I’ve been writing online for a living for almost two years now. It’s been a bittersweet experience. On one hand, I am freer than ever, and am well on track to reaching my goals in life. On the other hand, I find myself still unable to reap the rewards of all my hard work. I have to remind myself that I’m only a couple years into the game, and that in five years the differences between myself and my peers will become apparent. Writing online is glamorized by a lot of people, but it isn’t so easy. If you’re new to the game, you’re going to find yourself struggling and fighting an uphill battle for recognition. You’ll learn things little by little, and if you’re smart, you’ll be making more progress than you think. These 10 tips should help you understand more of what you’re getting into.
- It Takes a Long Time to Earn Money Writing Books
Most of the money in writing is in the subscription model. You don’t even need to pull up any studies to know that this is true. There are far more journalists than novelists in the world, even though it is possible to earn a living doing both. This is because when you sell a book, you sell it only once. To maximize your earnings, you either need a lot of customers or a lot of books. This means no matter how you approach it book publishing is very hard work. It’s worthwhile once you reach a certain inflection point, but it won’t necessarily be easy.
2. Kindle Unlimited Is Inherently Broken
Kindle Unlimited was supposed to be Amazon’s answer to Spotify. It’s unfortunate that they failed to understand the primary value proposition of an app like Spotify. The beauty of Spotify is that it rents the music to people, rather than selling it. This means the artist gets paid each time someone listens to their song. Kindle Unlimited only pays out the first time a book is read. So, all that’s happened is that books have become cheaper. This is pretty shitty, to be honest.
3. Chat GPT Is Here, And Its Effects Are Real
You can already see when using Ahrefs keyword tool that certain consumer-oriented niches have become extremely competitive. News articles and sport reports are already being generated at light-speed. If you don’t understand the basics of Generative AI, you’re probably going to have a lot of difficulty writing online during the next decade.
4. It Will Be a While Before AI Creates Anything Original
This doesn’t mean that AI isn’t dangerous. AI produces lots of content that is more than passable for many users. But for now, it still depends on prompting well and organizing the output properly. AI always referrers to other content, so anything that fits outside of that box can’t be conceptualized by the software. A creative human engaging in new experiences should be able to “beat” AI in this sense.
5. Blogging Is Still a Viable Way of Making Money
People won’t be totally done reading any time soon. Chat GPT might be responsible for a lot of the articles on the internet, but those articles are likely to get less and less traffic on average with each passing day. That’s because the content won’t be unique. People will be able to ask Chat GPT and receive the same answer as the aticles being written. Bloggers will still be able to make progress by writing about complex topics of interest. If you attach a digital product or service to your blog, you should be able to make a bit of money.
6. Sticking to A Good Niche and Persona Matters More Than Quality
The first few things you write are probably going to suck. Writing also accrues clicks or royalties over time. This means that even if you’re the best writer in the world, you probably aren’t going to be getting a lot of views on your first article. So, the logical thing to do is stick to a single area, so that you can dominate that area and gain a reputation for it.
6. It Takes Time for Your Writing to Work for You, So Don’t Delete It
This is something you have to live and experience in order to understand. Writing money adds up, but you need to let it happen. This is actually what makes writing so exhausting, and why so many people quite writing before they can really get ahead. Leave your writing up. If you have a blog, connect it to a product. If you have a
7. Writing Skills Are Transferrable
You can use your writing in sales, marketing, and content creation. Whether you’re making videos, video games, or web comics, being a good writer will make you a strong marketer in the long run. At the current moment, Chat GPT is taking over. A lot of uncreative writers are going to find themselves out of work. Those who are able to master writing along with another skill will win big time. If you can sell or teach, the internet is your tool to scale up with. Writing is communication, at its core. Good communicators will come out miles ahead.
8. The Best Way to Make Money Is by Providing a Service
This is true whether you’re making money online or in real life. The economy rewards those who help it move forward. Simply buying an asset and collecting income doesn’t do much to move the economy forward. This is why investing and trading are often some of the hardest ways to make money. Creating an income producing asset works well, but there’s always some sort of overhead or increased competition threatening your cashflow.
Making a living with only writing is unlikely, and if you do, it probably won’t be worth your time. But if you spend time learning how to write and combining it with other useful skills, you should be able to win big-time.
By Rising Current on .
Exported from Medium on November 8, 2024.
