10 ideas on how to make money as an author or writer besides selling books

While it’s thrilling to see your name on the cover of a book, most authors earn a small sum from writing books.

The website Indeed estimates that, on average, authors earn less than $50,000 a year.

With these low figures, you might wonder how to make money as an author or whether it’s possible to make a living as a full-time writer.

Can you make good money as an author or writer?

Absolutely! Here’s the catch, though: We think it’s possible if you diversify your income streams.

Gaining an additional income stream doesn’t have to mean waiting tables or becoming a barista. You can make a full-time income as an author or writer by using your writing skills differently.

For example, you could run a paid newsletter, display ads on your website, or offer consulting and coaching services. This article will discuss all these options and more.

Reasons for writers and authors to diversify their offerings

Here are five reasons why it’s worth the effort to generate a new income stream in your writing business.

• Expand your reach: Diversify your income sources to reach a wider audience and earn more income. For example, people who aren’t familiar with your writing might enjoy you as a speaker and be moved to buy your books.
• Decrease your reliance on book income: With the rise of AI content, some writers feel like their jobs are at risk. If you feel similarly, trying new earning opportunities and growing new revenue sources may help alleviate your concerns.
• Scale your income (and business): Income from book advances is often stretched over long periods as authors write the book, and only a few authors receive substantial royalties over the years. Adding new income sources is a great way to earn more and grow your business.
• Allows for more creativity: Most creative people have more than one medium of expression, and creativity begets creativity. So, finding new ways to explore your artistry will keep you inspired and even improve the quality of your writing in the long run.
• Boosts your confidence: Doing hard things improves your self-esteem. Stepping outside your comfort zone and trying new creative avenues to supplement your income as an author will help you feel more confident.

10 practical ways to monetize your writing skills successfully (+ niche examples)

Other than writing, how do authors make money?

Besides writing, many authors make money by working other part-time jobs or using their writing skills in other ways.

For example, a fiction author could work as a journalist or editor, while others teach helpful writing exercises as part of creative workshops. Some authors also sell merchandise related to their books, among other things.

• Offer a paid newsletter
• Sell bonus material or extras related to your book
• Use affiliate marketing
• Display advertisement
• Offer consulting or coaching
• Create courses or memberships
• Host workshops
• Get booked for speaking events or podcasts
• Sell merch or other physical products
• Offer writing services

1. Offer a paid newsletter

When you create a paid newsletter, your emails are only accessible to a paying audience. Creators typically charge subscribers per month.

This is a great choice for writers because you’re already comfortable with writing and likely have plenty to share with your audience. Some content to include in a paid newsletter could be:

• Writing craft tips
• Behind-the-scenes content
• Personal essays
• More information around the theme of your book (for example, if your book is about psychology, you can share psychology tips in your newsletter)
• Recommendations of books you’ve read
• Thoughts on the publishing industry

If you’re unsure whether a premium newsletter would work or don’t know what content would resonate best with your audience, try starting a free newsletter first and seeing how that goes.

You can switch to paid later or add a paywall to some of your future content.

Another alternative is to add a digital tip jar to your website or at the end of your free newsletter editions so that your readers can support your work.

2. Sell bonus material or extras related to your book

Many authors earn extra cash by selling bonus book content or complementary content to their books.

For example, if you’re a non-fiction author with a self-help book, you might consider selling a deck of cards to help readers implement your advice or an interactive workbook that emphasizes the main points of your book.

This advice is better suited to non-fiction authors since most fiction authors tend to give away excerpts and bonus content as lead magnets or promotional material.

James Clear offers a digital app based on his book

Bestselling author James Clear is well known for his self-help book, Atomic Habits. To date, the book has sold at least 15 million copies. In 2024, the author announced the release of Atoms, a new digital application to help readers apply the book’s main takeaways.

After the first 28 days, the full version of the app costs $16.99 a month or $119.99 a year. According to James Clear’s February 29 newsletter, “over 250,000 people downloaded it in the first 48 hours.”

