Two days ago, I wrote an article where I said, knowing your end game will help you decide what kind of writer you want to become and what path you need to take to get there.

M.A. Mercier, a dear young friend of mine and upcoming prolific writer, wrote, “I don’t understand your reasoning behind ‘genre fiction.’ I consider myself a Passion writer, but my ‘end-game’ is to write literary fiction. My ideal future where I do both content writing and fiction writing.”

Dear Mercier, this article is for you.

You have pulled the words out of my mouth and wrote them in the comments section. 

It was precisely the question I was trying to understand when I wrote the article. Like you, I am a literary writer. So what is my end game, then?

Being a literary writer is not the end game. The end game is how to stay as a literary writer and make a living.

It is hard to make a living as a literary writer. For one, you can’t keep coming with a book every six months or a year. A good literary book takes much longer to write. 

Second literary readers are not lining up like the fans of Harry Potter or Jason Bourne waiting for the next book. They buy the book when there are enough reviews that say that it is a great book, even if they are written by a great author. Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Khalid Hussini’s subsequent books didn’t sell as well as their first ones.

I didn’t understand it either when I was told, time and time again, that if you want to make a living as a fiction writer, you need to pick a genre. 

Genre writing is what people buy in hoards. They can’t seem to have enough of Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Stephen King, Arthur Hailey, Michael Crichton, Ken Follett, and Robert Ludlum.

Genre writers can build a following, self-publish, and make six to seven-figure income by selling directly to their readers. The model is well-established and many authors are following it and succeeding at it. 

Literary writers who make a living solely on their books are far and few. The New York Times published a small article based on a recent study by the Authors Guild that said:

“In the 20th century, a good literary writer could earn a middle-class living just writing (citing William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever). Now, most writers need to supplement their income with speaking engagements or teaching. — Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild.

The end game for literary writers used to be to win a major literary prize. This is how Ros Barber described in The Guardian: 

Traditional publishing is the only way to go for someone who writes literary fiction. With genre fiction, self-publishing can turn you into a successful author (if you can build a platform, if you can enjoy marking and are good at it, if you are lucky). But an author who writes literary fiction is dependent on critical acclaim and literary prizes to build their reputation and following. If genre fiction is chart music, literary fiction is opera: the audience is small, and there are limited ways to reach it. Self-published books are not eligible for major prizes like Baileys and the Costa and the Man Booker, and getting shortlisted for major prizes is the only way a literary novel will become a bestseller. The chance of a self-published novelist getting their book reviewed in the mainstream press is the same as the chance of my dog not eating a sausage. The chance of an indie author being booked for a major literature festival? Donald Trump apologising to Mexico. — Ros Barber

She received £5,000 for her most recent novel for two year’s work. Yet, she thinks self-publishing is a terrible idea for serious novelists. 

Because she says, “Self-publishing authors spend only 10% of their time writing and 90% of their time marketing… Good writers become good because they undertake apprenticeships… My first novel was my fourth novel. It was accomplished on the back of three complete novels (plus two half novels)… The gatekeepers are saving you from your own ego… Good writers need even better editors. They need brilliant cover designers. They need imaginative marketers and well-connected publicists.”

So if making a living from your literary fiction is not your goal, then you can go on the path to become a good writer and do a long apprenticeship. I will be cheering for you. But that will take you to the hobby writer category (writers who like to write for personal satisfaction) until you start making a living from it.

Let me come to the question of ‘Passion writers.’

Maybe my definition of ‘Passion writers’ was incomplete. Allow me to elaborate a bit.

Passion writers write what they are passionate about, whether it is content, fiction, or non-fiction and make a living from it.

But even this doesn’t sound right. Maybe I shouldn’t call them ‘Passion writers.’ In the real world, they are called the ‘Bestselling writers.’ They are bestselling because they write to market demands. 

But I want to stay with the term ‘Passion Writers.’ Because I believe passion moves mountains. 

It was the writers’ passion who wanted to break away from the clutches of traditional publishing and create a model for self-publishing within a decade that is repeatable. They wrote in the genre they were passionate about. 

