5 Takeaways from “How to Make a Living with Your Writing”

Can you make a living as a writer, especially if you didn’t go to college to be one? After reading the book “How to Make a Living With Your Writing” by Joanna Penn, I believe that you can. The key to writing for a living is creating multiple streams of income. Sounds familiar?

I personally love writing. So much so that I wake up at 2 am to do my daily writing. I wasn’t born a creative, and my career choice as a military person definitely didn’t encourage my creative pursuits. But I am here now and happier than ever. 

Now, do I ever plan to make an entire living from my writing? No, not really. I am building passive income from multiple sources with the intention of diversification. However, writing will be one form of passive and active income. 

I envision having a stable of books, making me passive income from royalties and affiliate marketing. My website will be making me income from advertising. I would be retired but still writing every day because I enjoy it so much. 

Now, this book helps me map out even more sources of active income. Even in retirement, I will want to have some kind of activities to keep me busy. They may as well pay me. With that, here are my five takeaways.

1) There are two distinct groups of income from writing, making money with books, and making money in the broader writing world. You can execute both concurrently, and they each have their place.

2) Build your intellectual property. One of the leading writing ideas is to build up a robust catalog of books that can sell for up to 70 years after you die. As more and more people find your work, they will want to exploit your past catalog. 

3) Protect your copyright. The copyright for each book is your money maker. By slicing up your copyright, you stand to maximize the profit from each of your books. An example would be to lend the copyright to a Russian language translation and another to a Spanish audiobook. Now you have two streams of income from one book. 

4) The larger writing world consists of websites, fan sites, merchandising, podcasting, YouTube, Facebook Groups, coaching, mentoring, mastermind groups, online courses, ghostwriting, consulting, sponsorships, and much more. The key to opening this world is building a solid back catalog and an audience. 

5) Write books your audience wants. I know it sounds simple, but your audience will tell you what they want. At some point, you will have to cater to your fans, at least on some projects. As creatives, we like to do things our way, but sometimes we have to pay the bills. There is no shame in that. 

The two major themes of my blog and books are creating passive income and building multiple income streams. Writing helps to make both of these. Your books can form a triangle of blog, book, and affiliate marketing. This triangle requires very little upkeep.

Once you have this triangle flowing smoothly, you can add in other streams of income. The process will take some time, as it moves slower than video; however, I believe it may last much longer. I read a book written in the 1940s last year.

Writing can be a lucrative and fulfilling side hustle, part-time or full-time job. Remember to build a solid back catalog, grow an audience, and create multiple streams of income. As a young writer, I look forward to leading a long life of writing and interacting with fans. This book is a must-buy for any creative or future creative.

This link is to a physical product. The link above is to the digital book. Sorry. I get no credit for digital product links.

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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it.  I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.