Overview: How I make a living with my writing

There have been a number of surveys in recent years that report the average income for authors. Most range between $5,000 and $30,000 per year.

That's not what I call a living.

In my experience, if you want to make a decent living, you have to develop multiple streams of income. That's what we're going to go through in this book, and it's how I run my own business.

As an overview, my six-figure income breaks down as follows:

50% fiction and non-fiction book sales, including ebooks, print and audiobooks sold on multiple platforms so I am not dependent on one company for income. This is made up of lots of books in lots of formats on lots of platforms, so even if one dips, the others will buoy up sales 25% affiliate commission from selling other people's products/services from my blog. I usually receive around five different affiliate payments per month across 15+ offerings 10% course sales from my own products sold from my blog. This started out as my primary focus and then I shifted more into writing books, but I'm intending to get back into courses again as they are such a great way to help others and also earn on-going income.

• 10% professional speaking fees, from multiple companies/events.

5% consulting, podcast sponsorship.

Yes, it is possible!

We're living in the best time ever to make a living with your writing!

The internet makes it possible to sell to a global audience and use your writing as the way to eam money to fund your lifestyle. If you love to create new things in the world, you can now earn decent money doing it. If you're ready to learn different skills and adapt to a changing environment, this can be a new, exciting phase in your life.

In this book, I'm going to explain exactly how I make a living with my own writing and how you can do it too. I'm going to be realistic and practical with the aim of giving you actionable advice that you can implement for yourself. Each chapter will provide ideas that you can use to research each opportunity further. Sometimes it's just about knowing what's out there in order to set you on the right path.

This is not a get rich quick scheme.

I'm not a Kindle or blogging millionaire. But I will share with you how I make a six-figure income from writing books, blogging and marketing in an ethical manner.

But first, some context: here's a little bit about my own journey. I did a Masters degree in Theology at the University of Oxford-not the most useful degree! This led to a job in consulting, and I spent the next 13 years implementing Accounts Payable and Banking into large corporates and small/medium companies across Europe and Asia Pacific. I was a cubicle slave and I certainly didn't start out doing creative work.

There were many times when I wondered how I had ended up doing a job. that paid well but left me creatively stunted. I enjoyed the pay check, but every couple of years I would resign and try something new.

I started an online travel itinerary website, then a scuba diving charter boat business, then I tried property investment, as well as just taking time out to travel. None of my ideas worked out and I had to go back to consulting work

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