Literature is a genre too. It, too, has dedicated fans. They may not be lining at the bookstores to buy the next book by their favorite author, but they do buy many books.

I think literary writers can do the same. I think we can build enough followers and make a decent living even with fewer books. We might need to become savvier in terms of selling the rights of our work. I am certain that young bright writers like yourself will find a way.

So, by all means, keep your end game to become a literary writer. But learn the market forces. You don’t have to bend to them. You need to bend them to yourself. Learn from genre writers. They are a decade ahead of you and have a lot to teach. Then, apply it to literary fiction and change the game for writers like me. 

I am counting on you.

Make literary writing mainstream writing because there is nothing better to read than a well-written book by a thoughtful writer.

I hope I answered your question. 

As far as my end game is concerned I am a hobby writer. I will be writing whatever I am passionate about at any given time and not worry about making money from it (also because I don’t have to). I am turning sixty this year and don’t have too much time left for a long apprenticeship or traditional publishing. I want to leave my legacy in the form of stories in whatever broken English I can tell them. 

I believe in the power of the stories rather than the strength of the language. Not because I don’t appreciate good writing but because I am in awe of it. 

All the best.

Some relevant reading:

How Much do Fiction Writers Earn?
Is Self-Publishing Literary Fiction Possible?
The horrible hidden truth about self-publishing that nobody wants you to know
These self-published authors are actually making a living. Here’s how.
For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way

Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash

When we start writing, we have no idea where we want to go with that. We write because we like to write. We enjoy the process and we continue with it.

Then comes a time when writing takes over our lives.

We want nothing more but to write. Our job becomes a liability. We want to quit as soon as possible so that we can devote more time to writing.

We convince ourselves that we can make an income from writing. If only we can devote more time to it, build a following, write that book, write an article a day, start a newsletter… we will be able to make a living from it.

But it is not that easy.

Making a living from writing takes more effort than making a living from selling insurance policies (or door-to-door selling or network marketing or selling used cars or becoming a real estate agent — take your pick).

Why?

Because we don’t know what our end game is.

We take writing as a generic profession, as a GP (General Practitioner), whereas it is a specialization.

There are different fields in writing and each one requires a different strategy to succeed. Not knowing that from the beginning not only makes it harder to succeed but takes much longer and causes so much heartache and frustration that many people give up after a few years, never to come back.

I divide writers into three categories:

1. Hobby writers
2. Freelance writers
3. Passion writers

Hobby Writers

Hobby writers are the ones who like to write for personal satisfaction. They might write poems, short stories, or even articles in magazines (online or physical). They might write a book, maybe more than one. It could be fiction or non-fiction. But they have no intention to make a living from their writing.

They had a story to tell, and when they have told it, they are satisfied if they have been able to publish it and send it out in the world, even better.

With some stroke of luck, hobby writers might be able to make a lot of money with a single book or an article, even without much marketing. Such examples are rare, but they do happen.

Hobby writers treat writing as a way to communicate their feelings (poems), their stories(memoir or biography) and messages (articles or a book).

They are usually not stressed about their writing and very satisfied with their output.

If you are a hobby writer, enjoy your writing and don’t get caught up in the whirlwind of building a following or starting a newsletter. Keep in mind you are not in it for money.

Freelance Writers

Freelance writers make a living from their writing and sometimes are well paid and at the top of their trade.

Many professional writers are in the paid form of writing where it becomes a job — many journalists, content writers, ghostwriters and copywriters fall in this category.

They may or may not have proper qualifications in writing. To them, writing provides not only personal but also professional satisfaction. They might start in one category and move on to others.

They become professionals to work in the field they love but soon get caught in the vortex of a trading time with money. They get busy with delivering other people’s projects while their own projects get sidelined.

Their end game is to get some big bucks for ghost writing or big clients for content writing. Many journalists are going into paid newsletter arena where they fulfill a particular need of a group or a community with their writing skills.

Passion Writers

Passion writers write what they are passionate about, whether it is content, fiction, or non-fiction.

