Summary

The website content provides a strategic approach for authors to enhance their writing career by finding a niche, dominating it, and monetizing their work effectively.

Abstract

The article "Writing From A Mountain" emphasizes the importance of authors adopting a focused approach to their writing careers by selecting a niche they are passionate about. It suggests that authors should not spread themselves too thin by writing on various topics but instead concentrate on a specific area to streamline their efforts and maximize earnings. The author, Hazel Paradise, shares personal experience of managing multiple pen names and the difficulties encountered, advocating for specialization to avoid confusion and energy dissipation. The article outlines a three-step method: FIND a niche by introspecting about personal interests rather than following trends, DOMINATE the chosen field by researching competitors and consistently producing content within that niche, and MONETIZE by leveraging platforms like Amazon for ebooks and employing strategies such as paid newsletters to build a loyal subscriber base.

Opinions

The author believes that versatility in writing can lead to confusion and less income if not managed properly.
Specializing in a niche is seen as the foundation for a successful writing career, allowing authors to focus their marketing efforts and build expertise.
Writing in multiple genres is considered too much work and less profitable due to the increased marketing time required.
The article suggests that authors should start with one niche and only consider branching out after establishing themselves with at least three books in that area.
The author emphasizes the importance of a newsletter for authors to retain readers and convert them into paying customers through exclusive content.
The author reflects on personal experience, noting that starting a newsletter later in their career resulted in lost potential customers.
The article encourages authors to be consistent and steady in their writing and marketing efforts, as this is key to long-term success and revenue growth.

Writing From A Mountain | Find — Dominate — Monetize Your Writings

Learn To Level Up The Game

Not all authors will write only ebooks. There are more ways to earn money. Time has changed.

Gone are the days, when authors would write a story or their piece of art and then wait for months or years to earn their first check.

Now, the time has gone.

Today, we have to become versatile authors who -

Write their ebooks
Do blogging on their passion subject
Accept projects from clients.

But doing it all at once becomes difficult because you need a way to achieve this.

For Fiction/Non-Fiction Writers-

Here I am listing out the bullet points that you can adopt to earn according to the FDM method.

FIND

Find a niche that you like. Now, this is the very foundation of your writing career. I know you feel like writing about pet care today then suddenly you feel like writing about gardening tomorrow. That happens to every author. And there is nothing wrong if you have many topics that interest you. But when you are starting out, then making money becomes difficult.

Let me explain how.

I have three pen names.

Pen name 1 — Hazel Paradise (Fiction and Non-Fiction author)

Pen name 2 — My Original Name (Technical writing)

Pen name 3 — Experiment (Gardening, pet care, and so on)

So, I too had many pen names when I graduated from college. I knew nothing much about writing so I wrote anything that I could write — from romance to non-fiction. After writing for so many years, I found that there was one kind of writing I liked the most.

I used to write a book in pen name 1 then I’ll write in pen name 2 and then in pen name 3. Then I would repeat. It looked nice when I was young but as time passes by, there were some things I got to know about this approach.

Versatility
Too much work
Less income
Confusion
Dissipation of energy
Management was getting tough

To find your niche, do not go on google.com and type —

“Trending topics 2022” and so on.

My Dear Young Authors, Don’t Ask Google About Genres

So what you should do instead?

Sit in a room, a quiet place with pen and paper. Now, think of the subjects you like. Just some random stuff.

Here are mine (example)-

Tea
Women Shoes
Gardening
Writing
Email Marketing
Online Business

So, there are just some random things I like. You create yours and from there, choose ONE.

No pigeonhole. Start from one and then branch out after three books

DOMINATE

This is where you are going to make the most of the money.

I earned money quite late in my life because of the fact that I wasn’t dominating the field.

I wrote one book on gardening and then my other book was on online business.

Two different genres mean the time required to market the books will be doubled.

Too much work and less income. Who wants that?

The best and fastest way to earn money is — Write those two books under one niche.

For ebooks, go to the Amazon website and type your niche in the bar. See what comes.

How many books are there?
Their ratings?
Price?
Length?
Comments? Pay attention to negative ones only.

Watch your competitors. Closely.

Do not copy. Just take some directions.

If you are into blogging (I know after some time, all authors will do blogging too, if not in there already. My advice is — Do both. Let money flow from all directions) then google the term to find the blogs in your chosen niche.

Go through their website
Their main menu on the top
What platforms do they use?
How they are selling their services and so on.

MONETISE

Here, I remember three authors I have in 2019 on Reddit who were earning money on a subscription basis.

I don’t remember their names now but let’s say Author One and Author two.

Author One used to write short romance stories

Author Two used to write fantasy in the same world.

Author Three used to write about gardening.

They do have ebooks on various platforms but they used to add a paid-newsletter link at the back of their ebooks and whoever liked their ebooks would join their newsletter where they would receive previews of more exclusive high-quality content through subscription.

Every author out there should have a newsletter. I lost so many readers just because I started this late in my career and hence, lost so many potential customers.

There are many newsletter services that provide subscription tools. But, there are certain things to consider while choosing a newsletter platform for your audience like its price, customer support, and so on.

Paid subscription as your newsletter i.e. you can ask your customers to pay for your high-quality exclusive content. And you get to keep all revenue from paid customers.

This is just one way of monetization. There are many and as more and your capabilities grow, so will your audience and revenue.

Consistency is all we need. Start slow but be steady. It’s all it takes.

If you want to know more about making money writing ebooks, then you can check out my book “My Mistakes in Self-Publishing”. Happy Writing Journey!