How to Make a Living With Your Writing: Other ways to make money with your writing
In January 2021, I did a survey on author streams of income as research for this Third Edition. While the most common income streams are covered in the previous sections, these are some other ways that writers make money with their words.
You can find a full breakdown of the survey results in Appendix 4.
Grants, endowments, fellowships, prizes, competitions, and other funding
In many countries, there are various funding opportunities available to writers through Arts Councils, author organizations and other government or privately funded options.
Award-winning historical fiction author Melissa Addey completed a creative writing PhD with full funding and runs a course at the British Library in London on applying for grants. She says,
“I’ve been fortunate to have secured £75,000 over five years in different grants, including my PhD. Many writers don’t realize what support there is out there, but it's very much worth understanding the grants available from different sources and spending some time learning how to write a good bid. You won’t always secure the funds, of course, as there is a lot of competition, but there is a spiral of success that happens.
Grant funders tend to look favorably on you the more grants you’ve received, if you can show a return on their investment: that you did something worthwhile and interesting with their money, which took your career to another level. Look out for the Society of Authors who regularly run a ticketed event showcasing available grants, as a good starting point, and if you want to undertake a creative writing PhD, make sure to ask the universities about the funding available.”
Literary prizes and competitions can also bring in income, but of course, applying does not guarantee winning. Some have significant prize money, and many have submission fees. Some are valuable for publishing credit and marketing exposure, and others are a waste of time and not worth the entry fee. There are many lists of prizes and competitions, so evaluate your definition of success and what is worth applying for.
Public Lending Rights and Licensing and Collection Services
Some countries have agencies that provide payment for library lending. This includes Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and many other European countries. Register your work and you’ll receive payment automatically once or twice per year.
Horror and non-fiction author Mark Leslie Lefebvre says, “I’ve long been a fan of multiple streams of income for writers, and one of those important streams in this Canadian author’s life is the annual Public Lending Right check. For the past several years, my annual PLR check has been larger than any single royalty statement from any of the publishers I work with. And every year it keeps growing. In fact, for the past several years, the check was enough to cover the cost of an all-inclusive week-long trip to the Dominican Republic.
A single match on one of my books in a Canadian library earns me about 25 times what I get from a single retail sale through my publisher. If you are an author in a country with a Public Lending Right program and you aren’t registered for it, you’re potentially leaving a significant amount of money on the table.”
Magazines and periodicals — online or printed
Karen Lock Kolp produces a monthly We Turned Out Okay Playbook, a quality printed, subscription-only resource for parents teaching simple, powerful tools to help family life. She’s also the author of several parenting books, a podcaster, speaker, and coach.
She says, “Really know your audience, and find ways to inject yourself into your writing. I include a mindfulness essay in the playbook, and although I was downright afraid to include something so personal at first, I knew my readers — parents of young children — needed that place of calm and peace. I tried it and it worked. It’s routinely spoken of as a favorite part of the playbook.”
Serial reading sites
Wattpad is the most widely known serial reading site, with 90 million active users worldwide. It’s a social platform where authors post regularly and engage with readers directly.
Successful books have been turned into movies through Wattpad Studios or found traditional book deals through Wattpad Books. While primarily a marketing platform, you can link to your books on various stores, and they offer Paid Stories for select writers as direct monetization.
There are other serial reading sites including Radish, Tapas, Webnovel, and more, and each has its own genre focus and options for monetization. Serial writing is most suited to books with multiple arcs and cliffhangers to keep people reading.
Commissioned writing
Susan E. Farris, author of Southern Gothic and poetry, also writes poetry on commission, creating a unique gift for a special occasion. After a discussion about the person or situation, she writes a one-of-a-kind poem. She also offers love letter assistance for Valentine’s Day and anniversaries.
Work with other creatives to transform your words
Jack and Kitty Norton are Emmy Award-winning writers, audio artists, filmmakers, and musicians. Jack says, “My wife is a composer. She has taken my words (poems, lines and scraps from short stories) and turned them into songs. She records them and distributes them wide on all music platforms. We also publish the tunes and work with ASCAP. Songs like this have been used in movies, TV shows and commercial jingles and we get royalties from all those opportunities as well!”
Turn your writing profits into other assets that bring in more income
Consider taking a percentage of your profits and use it to diversify outside of the writing business entirely. Some writers invest in property, others in stocks or index funds, and others in separate businesses. Find what works for you based on your interests and country-specific tax and investment rules.
For more options and ideas, check out my recommended books and podcasts at TheCreativePenn.com/moneybooks
Questions:
• Do any of these additional ideas spark your curiosity? How could you take the next step?
Resources:
• The Society of Authors list of grants — SocietyOfAuthors.org/Grants
• FundsForWriters list of grants — FundsForWriters.com/grants
• Authors Guild list of contests, grants, and residences — AuthorsGuild.org/category/contests-grants
• Arts Council UK grants — Artscouncil.org.uk/projectgrants
• PLR for UK and Ireland — www.plr.uk.com
• ALCS for UK — www.alcs.co.uk
• PLR for Canada — PublicLendingRight.ca
• List of countries with PLR schemes — plrinternational.com/established
• Wattpad information for writers — www.wattpad.com/writers
• Alliance of Independent Authors list of awards and contests — www.SelfPublishingAdvice.org/author-awards-contests-rated-reviewed
• List of book and novel-writing competitions — www.christopherfielden.com/short-story-tips-and-writing-advice/book-and-novel-competitions.php
• List of short story competitions and awards — www.christopherfielden.com/short-story-tips-and-writing-advice/short-story-competitions.php
