This is one of the toughest paths. It's quite difficult to make a good amount of money selling books. If you have another career path that provides a good stable income, then we strongly recommend choosing that instead

If you insist on making a good amount of money writing and selling books, be prepared for a long and arduous journey. Here are some things to consider -

1) It's rather hard to become successful at both writing and selling books. It requires that you become very good in 2 of the following 3 areas - identifying what book genres and categories are doing well; becoming a good writer for one or more of those book categories; becoming a good marketer for one or more of those book categories

1b) You will have to achieve MASTERY in 2 of the following 3 areas -
First Area: Identifying hot and upcoming areas or identifying evergreen areas that are underserved
Second Area: Writing very well in these areas
Third Area: Becoming a good book marketer and good at selling your books

It is not easy to achieve Mastery in 2 of these 3 areas. Achieving Mastery in even 1 of these areas can be a daunting task

2) Finding Success is not Enough. You have to maintain your success. Success will attract other authors who will try to steal your readers. People will copy your exact strategy. You have to keep writing well and keep marketing well

2b) To really complicate matters - The ebook stores and book stores will encourage imitators. They do not want dependency on one author/vendor. They will do everything they can to spread out sales between you (who discovered a vein of gold), and other authors trying to steal that vein of gold from you

3) You will not just have to find success (an incredibly difficult thing in any field), you will also have to find a defence in the face of infinite competition (something unique to ebooks and other digital marketplaces)

Does that mean it's impossible to make a good living from writing books? Yes and No

Yes, in that it is not something you should consider a high probability event. The vast majority of authors, even good authors, will not make a good living from writing books

No, in that authors who become experts at one or more of - writing very well, marketing very well, finding the right areas to write in, allying with a powerful ally like a Big Publisher or Amazon - will be able to make a good living



Here are a few of the ways in which you can make good money from books indirectly -

1) Establishing Expertise in an Area by making a book a bestseller in that Area. Then selling courses and/or doing consulting

2) Leveraging your Expertise in an area by writing a book as a subject expert. Writing additional books in your area of expertise and charging a higher and still reasonable amount for these additional books

3) Finding some area that is underserved and where you can become one of the very best authors. Establishing a big following and building direct channels to them (blog, email newsletter). Then producing a steady stream of books for the underserved readers in this area

4) Finding an area that is competitive and where you can still become one of the very best authors. Then building a very strong direct channel to readers so you can reach them consistently and keep selling to them

5) Becoming an exceptionally good writer and signing up with a Publisher who will handle the marketing for you



If writing books isn't your passion, then there are a lot of areas where you can make a lot more money than in books

There are also lots of areas where it is much easier and safer to build a steady income

The 'get a steady career as an author' line of thinking is mostly a mirage. You either become very successful by being exceptionally good, or you live a rather up and down existence with little to no career stability


Here are 5 questions to ask yourself. If the answer to 3 or more of them is 'No' then you should not set 'making good money as an author' as your primary goal

1) Are you really good at identifying new hot markets in Books and are able to respond quickly and write books in those areas?
Only answer yes if you have actual experience of this i.e. you have actually done it

2) Are you one of the best writers, in terms of quality of writing and story, in your area?

3) Are you one of the best marketers, amongst all the authors in your area?

4) Are you able to build direct channels to your readers?
So that they can come straight to you and buy easily. So that you can easily inform them of your new book releases

5) Do you have the patience and resources to build up your readership and your channels to readers over 2 to 5 years?

If your answer is Yes to all 5 - then jump right in
If your answer is Yes to 4 - then you have a 50% chance of making a good living as an author
If your answer is Yes to 3 - Then it'll be very difficult and you would really have to persevere
If your answer is Yes to 2 or less - then writing books for a living is not for you

This Path is incredibly difficult. Writing is not a career conducive to making a good amount of money. It is especially not a career conducive to making a steady income