They are successful because they keep evaluating where they are going. They not only know what they want to write but also what the market wants.

Content writers

If they are content writers, they know they are writing to inspire or to educate. They know to make a living with content writing, they need a healthy mailing list and courses to sell. They start small, but by consistently providing value to their readers, they make a name for themselves. These writers often become entrepreneurs.

That is the end game for them. They will build some business from their writing. It could be a publishing company or self-development organization or marketing agency.

Fiction writers

If they are fiction writers, they write genre fiction. Genre fiction has populist appeal and it sells well. Traditionally genres are romance, mystery, thriller, horror, fantasy, historical, and children’s books. But new genres are being added all the time. Genre readers follow their writers and read everything they write.

The end game for fiction writers writes is to write series. Their readers are ready to buy their next book because they are invested in the story. The imaginary universe the fantasy and sci-fi writers create are money spinners. Think J K Rowling, Nora Roberts, Stephen King, Dean Coontz, Dean Wesley Smith. These are just a few well-known names. Many other not-so-well-known writers are making six to seven-figure incomes. These writers become brands in themselves.

Non-fiction writers

These are the writers of non-fiction books. They pick a niche and become experts in that. They write books in that niche and take speaking engagements. Sometimes just a single book becomes such a bestseller that they can build their whole business around it (think James Clear’s Atomic Habits). Other times they release series such as Rober Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad series.

The end game for non-fiction writers is the speaking engagements. They charge premium rates to speak at premium conferences and may have a whole business behind their book.

What is your end game?

Do you write for personal satisfaction, or do you want to make a living with your writing?

Do you want to build a business around your niche, or do you want to create a fictional universe?

Figure out what your end game is and then choose your path to get there.

In 2006, a young entrepreneur was running a support platform for video bloggers. He called it fundavlog. 

Keen on spreading the word; he started a blog explaining the idea behind fundavlog and coining a term for the concept he was trying to introduce. 

I have used a recent buzzword within fundvlog babble. That word is Crowdsourcing. My first interpretation of it was a broad one… one that can be applied to generalities surrounding concepts/observations such as ‘smart mobs,’ ‘wisdom of the crowds,’ ‘new economies,’ ‘open-source,’ and ‘self-sustaining communities.’

…

But I have decided that another similar term can be used to explain the general ideas being presented here. And I think that term is ‘Croudfunding.’ Money is the root. Money incubates, inspires, and give rise to good content. Money provides new and/or rejuvenated opportunities. — Michael Sullivan

Michael figured that building a community from an online ‘sphere’ was a challenge but not impossible. He looked at the idea from different angles and completely out of the box. He was very impressed with mediaventure.org, both the initiative and projects funded through it.

He wanted fundavlog to raise money for projects like mediaventure.org. But unlike mediaventure.org, he wanted the focus on content creators rather than the industry.

Although his project failed, he came up with two basic rules for crowdfunding:

Rule #1 Not to pilfer facilitated funds.

Rule #2 Absolute transparency.

Crowdfunding is based on “reciprocity, transparency, shared interests and, above all, funding from the crowd.”

If you haven’t read yesterday’s article, I suggest you read it first and then come back to the current one to understand how crowdfunding can be your prime strategy to write and sell books.

Crowdfunding is not a marketing platform.

Most people make the mistake that they think crowdfunding is a marketing gimmick, just like Mailchimp or LinkedIn.

That is not true.

Crowdfunding is a sales platform just like Amazon.

It is a place where you can test your book idea and sell it even before you have written it. 

Isn’t it cool?

Before I get into details to describe the difference, let me clear a few more concepts about crowdfunding. 

There are typically three types of crowdfunding: 

1. Reward crowdfunding, where you raise your funds by reaching out to supporters, who receive a small gift or product sample if they pledge a certain amount.
2. Debt crowdfunding is where you receive a loan and pay it within a specific time frame — some prefer this over a bank loan because it can be much faster.
3. Equity crowdfunding means you give a portion of company ownership to the people who provide you with funding.

