Do you dream of one day living the life of a novelist? Each morning you wake up full of creativity and then spend a few hours typing beautiful prose that whisk your reader off to a world they never knew existed. As you finish one book and send it off to your agent the next one flows. You get book deals with substantial cash advances. Royalties come in and your only work is going to the book signings.

Well, that isn’t the reality. The truth is many books get a cash advance of only a few thousand dollars and first time authors don’t often get more than $12,000 for a book that took them more than a year to write. Of that 15% goes to your agent, 30% goes to the government and another sizable chunk goes to marketing. Those book signings? You set them up, not your publisher, and you handle all travel expenses.

So, why would a person want to be a writer? Passion. We cannot deny the thoughts buzzing in our minds. Our stories need to get out.

How do you earn a living at it? Diversifying is one option. Find individuals, groups, or community organizations who need writers. Offer your services to them and commit a specific number of hours each week to working on these projects.

Think of three places where you could offer your services for a fee.

Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.