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Writing for Profit, Issue #036, Questions People Frequently Ask Me...
February 10, 2004
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Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time: The Questions People Ask Me…

Here is a list of questions that people frequently ask on the topic of writing: writing for profit. Hopefully you will find the answers helpful but if you have any questions of your own please feel free to contact me.

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What exactly is niche non-fiction?
Simply put, it is the narrow focus a writer employs to position his work above the norm in published produce of a general non-fiction topic. For example, writing a book on fly fishing as apposed to fishing per se – that’s niche – that’s the route to take to make money writing. Isolate your extra income idea, convert it into an extra income opportunity and progress thereafter to create a residual income stream.

Why is the ‘niche’ part so important?
Writing in the niche non-fiction mode allows the writer to fine tune the precise identification of (a) the target market and (b) appropriate publishing houses. The target market will comprise devotees and enthusiasts of the topic in question and the appropriate publishing houses will be those who cater for that niche sub-sector of the overall market. Do it this way and you are setting out your stall to earn extra income at home.

Are you being serious when you claim that anyone can write for profit?
Yes, I am, and let me give you an illustration from history to prove the point. Wallace D Wattles (what a great name for an author) was a working man who resided in the Mid West of the USA. He had something to say on his specialist subject and he desperately wanted to put it all down in book form. His problem was that he was short on basic education let alone writing technique. For several years he spent night after night at his local public library buried in other people’s literary works in an endeavor to bring himself up to speed. Finally he managed to have his own book published and it became an instant bestseller. It’s still around today some 80 years on and you can read about its substance in my creative writing course which, incidentally, will negate the necessity for you to spend years training to become a master of writing for profit. Follow the signposts and you will be up and running in next to no time in your mission to isolate an extra income idea, convert it into an extra income opportunity and create your very own residual income stream.

Can you really become successful writing for profit part time?
I am living proof that you can; I have far too many other commercial interests pressing on me to make a full time career out of writing. Even at that I wouldn’t persist on a part time basis unless it were affording me fulfillment in (a) recognition) and (b) profit from my undertakings. You will recall reading this statement when the first flush of recognition comes your way. It’s addictive! Let me show you what I mean. Type as keywords ‘starting an internet business’ into the Google search engine and up will come on the first page one of my bestsellers ‘Starting an Internet business at Home’ ranking at No.1 out of 5,590,000 entries (recognition). Go then to Amazon.com and type the same keywords into their search engine for ‘books’. Up again will come the same title ranking at No.3 out of 27,376 competing titles (profit).

Surely the learning curve is too long and too complicated for beginners?
No, it is simplicity itself and as short as you’d like to make it providing you are prepared to apply yourself to the basics, the signposts and the templates for progression, all of which are clearly laid out in the tutorial: Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time.

Isn’t all this just for loners?
We all live in a mind world to varying degrees but authors spend more time there than the average Joe (esphine). They require to if they are to be successful. That however does not mean to imply that they are all necessarily loners by nature. Gregarious people also make good writers because they know instinctively when to cut away from the talk addicted crowd and visit the silent mind to further their aspirations.

How do I know if what I know is of any interest to others?
If your area of specialist expertise fits neatly into a defined niche (and the majority of topics do just that) then you already have an edge because there’s a 50/50 chance that other like-minded enthusiasts will want to know what you know. But it doesn’t end there. You must consistently add to your perceived knowledge to determine that what you think you know is all there is to know, and more to the point, is valid. Better to find out now than have someone else point it out to you later. The modus operandi for all of this you will find in Chapter 5 of Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time. It’s painless when you know how…

Are you just focusing on self-help and how-to books?
Not at all; self-help and how-to projects are natural channels for niche non-fiction but there are hundreds of other disparate topics (ways to make extra income) that are equally applicable. Read Chapter 4 of the tutorial and you’ll see what I mean.

You talk about testing for longevity in a topic. How do you do that?
Ah, now that’s a secret which is revealed in Chapter 4 (working well that one…)

I know my subject inside out but how do I convert my expertise into a teaching module?
Read Chapter 4 (what did I just say?)

Don’t you have to be an experienced author to research efficiently?
This may have been the case years ago but no longer. Universal access to the Internet makes it ultra easy for anyone to locate targeted information on any subject. Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time shows you how and directs you to sources that are of particular value in researching niche topics.

What about stringing it all together?
The tutorial demonstrates how you can rapidly sift though your accumulated research data, evaluate, prioritize and position your findings in sequential order.

Isn’t it virtually impossible nowadays to get published?
If you’re talking fiction, yes, most definitely that is the case. But the beauty of writing for profit in the realms of niche non-fiction is that you avail yourself of the facility for accurately pinpointing your marketplace and your publishing options.

Can you really sell online?
In Chapter 12 you will discover how one part time author produced an online bestseller that catapulted to the #1 spot in Amazon.com within a week of its release. Most authors nowadays create a web site for promotion purposes (I have several and they all produce good business.)

You mention additional income streams. What are they?
Read about them in Chapter 13 and start to get excited at the prospects.

Am I not likely (even with your creative writing course) to end up with piles of rejection slips?
If you go out looking for them you won’t be disappointed; you’ll get them in abundance. Study and stick with the strategies in Writing for Profit in Your Spare Time and you will cut down the incidence of rejection slips to a miniscule minimum.

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