Being a writer and making a living from writing is a dream for many. All of us who love writing aspire to pay our bills with our writing. But doing so is more complicated than it seems. To jump without a net into this world is dangerous, as there are many aspects that are unknown. In this article I want to explain what it is to be a writer and give you some tips on how to make a living from writing.



Can you make a living from writing?

Actually, you can make a living from anything. You could even sell fairy dust and, if you were good at it, you could make a living from it. So, can you make a living from writing? Of course you can. Just don't expect it to be easy.



One problem I often find with people who want to be writers is that they tend to think that this will be the end of the line. If you want to be a writer, forget everything you've read about Rowling, King and Meyer. Bestsellers are isolated cases. The most normal thing is that your first books go unnoticed. To make a living from writing you need to work hard. You have to sit down every day, write and publish. In the age of Amazon, where more than 1,000 books are published a day (on the low end), succeeding on the first try is as difficult as hitting a full house on fifteen. The best thing you can do for your writing career is to publish books consistently. You can do it on your own, by publishing on Amazon or by managing the publication of your books on your own. You can try to publish with publishers. Or you can do both and take advantage of the best of both worlds.



What do you need to make a living from writing?

Well, some of these things wouldn't go amiss:

Know how to write (obvious).

Planning.

Dedicate time every day to your writing.

A computer.

Be a great reader (or an average reader, but you have to be a reader).

Have a lot of patience.

Be tenacious and don't give up easily.



How to be a writer?

This is a big question, isn't it? According to Stephen King, there is only one way to be a writer: writing a lot and reading a lot. I would add one more: managing frustration very well. Because yes, being a writer is often frustrating. And it's not frustrating because publishers don't publish you or because you don't get selected in contests. It is because it is tiring, it is lonely and, almost always, it seems that you move in a kind of limbo in which you pay for the sins of your past lives by being invisible.



To be a writer you need to have ideas (we all have that), know how to turn those ideas into words (that's a bit more difficult) and make those words meaningful and "potable" (this is much less common).



Why do I say this?

There is a common and silent idea that spreads over those who start writing and it is that "you only need the talent to write". Or worse, you just need to know how to write (in a society like ours, we all know how to write). If you are not willing to work, forget about it and do something else. On the other hand, if you are willing to mortgage your life and sell your soul to the key, go ahead.



Here are 8 tips for becoming a professional writer that I hope will help you:



Write

Of the millions of writing tips you'll come across, this one (and the next one) is the only one you should heed. Writing is like a muscle. Unless you're a natural talent, to develop a muscle you have to train. Usain Bolt said in an interview that the difference between him and other people is that he spent four years training to run nine seconds, while most people quit after a few months because they don't see results.



Writing has learning curves. We all know how to write right out of school, but not all of us are writers. To be a writer you have to train and there's no better way to do that than writing. Do it whenever you can. Force yourself from time to time if you have to. Do it consciously, look at your most common mistakes and try to fix them. Write a novel, write short stories, get out of your genre and explore new characters and situations.



Read



Reading is also part of the writer's training. If you are into soccer (or any sport) you will have seen that coaches force their players to watch matches of their rivals. It's a way to learn, to learn new tactics and improvised plays, to see how a certain player moves. If you want to write, you have to know what you're doing. You have to know your trade. 



Read a lot. Unlike writing, which requires effort on your part, reading can offer you a moment of peace. It's a refuge after a busy day; it's a moment of calm when you have a lot of work to do.



Read a lot. You can learn from newspapers, articles or even  a really good essay sample base ( <a href="https://www.paperhelp.org/" target="_blank">https://www.paperhelp.org/</a> ) . Read good books to see what you have to do and read bad books to know what you don't have to do. Read books in your genre to know the recurring themes, tropes and characters and read books in other genres to see other styles, other language and other characters.





