I admit that over the last couple months, I have been a sloth in posting all these useful and important posts for you. Here I am, to give Make A Living Writing a new beginning with a new post coming for you on each Tuesday and Friday as per the Indian Standard Time (IST).
Without wasting more time from your precious schedule for today, I am going to talk to all my writer friends, specially the new ones, about how exactly you can start making a living writing.
You have been reading the old posts posted on the blog Make A Living Writing and you have a good resource of the websites which might help you making a living writing. No point repeating the same stuff here. Today I am going to mention some of the things which might help you in 'NOT MAKING A LIVING WRITING'. Yes, you need to take care of the below points if you are really serious about making this happen. So let's start!
1. You do not have Unique Content
I have been hearing this for last five years that I cannot make money from writing until I have something unique. That crap of an advice made me sit without blogging for months and then one fine day I just decided to go ahead with what I feel it should be all about. My first blog was about inspirational stuffs in my own words. Nothing unique in it, isn't it? There are thousands of similar blogs around, but the only unique thing about my blog was that it had 'I' writing.
So, you need not have to spend time thinking what UNIQUE thing you should be writing about. Just put your efforts and make it happen, ignore what others have to say.
2. You do not like To Read
Even if you a preacher, you will realise some day that you do not have anything else to preach on. Reading is one of the most important thing when you talk about writing. No human has unlimited ideas. It is just the knowledge and inspiration which help you write more and more on new things. Do not kill your readers with the same stuff you know just because you do not like reading.
You should not read only on your niche, but others too. You can always take inference from anything you read, give it your taste, and write on it. Keep reading!
3. You do not like Competitions
Do not like competitions and that's why you want to start make a living writing? You can immediately start looking for other alternatives to make a living. You need to realise that with the ever increasing numbers of writers, any reader can access to millions of posts which are related to what he is looking for. That is where the competition comes in. Out of millions of similar posts, you need to make your content very clear and qualitative so that you can stand out and make money from it. Do not forget the first point I made in this post of making every content of yours tasting like it has 'I' in it.
4. You are not Creative
Creativity in writing? Are you kidding me? No Sir/Ma'm, I am not.
What are you planning to write on today? Just Google search a related keyword and you will find thousands of articles already posted on what you were thinking of. I am definitely not blaming you for kind of rewriting same content again and again because you really cannot help it. Believe it or not, you will have to do this at one point of time (specially during your first year of writing). That sort of rewriting does not help much in making money writing.
You have to keep thinking on the new areas you can touch upon. Some new concepts from the same thing you have been reading all these years. As I mentioned earlier, it is all about what you infer from what you read. If your knowledge base is good, you can think of something creative for sure.
5. You are just a Writer
Please, please! Do not abuse me for calling you 'Just A Writer', I actually do not mean what you think (That's what I was talking about ;). You infer things from what you read; and here there can be multiple meanings. Isn't it?)
So what I am trying to tell you is that you should not be just a writer. That writer who can type 250+ letters per minute on the keyboard and finish the stuff in minutes. As you read in point number 2 above, competition is not when you type faster; it is when you think faster and better. That same creative concept you are writing on will make you different from others. That will help you differentiate yourself from other writers, when clients look for you. At the same time, you should know how to market yourself. Marketing? Let's talk about it in the next point.
6. You are not good at Marketing
"I read a lot. I just love competitions. I am Creative. I know how to differentiate myself from others. But still, I am not able to make much money. Why?"
That's the stage most of my fellow writer friends are at. Isn't it? Marketing yourself is very very important, but at the same time it is very very difficult. As they say, "Good things never comes cheap". You might be posting something really great post after post, but no one is actually reading it.
You can use different techniques of SEO to get your website higher PR. You can use some paid marketing services. You can even hire a freelancer to help you promote your website. Things are still not that easy. You have to take care that you are not over-doing it as that might actually hamper your image for clients. You cannot compromise on something lesser because that's when you are not making enough money. You have to use various analytics to keep a track on the growth of your website. That's not an easy process either.
My only suggestion for all those new writers is to promote the website on an average.
7. You are a Sloth (Like I was in last couple months)
Anything, everything, you are writing about should be fast. Imagine that Best Buy has decided to offer first 10 customers on Christmas Day a brand new iPad 4. What are you going to do? Wait till evening thinking that you will still be one of those 10 lucky people? Something similar works in writing too. When you have something trending and you are too slow to write/think of writing on the same, you are not going to get that extra advantage.
Make yourself active and writer your creative content faster.
Do you still want me to take your time? Go for it and show what you are capable of. It all starts with you and ends with you because you write it for your readers, they read it, help you with some comments/feedback which ultimately helps you being better and stronger. Right?
For any questions you have, I am always there for you at akhil.khatri@alliancelive.com (direct contact). Considering the number of emails I receive daily, I will try my best to respond to your emails at the earliest. Hope you understand.
Last but not the least, DO FOLLOW, DO COMMENT, DO SHARE, DO SUBSCRIBE, DO WHATEVER :)
Keep Writing!
