I sold my first short story way back in the 1970s. At the time, I wrote the stories for fun. Publication was a challenge. There were few high-paying markets, and even fewer writers could make anything like a living at it. The stories taught me a lot however, and by 1980s, I achieved a multi-book contract for a series of romance novels.
A few years after that, I stopped writing fiction. It wasn’t worth the hassle — I foolishly signed several bad contracts, due to the efforts of a couple of New York literary agents. For the next couple of decades, I focused on various forms of writing which paid well (any form of writing which paid well, really): ghostwriting, writing for magazines, writing business books, and copywriting.
Writing fiction seemed to be a luxury I couldn’t afford. Then the world changed.
The Kindle arrives
In 2007, Amazon sold its first Kindle, and the world changed completely for writers. The gatekeepers were gone.
These days, it’s not only possible to make a living writing fiction, you can make a WONDERFUL living.
This week, our theme on our freelance writing blog is writing short material.
Our first article on this theme is “Writing Short: Short Material Sells, So Write It”:
You can make more money writing short material than you can writing longer material.
Let’s say you decide to write one short story a week. If you were to write 20 stories, one a week over the next five months, you’d have 20 short stories selling for $2.99 on Amazon’s Kindle bookstore.
Keep an eye on the blog, and subscribe to the freelance writing ezine, if you love the idea of making more money for every word you write.
NEW – “Fiction Fiesta: Write Short Kindle Fiction For Fun and Profit” – coaching workshop
Discover how to write short stories FAST. Write a short story a day, or a week, to build an ever-increasing income stream with the writing you do in your spare time. As your coach, I’ll guide and inspire you. Exercises will build your confidence. Your exercises will grow into stories you can publish.
Can YOU write short stories? Yes you can. You’ll love the Fiction Fiesta coaching workshop – it’s fun and easy.