3. Use affiliate marketing

With affiliate marketing, you get a small commission when you share a unique link to a product or service and people purchase using those links. As an author, there are several ways to promote affiliate links in your content. You can share links to books, products, and services you use and love in your:

• Blog posts
• Email newsletters
• Social media posts

Many companies now offer ways to become an affiliate of their products, so look into the products and websites you shop from and find out how to become an affiliate so you can start earning.

Affiliate marketing takes some time to gain traction, but the more you share your links, the greater your chances of earning. Just remember to disclose to your audience when you’re sharing an affiliate link.

Example of how Tim Ferris uses affiliate links

Tim Ferris is the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. He also runs a productivity blog and podcast. His podcast, The Tim Ferris Show, is the first business/interview podcast to pass 100,000,000 downloads and has been ranked #1 multiple times on various podcast platforms.

When he posts to his blog about his podcast interviews, Tim shares his guest’s books using affiliate links (you can see the tracking ID if you hover over the links).

Accordingly, in his website’s footer, he includes a disclaimer about being an Amazon affiliate.

4. Display advertisement

Display ads are a popular way for content creators to earn income. This option is perfect for authors who consistently write on a blog, produce video content for YouTube, or write a regular newsletter.

On blogs and YouTube, you can make money by displaying ads using Google AdSense. For blogs, you can also sign up for other advertising companies like Mediavine, Monumetric, and Raptive. Most advertising companies, except AdSense, have traffic requirements, so you’ll need to reach a minimum traffic number to be accepted into their programs.

With newsletters, you can earn from running email newsletter advertising, especially if your newsletter is on Kit.

Display ads are great because they’re relatively passive once you have an audience that views your content regularly, and your posts are optimized for search engines to attract new followers.

If you don’t have a blog or YouTube channel yet, email newsletters may be your fastest option for gaining traction and starting to display ads.

Example of how author Ali Abdaal’s makes money with YouTube ads

Author and doctor Ali Abdaal makes business and productivity videos on YouTube and earns extra income by running ads during his YouTube videos.

He also teaches a course to help new YouTubers take their channels to the next level. Last year, Ali earned up to $5 million in revenue and only 1.3% of his income came from his book sales. 12% of his income was from his Google AdSense ads on YouTube.

5. Offer consulting or coaching packages

If you’re passionate about helping budding authors succeed, coaching might be a profitable side hustle for you. Brainstorm ideas for your coaching packages and decide what you can offer.

You can also consult for various related businesses. For example, some children’s book authors work as consultants for school libraries, helping them determine which books to order for their students.

Consider coaching for non-book-related industries depending on your other educational qualifications and the subject of your book if it’s nonfiction. For example, if you’ve written about personal finance, would you consider offering personal finance coaching?

If you’re a fiction author overwhelmed by the idea of setting up a coaching service on your own, consider signing up as a writing coach on writer coaching websites like The Novelry. You can focus on helping other writers and making money without being bogged down by logistics.

6. Create courses or memberships

Coaching is often live and delivered in group or 1:1 settings, which can be more exhausting. If you prefer a 1-to-many format taught asynchronously, you might enjoy creating courses or running a membership community instead.

Online courses are typically pre-recorded teaching sessions that can be enjoyed at the student’s pace, while memberships involve access to a community, which usually comes with extra perks like additional content or priority support. You can also make the membership community a perk of your course.

Both options are fantastic for earning sustainable income. Memberships mean you’ll receive payments monthly from your community, and pre-recorded courses mean you only need to record once, and you can earn income every time a new student signs up.

Membership example by Maurizio Leo

In 2022, baker Maurizio Leo published his sourdough bread cookbook, The Perfect Loaf. Now, he also runs The Perfect Loaf membership community, to whom he sends his full recipe archive, exclusive discounts, and other perks like Q&A sessions and downloadable baking guides.

Maurizio has over 2000 community members paying $50 per year, which is at least $100,000 of extra income per year!

7. Host workshops

If neither a course nor coaching sounds like the right fit and you’d rather do a live one-off teaching session, consider hosting a workshop instead.

Workshops are usually short classes or a limited series of classes where you can teach any subject of your choice. Many writers prefer to teach the tricks of their genre during their workshops. It’s a particularly good option if you like teaching and believe you have something to offer students.

