Are you a fellow KLAT blogging writer? You may want to take note of the blog: Wordpreneur. The subtext states “How to make money writing”. Mm… doesn’t that sound appealing?
Several years ago, I heard through the grapevine that an acquaintance wanted to talk to me about a ghost-writing project. Since I am a published novelist, I assumed I was going to be paid for this effort, especially considering that my acquaintance had recently come into an inheritance. I just assumed he had this novel he had always wanted to write, and was now in a position to hire a professional writer to tell his story for him.
So I met with the guy a few nights later. His idea was bizarre- I can't repeat the exact details, although nobody would ever want to steal them- but it would have been very difficult to write the novel, because the central concept was completely implausible and he didn't see the need to even try to explain it. With some trepidation, I asked him about terms of payment.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “There's no payment,” he said. “I just thought you'd want to write the book.” He “just thought” I would want to spend a few hours a day for several months writing his book for him without any compensation at all.
If you are one of the thousands of people now making a living by writing from home, you've probably had an experience a lot like this one. You signed up for a popular content website and were accepted as one of their writers. You learned all about their process and became efficient enough at producing content that you could make a decent amount of money for your efforts. You got used to the steady income and started planning your budget around it.
When you are just starting out, the temptation to work for lower prices is very strong. We are trained by employers to expect low wages to begin with even if we have skills or knowledge that give us an advantage in a particular field. We are taught to expect little and hope for small increases every once in a while.
Do you like to write? Do you like to travel? Would you like to make money doing both? These are easy questions to answer, right?
Fellow writers, check out Matador. This is an independent media company that serves a worldwide community of writers and bloggers who love to live and travel. The company launched in 2006 and has been quite successful. They have evolved into a cross-platform social media phenomenon as their audience has numbered in millions.
Why? Because, quite simply, there are a lot of technologically capable people out there who are travel hungry and seek to fulfill wanderlust. The company states that they are deeply concerned about the well-being of the planet. They place environmentalism and cultural conservation at the top of their list of priorities. So therefore, they seek contributors who travel with the right mindset. The idea is that these writers will utilize technology to share their experiences with others, allowing for people from different parts of the world to connect and see how others are making a difference on the planet.
One of the perils of the writing life, at least if you work in public, is that random people will talk to you. They will just sit down next to you and start talking, regardless of how busy you might happen to be. It might be a little old lady who wants to tell you all about her grandchildren, or someone who thinks you just need to know all of his political opinions in detail, or the fine points of some federal crime he's committed.
