Day 5.1: Writing for Profit Online

Seeing that my self-publishing articles have been doing significantly better than my other articles, I thought I might try to emphasize it a bit more and get more in-depth about the possibilities. Let's say you're excited about self-publishing, but also intimidated. It takes a lot of work to publish your own book, and there's no say that anyone's going to buy it. You could put in years of precious time perfecting your book, designing the cover, and working out a publicity scheme. But what are you going to do if no one's interested? I've had good friends of mine say that for sure they'd buy a book of mine if it was on Amazon or something. I tell them about my Createspace books, and they never bring up the subject again. And if friends won't buy my own books, then why would strangers?

Fortunately, we live in an age of information. The Internet has given us new means of networking that have never before been available. If you want to be self-published and make a profit, you have options. Let's take a look at how to make money by writing online. What's available?

1. You could join a company to write for. I did this with Comicbooked.com. It's a fabulous way to get experience and publicity, but your writing is not entirely your own. You're not really "self-published," so you're bound to the company's own regulations and scheduling. It can also be a challenge to join a company that will pay well, as you must go through many of the same processes that you would for any other job. But as far as learning and publicity go, this is a great option.

2. You could blog. Like I'm doing here and now. By this way you can work your own hours writing what you want to write, and sites like Blogger.com and Wordpress can give you a site for free. Publicity and generating traffic can be a serious challenge with blogging, though, especially if you're wanting to do something more creative, like poetry or fiction. I've been surprised to find that blogging actually seems to take even more work than writing for a company, but the work gets easier as you start to find out what works and what doesn't. All the same, don't look at blogging as an easy way out.

3. If you're not sure if you could handle independent blogging, but don't want the commitment of joining a company to write for, you could write articles for sites like Squidoo and Hubpages. You can generate a fine income by writing these articles and get better publicity than if you were on your own. Just keep in mind that the profits are split, and you can't depend on having an audience come back to your writing over and over again.

4. Are you an artist or do you want to write comics? You might not generate much of a profit, but webcomics are becoming increasingly popular. DeviantArt is also a fabulous way to get your art out in the eyes of potential clients as well as getting constructive criticism from a passionate community.

Writing for profit online is harder than it sounds, and if you choose to go this route, be prepared to spend many long hours staring at your computer screen writing and sharing your articles. However, it can be a fabulous way to establish your reputation as an author and build up an audience. Later if you decide to publish something in print, you'll already have a loyal group of followers to share your work with.

Happy writing!