Are there any writers here that make decent money from writing?

Question

What do you write? How did you start?

Answer 1

What do you call decent money? I make a living by writing fiction, but it's not much of a living! I write short stories --- fantasy, SF, literary, mystery, horror. I've written some novels, too, just for the money. For instance, I wrote one of the early Magic: The Gathering novels.

The people who I know who make decent money from fiction writing did so in one of two ways. Terry Brooks just started writing the fantasy novels he wanted to write, and he was very lucky. He had multiple million-copy best-sellers. So write what you love and be lucky, that's one way.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes whatever kind of novels the market seems to demand. She writes SF and fantasy under her own name, mystery novels as Kris Nelscott, and romance novels as Kristine Grayson. She works VERY hard at it, and she makes very good money. I don't doubt that there's some luck in her case, too, but less so than in Terry's case since Kris analyzes the market to determine what kind of book will likely draw a lot of readers. So analyze and work hard is another route. It still requires some luck, I think.

Finally, you can turn to non-fiction writing and make yourself an expert in whatever area looks both lucrative and interesting. Business books are a good bet. So are diet and self-help books, where often the writer partners with a non-writing expert.

In a sense, it doesn't matter how you start, but THAT you start. Start writing book reviews, articles, stories...any sort of short piece according to what you want to write. Get publication credits in smaller magazines at first, then look for better-paying opportunities. Just don't expect to make much at first. The apprenticeship can be long.

Alternatively, you just write your book, read books about publishing, submit your work to agents and publishers, and keep plugging steadily along in the face of disappointments.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Depends on how you define 'decent money'.

The fiction and historical titles I have in print bring in a little. Sale of hardback rights on the non-fiction brought a good bit more.

I've got other long works that have made nothing, though a traditional publisher did attempt to get the rights to it. Careful study of the contract offer zapped the deal.

So, I'll probably go the same route I've taken with other books recently, and I'll probably make a little off it eventually. I explained how that can be done here a couple of days ago:

Self-publishing and easy-access publishing?

You don't have to give the rights to your work away to a traditional publisher for a pittance he'll then attempt to cheat you out of.

You don't have to pay some shark subsidy publisher to handle your work he knows will never make a penny.

You can do it all yourself. You just have to work a lot harder to do it.

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Edited in:

I started writing and selling my work during the 1960s, mainly to magazines. I had lousy experiences with publishers of longer works, and some of the periodical publishers [The Mother Earth News comes to mind] being dreadfully slow to pay, or simply stealing it.

Over the years I've become convinced the only way the average writer can get a fair shake is to by-pass the sharks. They're all circling out there looking for a way to rob a writer of the product of his labors.

Fortunately, there's now a way to do it, thanks to the Internet.

Answer 4

You can make money writing, but everybody's definition of decent money is different. I make money by writing on blogs, working for companies like iwriter.com, and writing short stories. By my definition, I don't make a lot of money, but I use what I do make for groceries and gas. Good luck.

Answer 5

If you're in it just for the money then its not the 'write' thing for you. Of course you can make money from it but you have to start by writing and THEN figure out how to sell it. There are courses on technical writing if thats your thing.

Answer 6

95% of authors have to have a job besides writing. I wrote a teacher's guide and earned $1000.