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I cannot remember the first story I wrote. Though, I can remember writing from an early age. I remember being excused from our regular assignments in English class, as long as I would produce prose for the teacher. I would ask, “What would you like me to write about?” and the teacher would reply, “Doesn’t matter. Write whatever you desire. I know it will be great.”

I have written several books. I think I can safely say I am a writer. A novelist. But, can I say I am successful? I would guess that depends, of course, on how we define our terms. But, certainly, the world defines “success as a writer” in the number of dollars you have from royalties. Has one of my books been made into a hit movie or television series yet? Have I received a seven figure deal from a major publisher? Am I still working a day job?

This project is focused on addressing all of these questions.

RESEARCH SCOPE

This research project will focus on several specific areas:

How to Make Money from Books
Self-Explanatory. It is my goal and wish, my aspiration, my hopeful intention, to make enough money from my writing efforts to afford the freedom to write full time. And, this is, of course, ludicrous. I will write full time whether I’m working a day job or not. Be it full time (currently) or part time (in the future), a day job is not the end of writing, is not hampering my writing. It, in actuality, is supporting my writing.

So, to want to make money so I don’t have to work is not so I can write more. Well, it could be. But that is not the motivation. It is so I can create a life of leisure. A life of recluse. Where I can, every day, wake in the morning, write a little, eat breakfast, and then go down to the dock and take out my kayak for an hour rather than driving my daily commute. It is freedom I’m seeking, not another job. It is a lifestyle I hope for.

BACKGROUND

I have published six novels, several in series, focusing on paranormal, serial killers, and biblically related topics. I would also like to venture into non-fiction at some point, though my attempts thus far have been somewhat underwhelming.

PROPOSED HYPOTHESIS

• I can make enough money from writing to quit my day job.

FINAL PRODUCTS

Pending….

PRINT RESOURCE LIST

Cameron, Julia. 2002. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Putnam.

Lahiri, Jhumpa, and Ann Goldstein. 2016. In Other Words. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Le Guin, Ursula K. 2015. Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story. Boston: Mariner Books.

McCann, Colum. 2017. Letters to a Young Writer: Some Practical and Philosophical Advice. New York: Random House.

Verma, Shiv. 2014. Book Authority: How to Write, Self Publish & Market Your Book. [United States]: ICG.

Anderson, Jennifer Joline. 2016. Writing Fantastic Fiction. Write This Way. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications.

Asimov, Isaac. 1981. Asimov on Science Fiction. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.

Bukowski, Charles, and Abel Debritto. 2015. On Writing. New York: Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

DIGITAL RESOURCE LIST

Penn, Joanna. 2015. How to Make a Living with Your Writing: Books, Blogging and More. 2 edition. Curl Up Press.

Penn, Joanna. 2017. How To Market A Book: Third Edition. Curl Up Press.

Penn, Joanna. 2014. Business for Authors: How to Be an Author Entrepreneur. 1 edition. CreateSpace.

Penn, Joanna. 2013. Career Change: Stop Hating Your Job, Discover What You Really Want to Do with Your Life, and Start Doing It! 2 edition. CreateSpace.

Basu, Rintu. 2009. Persuasion Skills Black Book: Practical NLP Language Patterns for Getting The Response You Want. Great Britain: Bookshaker.

Murphy, Derek. 2017. Guerrilla Publishing: Revolutionary Book Marketing Strategies. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.