Archives for September 2019

As freelancers, writing is what you do — whether it’s for your own business, freelance writing sites, or maybe with direct clients. Either way, in most cases you are getting paid to write — and if you stop writing, you aren’t getting paid.

However, if you were to publish a book (or books) online, you may find that you incoming revenue month over month might soon surpass your freelance writing earnings. Not only is writing your own book is a big accomplishment, and it’s one that very few people actually achieve — but can also be a steady form of income as well.

If you’re thinking about writing your own book, then you probably know that you have a lot of work cut out ahead of you.

But, what many people don’t think about when writing a book is what to do after it’s written. In other words, how to get the book published.

Self-publishing is hands down the best route to go, as this means you don’t have to get your book through the gatekeepers of publishing companies – especially with a nice little company named Amazon, making it so easy to get started.

To learn more about this process and how to get started, please proceed through out step by step process to publishing a book yourself.

1. Write the Book

Ok, this may seem obvious, but if you’re sitting here and surfing the internet instead of writing, then you may need that gentle reminder.

Chances are though, if you’ve already done some writing, you’ve probably had a few times where you ended up staring at a blank page for hours. Then, feeling frustrated, you keep procrastinating and then end up getting nothing done.

Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us.

While everyone’s process is different, for some people, it helps them to treat writing a book like doing a job. In other words, you should set weekly goals and deadlines for yourself.

Also, try as best as you can to develop a writing habit. In other words, condition yourself to write at the same time every week. The more you do it, the more automatic the habit will become.

Also, make sure you’re in an environment that’s conducive to creativity and writing. The place you choose to write should be distraction-free, and it should be somewhere you feel inspired and creative.

2. Hire an Editor

When you’re done writing your book, the very next thing you need to do is hire an editor.

Whatever you do, don’t attempt to self-edit your book!

Self-editing often never works, no matter how many times you try to do it. Your book needs fresh eyes and a fresh perspective, so hiring an editor is the best route.

This is something even some of the best content creators and authors in the world do on a daily basis. For instance, take a look at Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert. He’s creating new content all the time, but you can be sure that he has a full team of content freelancers for marketing and social media, while also making sure he has a copywriter and editor in place to check all content before it goes live.

Also, don’t just hire someone who has good English and can fix your grammar mistakes. You want to hire someone who can give you constructive feedback to help you improve the flow of your writing and cut out unnecessary portions of your book.

In addition to hiring an editor, you should try to get as much feedback as possible on your book. Again, make sure you ask for feedback from people who are qualified and understand the book publishing process.

3. Design a Cover

You know that old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”?

Well, we’ve got some news for you, people still do. This is why you need to design a cover that entices the reader to buy your book.

Here are the key elements to a good book cover:

• Simplistic style: If there’s too much going on, your readers won’t be able to get a feel for what your book is about. They’ll just feel overwhelmed and confused
• Professional design: If it looks like a kid designed your book cover, people aren’t going to buy your book
• Clear title: The title needs to be clear and easy to read
• Direct toward your intended audience: Make sure to design your book cover so it speaks to the audience you want reading your book

If you have absolutely no design skills and no money to work with, try out a tool like Canva and see what you can create. It’s a free tool and they have hundreds of free book templates for you to get started with. Worst case scenario, you can create a draft cover and then send it along to designer to tweak to your liking.

4. Set a Price Point

Setting a price point for a book can be very pretty. Price it too high, and no one will buy it. Price it too low, and you won’t make nearly as much money off of it as you could have.

However, the great about self-publishing is that you can change the price of your book as you see fit.

In general, it’s suggested to price your book at 99 cents during the launch period, and then slowly increase the price by a dollar. However, for e-books, it’s not recommended that you go over $6.

5. Get Started on Kindle

Now that you have all of your ducks in a row, it’s time to get to the actual self-publishing part.

