Creating Multiple Streams of Income for Writers

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ The Adventurous Writer

Financial expert Brandon Wilkins describes how successful writers can create multiple income streams – and why we want to!

Before the tips, a quip:

Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night. – Marian Wright Edelman.

The ideal way to earn money is to find something that fulfills your passion, talents, and motivation – not just your desire to be a rich famous published writer. For more info on creating wealth, click on Wilkins’ book, Getting Rich is Simple…But It Ain’t Easy! And here are his tips on creating multiple streams of income for writers…

Creating Multiple Streams of Income for Writers

Wilkins explains that multiple streams of income are about making money from more than one source. “Some people think having several jobs is a way to create multiple income streams,” he says. “While technically that is true, it’s very limited.”

To understand multiple streams of income, you need to know the difference between the two main types of income: active and passive.

Active income is when an individual trades their time for dollars (eg, you show up for work, and you get paid). If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Having several jobs is a limited way of building multiple income streams; however, eventually there’s a limit to the number of jobs you can have.

Passive income is where money works for you. You do the work once, but continue to get paid over and over. An example of passive income for writers is publishing a book, song, or video game and earning royalties. Another is advertising on your blog or writing for online sites that pay you a commission per click (not per article or blog post). My first source of passive income was writing for Suite101. A third way to earn passive income for writers is to sell your reprint articles.

One benefit of multiple income streams is that you can suffer a loss or downturn and still be in good financial shape, because you’re not solely dependent on one income stream.

For instance, when my freelance writing assignments slow down or dry up altogether, I still have my Suite income, my blog earnings, and my hope that my agent will sell my book (though that doesn’t pay much!). The idea behind multiple streams of income is to protect yourself financially for the lean times.

3 Tips for Creating Multiple Income Streams for Writers

1. Do the dirty work.

One of the best ways to create a multiple stream of income is to do something for people that they don’t want to do themselves. Wilkins gives the example of the guy who started the dog poop scooping business: nobody wants to do it, but it’s now a multimillion dollar operation! The equivalent of “pooper scooper” for writers could be researching, editing, copywriting, blogging, invoicing, accounting – any task that other writers don’t want to do themselves. But, we know that one writer’s “poop” is another’s “scoop”!

2. Move from active to passive income.

Find ways to turn those active sources of income into passive sources of income. For instance, if you’re doing another writer’s research, find a way to outsource or subcontract it – and still get paid yourself. Or, if you’re earning sufficient money from your blog but can’t afford the to keep putting in the time and energy, hire bloggers to write for you. Do you want to be a wealthy, successful writer? Make it your goal to accumulate multiple passive income streams.

3. Set your goals.

Wilkins says the most important tip for creating multiple income streams for writers is to have a target. What revenue or sales do you need in order to be “successful”? You may have multiple streams of income – but are they good ones? For instance, if you spend hours a week blogging and only earn a few pennies a day, then you might want to consider a different source of passive income.

Fellow scribes, do you have multiple income streams – and are they helping you reach your financial goals?