Living off your own writing by creating a newsletter, monetising your website, or creating fiction that sells is a dream for many. It certainly is for me. I spend a lot of time ghostwriting and editing, and it is, dare I say it, a bit draining when it isn’t something I’m interested in. And by ‘draining’ I mean boring.
I have recently written about quitting the gig economy. Unfortunately, I still have a client that requires full-time online work, and once I have spent most of my day doing that, I’m too ‘drained’ to do much else. Happily, I think the company is folding, so I have a lot of free time ahead.
I have already stopped working on Fiverr but will continue on Medium as it is a lot more fun. Mostly, I will be upping the amount I write on ScifiWard – it already has a shiny new header – and I’ve started posting a bit more there already.
I have a plan and I will be updating how it is all going in case you are looking to do something similar.
Launching a newsletter
There are a couple of steps to this.
The first is to work out what kind of newsletter you want to send and, generally, what you want it to do. I will be focusing more on writing about Science Fiction and Fantasy, which will be linked to my website, www.scifiward.com.
I will probably be using Substack for this, but my research has just begun.
Next, write some introductory material. Obviously, you can start anything without some fine prose to link to. I will start by saying what kind of content you can expect in my awesome newsletter and how it is linked to my sci-fi site.
I’ll also mention it will be a weekly wrap-up of the science fiction and fantasy that interests me, plus some bonus stuff like reviews. I’ll also write some evergreen material, like author profiles, book/game/comic reviews, etc. This is for when I am mega busy. It is important to be consistent.
(I am generally pretty inconsistent. As a journalist, I am used to deadlines, and I really need them!)
Monetising a website
Show me the money! But in a dignified way…
On my websites, I use affiliate marketing. This is when you have a link to a product, such as a book. It costs the user nothing, but you get a tiny commission. It also looks nice and neat.
I stopped using Google Ads and other types of banners as I thought they made the websites look messy. Also, with ad-blockers, they might not show up. More recently, however, I have changed my mind. Some ads actually look pretty good and match the site if you are writing in a niche. Like, off the top of my head – science fiction. Also, if ad-blockers do their thing then nothing really changes.
So, I will add them back in and ensure they match my site. I won’t be using the annoying ones that pop up and block the whole page. Just nice subtle ones that look ever so pretty and, hopefully, enticing.
Obviously, readership is the key element here, so I’ll be posting regularly.
Writing Fiction
I intend to write more fiction and self-publish. It’s fun and can be lucrative. Or at least, so I hear. I have some books out, but they aren’t full novels, which is the ultimate plan. You can check them out here.
These will easily tie in with all the above stuff, creating a rich ecosystem of science fiction and fantasy goodness.
So that’s the plan. It might be a slightly slow process due to my draining job, but the sooner I do it, the sooner I will be my own boss. I’ll update here in case you’re planning on something similar.