First things first, you need to choose an e-book publishing platform. We recommend starting with Kindle. While there are others out there, Kindle is by far the largest and the one that indie authors have the most success with.

On Kindle, you’ll need to create a Kindle Direct Self-Publishing account. This is where you’ll manage your ebooks, paperbacks, and audiobooks. You can also offer print books to your audience through Kindle (something we highly recommend doing- you can learn more about it here).

You can use this link to create your Kindle account.

6. Publish Your Book on Kindle

When you feel confident that your book is ready, it’s time to finally upload it to your Kindle account.

Just remember, before publishing your book, you’ll need to format it. There are plenty of free online resources out there that explain the formatting process, so be sure to check out some of those.

Here’s what you need to do to upload your book on KDP:

1. Click on “Your Bookshelf” on the KDP main page
2. Click on “Kindle e-book actions”
3. Click “edit e-book content”
4. Click “upload manuscript” and the upload yours

Amazon also allows you to select 7 keywords for your book to help it reach its intended audience. To select keywords, check out some other best-selling books in your niche and see what keywords they use.

7. Market Your e-Book

Last but not least, you need to market your book. You can’t just expect everyone to stumble across your book on Kindle, which is why marketing is so important.

Honestly, marketing takes a lot of work, and you’ll likely spend as much time marketing your book as you do writing it.

To market your book, you’ll want to create online ads, create social media platforms just for your book, do price promotions, and create automated email lists.

Luckily, there are plenty of people out there who have experience with Kindle marketing, so be sure to research online for more detailed book marketing tactics.

Now That You Know the Steps to Publishing a Book…

Now that you know the steps to publishing a book, it’s time to get started with yours!

Remember, writing and publishing a book takes a lot of time and effort, so make sure this is something you really want to do.

And lastly, Amazon is generating billions of sales monthly — why not have your writing efforts focused on their site, while also making some extra money in the process?

The freelance economy is booming right now, and more than 56 million Americans do freelance work on a regular basis — however, that doesn’t mean all of them are just focusing their efforts on writing and blogging.

If you’re a freelance writer, you know how competitive the industry is right now. You may also feel that your freelance writing career might never be a steady job, as there is a lot of downtime between clients and incoming work.

With this in mind, you might even be looking into other ways to supplement your writing income. If that’s the case, the internet is once again your best friend.

Today we are going to take a look at some legitimate side jobs you can start earning money with, while not having to leave your house or give up on your freelance writing journey in the process.

Be a Virtual Assistant

If you enjoy helping others and have a knack for organization, working as a virtual assistant might be a great option for you to consider.

Virtual assistants work from home and help people manage their schedules, respond to emails, and handle other administrative tasks. In most cases, all you need to do this job is a computer, a smartphone, and good internet access.

In fact, ThePennyHoarder came out with their own useful resource and list of seven different areas of expertise virtual assistants are being hired for:

1. Proofread Blog Posts
2. Format Posts in WordPress
3. Manage a Blog Editorial Calendar and Brainstorm Headlines
4. Curate Content for Social Media
5. Create Landing Pages
6. Format Email Newsletters
7. Provide Customer Support

Lots of virtual assistant work is part-time, so it’s easy to fit in along with your writing and any other freelance work you might be doing.

Start a Blog of Your Own

More often than not, a good majority of the freelance writing that you are doing for other clients and brands, will likely end up on their website or blog.

If you are a seasoned freelance writing and already have a good understanding of SEO and how to write content than ranks in Google, you might want to consider starting a blog of your own.

The great thing about having your own site property, is that it’s something that can grow into much more over time.

With your own site you could further improve your personal branding and show off your expertise to bring in new content writing clients, or you could create a niche specific site and try to make some money with it.

Some of the best methods for making money with a website or blog are affiliate marketing, Google Adsense, or creating your own digital products and services to sell.

Another hot topic to point out in reference to starting your own blog and following online, is that this process is actually gaining a lot of steam through social media right now. With platforms like TikTok and Instagram giving users access to billions of views and impressions, more people are looking to get famous and become influencers within their own niche market.