Figuring out how to set up a workshop for the first time can be challenging, but once you’ve tried it, you’ll see it’s a great way to bring in quick revenue within a short period. If you want an easier option, opt for a shorter workshop—one hour long instead of multiple days.

Example of Georgia Clark’s workshop offering

Romance author Georgia Clark intermittently offers a virtual romance workshop where she teaches other writers the keys to writing a best-selling rom-com.

Georgia offers four classes, all two hours long, for $450 and also provides student feedback during the classes. In addition to hosting her workshop, Georgia offers book coaching as a separate service—all of which support her income as an author.

8. Get booked for speaking events and podcasts

Many writers are also engaging public speakers. If that’s you, consider reaching out for speaking gigs at industry events and conferences and booking podcast guest features.

This can be a great way to reach a wider audience and it doesn’t require consistent content creation as many of the other income routes do.

Recently, podcasts have become more popular than ever, with over 40% of Americans listening to podcasts monthly.

If you’re up to it, consider creating your own podcast. Author Laura Tremaine started a podcast called 10 Things to Tell You, which is all about encouraging guests to “share their stuff,” based on her debut nonfiction book, Share Your Stuff: I’ll Go First.

Example of how Tomi Adeyemi earns money with speaking gigs

Bestselling fantasy author Tomi Adeyemi also earns additional income from speaking gigs. Tomi’s speaking calendar is managed by the Creative Artists Agency, which is a solid option if you don’t have the additional bandwidth to keep track of your speaking engagements.

9. Sell merch or other physical products

For some authors and writers, having a side hustle that demands they write is simply too much work. If you’re in this camp, you might prefer to create merch or other physical products. This option gives your writing brain a break and is a strong fit for authors whose books or writing lend themselves well to physical products.

There are so many product ideas to choose from. For example, if your books emphasize a certain philosophy or are in the productivity niche, your audience might appreciate goods with your mantra emblazoned across or products like a complementary productivity planner.

10. Offer writing services

While some writers need a break from writing, others might be happy to write as their side hustle. If you’re fine earning extra cash from writing or have writing interests and skills in different industries, here are potential options for you:

• Editing: One writing-adjacent service you can offer is freelance editing. Some authors offer developmental or line-editing services for books, while others earn income from copyediting books. Others use their editing skills for online blogs and magazines.
• Ghostwriting: This refers to writing work that will be credited to someone else. If you’re interested in writing in a different genre but want to keep your brand in a different one, consider ghostwriting opportunities. Ghostwriting tends to pay pretty well, especially if you have a solid portfolio.
• Video gaming and interactive forms of media: If you’re open to being creatively challenged, you can try writing for video games or other media formats. It’s very different from writing full-length books or articles, but if you have storytelling skills, you can excel at it.

Authors and writers who successfully diversified their product offerings

By now, you should be brimming with ideas about how to make money as an author, but if you need more real-life examples of authors making it work, we’ve got you, too.

Mark Manson’s success story

Mark Manson is the bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and other books. In addition to his books, Mark has multiple income streams like his courses, his podcast, and his newsletter.

As a Kit user, Mark drove revenue growth on his newsletter, Breakthrough, using Kit’s Sponsor Network. Thanks to that, he earns $15k in passive income from his newsletter alone.

Becca Syme’s success story

Author Becca Syme also diversified her income sources, earning extra cash from 1:1 coaching, selling her online course, running her YouTube channel, and publishing e-books. In 2023, 60% of Becca’s income came from online course sales alone!

Chris Guillebeau’s success story

Writer Chris Guillebeau is the author of The Art of Conformity and other books. In addition to book sales, Chris earns much of his income from speaking gigs. He has presented at corporate giants like Amazon, Adobe, and Google.

Start making more $$$ as an author or writer with Kit Commerce

Although traditional publishing may not always pay enough for authors to make a living, you don’t have to be limited to earning solely from book sales. Experiment with different monetization options and scale your writing business successfully.

Kit Commerce provides countless options to earn more as a writer, whether starting a paid newsletter, running a coaching business, or displaying newsletter ads.

What are you waiting for? Get started with Kit today!