Although Kickstarter works on the Reward Model of raising money, one thing to understand is that you are, in fact, raising a debt which you will have to pay in the form of the product which you have specified in the pledge.

So when you hear someone say they raised $1M on Kickstarter, they haven’t raised any money at all. They have, in fact, pre-sold their products.

Ben Einstein has written an excellent article to explain the misconceptions about money raised on Kickstarter. Have a read of it. The link is below.Crowdfunding is Debt
Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other crowdfunding platforms are often misunderstood. It definitely isn’t investment: It’s…beneinstein.medium.com

Crowdfunding is one more market.

It’s one of the rare self-publishing markets that offer to pay you in advance. It also has a great financial incentive, paying roughly 92% of your list price.

But once your campaign has run its course, it’s pretty much over until the next time. The platform isn’t designed for long-term sales.

Since 2009, Kickstarter has helped raise over $5B in revenue for nearly 200,000 successful projects.

Of this, publishing rates $185M on 18,000 successful projects. Publishing is sixth out of fifteen potential categories. That’s an average of $10,000 per successful project, but it’s not exactly a linear curve. Only 4,200 projects have made $10,000 or more—still, a respectable 23%.

Gaming is the biggest category. The reason being Gamers adopted crowdfunding years ahead of writers and readers.

Readers are traditionally anti-technology. It took Kindle more than a decade to be accepted. Even now, given a choice, people prefer paper books to digital books.

But pandemic changed that big time. All of a sudden, there is a surge in eBook and audiobook sales.

However, writers’ participation at Kickstarter is increasing. Several bestselling authors are launching their books on Kickstarter.

Michael Sullivan, a bestselling fantasy and scientific-fiction writer, has successfully run eight campaigns; his last campaign raised $168,000.

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits campaigned to raise $44,700 for printing and publishing his book Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change. 8,211 backers pledged $244,255 to help bring his project to life.

Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo started a project to raise $40,000 to publish Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls — 100 Tales to Dream Big. That humble children’s book packed with 100 bedtime stories about the lives of 100 extraordinary women from past and present, illustrated by 100 female artists from all over the world, raised $675,614, much more than the wildest imagination of the creators. Their second campaign was even bigger, which raised $866,193.

But no one can beat New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson’s records of raising $6.8M.

Crowdfunding can be a very influential market.

The important thing to keep in mind is that Kickstarter or any other crowdfunding site is one market. A very influential market.

Even a career-defining market.

It can be a complete bust, but only if you treat it lightly and give up too early.

Even if you have a few failed attempts, it doesn’t matter. Where else can you get the word out for your project and get paid in advance?

For many writers, Kickstarter is becoming their launching strategy. Once you have run a few campaigns, you will know how much effort to put into it and how much reward you will get from it.

Fear of the failed campaigns

A false hurdle to starting a Kickstarter campaign and any long-term Kickstarter success is the fear of what happens if your campaign fails to fund. 

There is no doubt that some of your campaigns are going whether you work at them casually or aggressively.

But does it matter?

You fail at submitting your articles to reputed publications.

You fail at getting your manuscript accepted by the traditional publishers several times.

You fail at selling your book on Amazon.

Failures are just the stepping stones to success.

So what is my game plan?

Publishing hasn’t hit the same critical mass in the audience as Gaming has, but the potential is there. 

Every writer who will use crowdfunding will improve the market and bring more audience to the platform.

That is what we need to do.

I intend to study Kickstarter for six months to a year before launching my first campaign. 

During that time, I will support several campaigns both in publishing and other categories. 

All that exposure will help me understand what kind of books do better on Kickstarter.

There is no secret to crowdfunding. Crowdfunding rewards ingenuity and hard work. Writers are familiar with both.

References:

1. Archived blog on fundavlog.
2. Crowdfunding Your Fiction: A Best Practice Guide by Loren L. Coleman.
3. Kickstarter Stats

Disclaimer: I am learning about Crowdfunding. If my understanding is incorrect or the information doesn’t align with facts, let me know, and I will correct those.

Photo by Nicholas Green on Unsplash