A perfect example of this is Kyle Jenner, who was able to create a billion dollar empire, simply because of her massive following on social media and her celebrity status. Yes… she does have a lot of advantages, but even getting started with just a few hundred dollars in earnings is a great goal to go after.

Work as a Proofreader

As a writer, you likely have above-average knowledge of grammar rules. For times when your writing work is slow, why not earn money by proofreading other people’s writing?

There are lots of people out there who need help improving their written content, whether it’s for a school assignment or for their website.

Try listing your proofreading and editing services on a site like Fiverr to earn some extra cash and develop another valuable skill. Another option is to visit the contact pages and online forms from other sites and sending them a quick email to see if they are in need of proofreading services. This might seem a bit obtrusive at first, but it is one of the most effective ways to reach out to new potential customers directly, while also showing them you mean business.

If you don’t want to list your services publicly or feel that would lower your hourly rate, the option is also there to visit top websites and blogs and contacting the site owner to let them know about any errors on their sites. This could then lead to new freelance writing work and also as a paid proofreader.

Try Virtual Bookkeeping

There’s a stereotype that writers aren’t good at math. If you’re looking to buck that stereotype and are good with numbers, though, you could earn a decent amount of extra money working as a virtual bookkeeper — upwards of $18 to $50 per hour for some of the top virtual bookkeepers online.

There are a lot of entrepreneurs and freelancers out there (including freelance writers like you) who need help managing their money. By setting up a virtual bookkeeping business, you can supplement your income while helping others keep their finances in order.

Sites like AccountingDepartment.com, Bateman & Co., and Belay Solutions, all specialize in helping in the process of connecting businesses with virtual bookkeepers around the world.

Tutor Children Through Legitimate Platforms

Lots of parents are looking for tutors for their children, however, the concept of looking around for someone in your area to come and visit your home is kind of ‘old world’ thinking. This is especially true of parents who want their children to learn how to read and write English, while possibly not having the time to teach them on their own.

If you want to spread your writing knowledge and help children at the same time, working as an online English tutor could be a good fit for you.

There are lots of businesses like VIPKids that pair tutors with students looking to learn English. Their site features an hourly rate of up to $22 per hour, plus referrals, incentives, and other opportunities.

While this likely isn’t something you can scale into surpassing your freelance writing or designing income, it’s definitely something that could generate an extra few hundred dollars per month.

Take Online Surveys in Your Spare Time

Believe it or not, but all of those ads online for ‘getting paid to take surveys online’… they are actually real and do pay out millions of dollars every month to their site users.

The majority of these survey sites are run by big data companies and work with other brands and agencies around the world to try and create better ad campaigns, while also collecting user data for better interest and demographic targeting. At the same time, they are collecting new data all the time and are often working with big name brands to get feedback on different products and services.

For example, there are surveys that ask all kinds of questions about things like your lifestyle and your habits. Lots of survey sites will pay you to complete these surveys from the comfort of your own home, too — however, I wouldn’t jump into this space thinking you are going to make thousands of dollars per month.

In most cases, you will need to complete a decent amount of surveys to make good money, but there are definitely a lot of survey reward sites out there, so they are worth checking out if you are looking to make some extra money in your spare time.

Some pay in cash through PayPal and others will pay you in gift cards that you can use for things like groceries or shopping on sites like Amazon.

Try These Creative Ways to Make Extra Money

If you’ve worked as a freelance writer for a while, you know that there are times when money is pouring in and times when it comes in as more of a drizzle.

If you’re looking for some creative ways to make extra money during a drizzly time, these are all great options to try.

The great thing about the internet is that there are new opportunities all the time, and even if a market is saturated, those who put in the time and effort will often see the best results.

Focus on your freelancing business as your main priority, while also exploring any new opportunities with each of the methods listed above.