proceed if you haven’t finished your novel

As we’ve said, the “I hate my novel” emotion is common. You’ve lost your inspiration, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t return. It may do. You may get a flash of insight, and complete the rest of the novel easily.

Where are you in the novel? Most writers hit a wall about three or four chapters in. Grit your teeth, and write. Nine times out of ten, when you force yourself, you’ll become interested in your story again.

via medium.com

Writing On Medium

What I’ve noticed a week after consistent writing on Medium

Becoming familiar with writing on Medium was my focus this week. Although I’ve had a Medium account for years, I haven’t posted there consistently.

I write all my blog posts in Ulysses; the app does a wonderful job of posting. BTW, If you’d like to use the Ulysses app, or Byword, or iA Writer to post to Medium, you’ll need to request an integration token from Medium’s developers.

via www.angelabooth.com

Choose Your Freelance Income In 2020

I surprised her when I suggested that by doing a few things differently, she can double her income in 2020.

Earn more: choose your own freelance income

We’re living in a golden age for writers and other creative folk: we have many more opportunities today. But we need to be proactive, to make make the most of our opportunities.

I suggested to my student that what she earned was up to her. In effect, she could choose her own income as a freelancer.

She stared at me for a moment. Then she smiled. “I never thought of looking at it that way.”

Let’s look at how you can increase your income next year too.

via medium.com

10 Ways to Sell More Books When Your Marketing Budget is Zero

2. Use your book’s backmatter for subtle promotion.

Your book’s backmatter, the last few pages of your book, contains opportunities to sell more. You can:

– Add a link to your website, along with the link to your mailing list’s subscriber page. (Note: Never be shy about asking your readers to send you a review of your book to publish!)
– Add cover images and short descriptions of your other books
– Add your contact info. and descriptions of other services you might offer if you are a freelancer
– Write a friendly (short) letter to readers to inform them about upcoming books.

3. Cross-promote with other authors in your genre.

Network with other authors in your genre or category, and then suggest cross-promotions. Pair up with another author to promote the author’s latest book to your email list and social media accounts while he or she does the same for you.

Your authors’ group can also publish free holiday-themed collections of stories as a group-wide promotion! The collection can include links to each author’s book.

via writersweekly.com

Improve Your Fiction: Novellas And The Story Question

The story question is the beating heart of your fiction.

It keeps readers reading. Readers know how important his goal is to your main character, so they want to know whether he’ll win through.

Often, you’ll hear literary critics bleating about how badly written a bestselling novel is. When you analyze such a widely-panned novel, you realize the author established the story question EARLY and narrative drive compelled readers to tear through the novel.

Critics lashed Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. They screamed “drivel” into the void; readers just wanted to know: what happens next?

You establish your novella’s story question when your character decides on his goal and you (and he) realize how all-important it is.

via www.angelabooth.com

Write, Even If You Think You Can’t

Yes, you CAN write: kick minor blocks out of the way

Let’s look at ways to deal with minor blocks.

1. Get input: learn something, or do something

You write, write, write… and then you stop. You have nothing to say. This happens to bloggers. It’s easy to feel that you’ve said all you have to say on a subject. You just don’t want to think about the topic again.

You need input.

Learn something new. It doesn’t matter much what that something is. Anything you’re learning will kick your brain cells awake.

If you’re writing fiction, at some stage (for me it’s page 100), you’ll hit the wall. You decide your plot is ridiculous, your characters are worthless cardboard and you’d rather be dead.

via medium.com

Fiction Authors Are Liars

Writers of crime fiction, historicals, science fiction and fantasy are all writing based on their imagination. They start with reality and transform it. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, you may know that George R.R. Martin’s epic is based on the history of the War of the Roses.

George R.R. Martin is a genius. He’s taken dry-as-dust English history and turned it into wonderful entertainment, via the magic of his imagination.

Fiction authors are liars who tell the truth

Readers read fiction to learn about people — about themselves. In novels, fictional people might be in the form of robots or rabbits (Watership Down), but the robots and rabbits react to circumstances in a way readers can understand.

via medium.com

3 Ways To Start A Story Which Sells

BTW, I don’t unpublish any of the short stories after I publish the collection. Moreover, I publish the collection immediately after I publish the final story in the series.

Here’s why I do this: impact — I find that I sell more this way. (Your mileage may vary.)

Let’s look at some easy ways to start a short story.

1. Create a main character: your hero, or heroine

You may be inspired by someone you know, someone in the news, or even by a character in a book.

Alternatively, close your eyes, and see what your imagination tosses at you. Say to yourself: “I need someone to write about…”

An image of a person will appear… and hey presto, you have a character.

via www.angelabooth.com

Freelancer? Get Paid More, More Often

If you want to get hired more often by great companies and publications, put some effort into getting them to know and remember you.

The killer mistake: thinking that asking once is enough

Asking once isn’t enough.

Put yourself in your client’s position. (This applies to past, current and prospective clients.) Your client is busy, above all. He may or may not see your message. If he sees it, he thinks: “I’ll get in touch later.”

Then you’re forgotten.

Create a follow-up workflow for clients and colleagues and act on it. (There’s a sample workflow below.)

You need a workflow to help you to follow up

I keep my follow-up strategies in Trello, so I can see what I need to do at a glance.

via medium.com

Two Abilities You Need For Writing Success

Over many years of writing and mentoring beginning writers, I’ve found that two abilities are vital. New writers who have these two abilities succeed.

They are:

• The ability to write consistently, even though you’re anxious and filled with doubt;
• The ability to bounce back: to mourn what didn’t work, then keep going.

Let’s see how these abilities work in practice.

1. Write every day (as soon as you can. It seems impossible in the beginning)

I know you’ve heard “write every day” before, but it’s more than a cliche.

via medium.com

Can You Make Money Writing On Medium?

Can you make money writing on Medium?

If you explore Medium, you’ll find lots of posts from writers who make an income on Medium:

I originally wrote this post in February 2019. It’s November 2019 now — a year since the month when I made $180. I’m on track to earn $10,000 from Medium this month. I did make more than $9,000 in October. That was up from over $6,000 in September.

Medium’s benefits: it’s a pleasure to read

What are the benefits of publishing on Medium? Opinion’s divided among writers.

Here’s what I like: the site is a pleasure to read because it isn’t flooded with advertising.

via www.angelabooth.com

Your Freelance Business: My Best Advice

I’ve been coaching writers for a couple of decades. In all those years, I’ve never found a writer who over-charged. Mostly, they under-charged. Some under-charged so grossly that they were going broke.

Here’s the thing: your clients will pay you according to the rates you set. Generally speaking, no one wants to cheat you.

When you set your rates, consider:

• Your expenses, including taxes;
• The time you have available to write each day. You have less time than you think. Running your business gobbles up hours each week — you need to manage marketing, client servicing, and more;
• The value you provide to your clients.

via medium.com

Can You Sell Your Blogging Services?

Blogger for hire: what can you offer your clients?

Consider:

• The topics and industries you cover;
• Your social media profiles — how many followers do you have?
• Technical experience. Can you publish a draft post to a WordPress site, with suitable and optimized images?
• Are you au fait with the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Can you research keywords?

Don’t worry about the technical details. Your clients will tell you what they want. Some companies prefer that you submit the content as a DOCX or as a Google Doc, rather than setting you up as a creator on the blog.

via peneloperedmont.com