8-tips-to-become-a-writer-and-make-a-living-from-w-writing-creative-writing-tasks_135726.docx

Being a writer and making a living from writing is a dream for many. All of us who love writing aspire to pay our bills with our writing. But doing so is more complicated than it seems. To jump without a net into this world is dangerous, as there are many aspects that are unknown. In this article I want to explain what it is to be a writer and give you some tips on how to make a living from writing.



Can you make a living from writing?

Actually, you can make a living from anything. You could even sell fairy dust and, if you were good at it, you could make a living from it. So, can you make a living from writing? Of course you can. Just don't expect it to be easy.



One problem I often find with people who want to be writers is that they tend to think that this will be the end of the line. If you want to be a writer, forget everything you've read about Rowling, King and Meyer. Bestsellers are isolated cases. The most normal thing is that your first books go unnoticed. To make a living from writing you need to work hard. You have to sit down every day, write and publish. In the age of Amazon, where more than 1,000 books are published a day (on the low end), succeeding on the first try is as difficult as hitting a full house on fifteen. The best thing you can do for your writing career is to publish books consistently. You can do it on your own, by publishing on Amazon or by managing the publication of your books on your own. You can try to publish with publishers. Or you can do both and take advantage of the best of both worlds.



What do you need to make a living from writing?

Well, some of these things wouldn't go amiss:

Know how to write (obvious).

Planning.

Dedicate time every day to your writing.

A computer.

Be a great reader (or an average reader, but you have to be a reader).

Have a lot of patience.

Be tenacious and don't give up easily.



How to be a writer?

This is a big question, isn't it? According to Stephen King, there is only one way to be a writer: writing a lot and reading a lot. I would add one more: managing frustration very well. Because yes, being a writer is often frustrating. And it's not frustrating because publishers don't publish you or because you don't get selected in contests. It is because it is tiring, it is lonely and, almost always, it seems that you move in a kind of limbo in which you pay for the sins of your past lives by being invisible.



To be a writer you need to have ideas (we all have that), know how to turn those ideas into words (that's a bit more difficult) and make those words meaningful and "potable" (this is much less common).



Why do I say this?

There is a common and silent idea that spreads over those who start writing and it is that "you only need the talent to write". Or worse, you just need to know how to write (in a society like ours, we all know how to write). If you are not willing to work, forget about it and do something else. On the other hand, if you are willing to mortgage your life and sell your soul to the key, go ahead.



Here are 8 tips for becoming a professional writer that I hope will help you:



Write

Of the millions of writing tips you'll come across, this one (and the next one) is the only one you should heed. Writing is like a muscle. Unless you're a natural talent, to develop a muscle you have to train. Usain Bolt said in an interview that the difference between him and other people is that he spent four years training to run nine seconds, while most people quit after a few months because they don't see results.



Writing has learning curves. We all know how to write right out of school, but not all of us are writers. To be a writer you have to train and there's no better way to do that than writing. Do it whenever you can. Force yourself from time to time if you have to. Do it consciously, look at your most common mistakes and try to fix them. Write a novel, write short stories, get out of your genre and explore new characters and situations.



Read



Reading is also part of the writer's training. If you are into soccer (or any sport) you will have seen that coaches force their players to watch matches of their rivals. It's a way to learn, to learn new tactics and improvised plays, to see how a certain player moves. If you want to write, you have to know what you're doing. You have to know your trade. 



Read a lot. Unlike writing, which requires effort on your part, reading can offer you a moment of peace. It's a refuge after a busy day; it's a moment of calm when you have a lot of work to do.



Read a lot. You can learn from newspapers, articles or even  a really good essay sample base ( https://www.paperhelp.org/ ) . Read good books to see what you have to do and read bad books to know what you don't have to do. Read books in your genre to know the recurring themes, tropes and characters and read books in other genres to see other styles, other language and other characters.





8 tips to become a writer and make a living from writing by Paperhelp

8-tips-to-become-a-writer-and-make-a-living-from-writing-by-paperhelp

Being a writer and making a living from writing is a dream for many. All of us who love writing aspire to pay our bills with our writing. But doing so is more c…