You don’t have to be the best writer to make a living writing, but you do have to get paid for what you do write. Even a great writer can starve, if she doesn’t know how to land paying work. Earning more money can be as simple as changing how you go about getting work.

Why Taking Control of Your Writing Career Earns You More Money

There are two ways to make a living writing: You can do a lot of work for a low rate. Or you can do less work but for a better rate. The first way often involves working on projects where you accept whatever pay the client sets. This is often the route of writers who let others do their marketing for them. They prefer to go to job boards and sites like elance.com and guru.com, and cull through tons of listings. They are happy to do that because the job listings are all right there, on a platter, as it were. Getting work this way means they don’t have to market themselves. They just show up on the boards and pick out the jobs they want to bid on and bid away, often bidding themselves right out of decent pay.They can take on a lot of projects this way, as long as they are willing to accept poor pay.

The second way, though initially more difficult or intimidating, can produce much better results. It’s the second way that I want to show you today. The second way involves marketing your own writing business and letting clients come to you. The beauty of this approach is that you’re not one of hundreds of writers responding to one ad, bidding on one project. You’re not stuck accepting whatever paltry sum the ad writer wants to pay, like $5 or $10 an article. The beauty of this approach is that clients come to you and they ask you what your rate is. They agree to pay your rate.

Go out and market your own writing business. Get over the initial reluctance to talk yourself up or to put yourself out there, and you can start raking in a lot more money. In this case, the choice is pretty clear: Take the seemingly easier way and simply hop on over to a job board and pick out a job to bid on. Or take the potentially more difficult way and develop your own marketing. One way protects your ego by making sure you don’t have to market yourself and possibly face rejection, but it will ensure you are a slave. The other way opens you up to the possibility of rejection when some element of your marketing doesn’t work, but it has the potential to give you the freelance life of your dreams.

Getting paid — well — for your work is possible.

Here are 5 ways to get paid for what you write.

1. Work Your Connections

No doubt you already know people who need your services or who know people who do. So check in with them. Do you know any business owners? What about leaders of organizations? Is there an editor in your email contact list? What about somebody who seems to know everybody? Potential clients can come from anywhere within your network. And don’t underestimate your network. It’s probably larger than you think. In fact, the typical person in America has 634 people in their network, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. So you may not talk to them every day (most people have two or three close friends or confidantes), they are people who are in your network. They are your contacts. They include your doctor, your old high school classmates, the people you worship with, the people at your old job, etc. So if you are launching or growing a freelance writing career, look at your network with new eyes. See who it is you know offline and online and let them know what you are up to. Somebody in that network wants to pay you to write. I talk more about this in my forthcoming book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships. (You can join our mailing list here, to get news and information about the book.)

2. Post Ads for What You Do

Many freelance writers have tiny (or nonexistent) marketing and advertising budgets and they aren’t terribly interested in spending money on promoting their businesses. But setting aside some time or money (or both) to tell your target audience what you do can help bring in the dollars. This is the thing: Nobody is just going to walk up to your door and shove money into your hand and ask you to write. You’ve got to let people know who you are there and keep reminding them. You can post paid ads in publications or on sites that serve your target audience, but you can also post ads for free. Yes, for free. We’ve done both.

We’ve used paid advertising and we’ve used free advertising to get clients for our book ghostwriting, editing, and design business. The free site we have used is Craigslist. Yes, that’s right, Craigslist. Craigslist can be a scary place for a writer looking for work, but that is because most writers looking for work on Craigslist go about it the wrong way. They spend countless hours searching ads posted by people who want to hire writers for pennies. (Those job boards, again.) That’s not the way to do it. Instead of searching ads of people who have decided they want to pay you less than what they’d spend on a Happy Meal, take control of the situation and tell them what you will do. Post your own service ad sharing information about what you offer — the type of copywriting, ghostwriting, editing, etc., that you do and your pitch. You don’t have to compete to be the lowest-priced option. Write a good enough ad, and you compete based on the value you bring.

I know this can be an approach that works, because it has worked for us. We’ve landed four- and five-figure deals as a result of our free Craigslist ads. Our clients that have come through Craigslist have included speakers, a medical director of a specialty clinic, life and career coaches, consultants, business owners, and others. We’ve landed clients who have gotten cheaper quotes, but they signed on with us instead because of the value and expertise we could provide, based on our experience.

3. Write Blog Posts

Show off your expertise and court your target client through your blog. Write about topics that would be of interest to your client. For instance, if you write for small businesses and want to do their social media, brochures, blogs, etc., then do blog posts related to concerns for small businesses — 3 Ways Social Media Can Boost Your Bottom Line, 7 Strategies for Adding to Every Sale, How to Get Better Clients with Your Next Brochure. This does two things. One, it positions you as a resource, someone who knows what she is talking about. And two, it lets the business owner know why he/she needs what you are talking about. Once the business owner realizes that he/she needs what you are talking about (social media help, strategies to boost sales, a new brochure to get better clients), it’s a very short distance to asking you to do the work.

4. Do a Great Job and Ask for More Business

Good work begets more good work. Don’t just do the assignment with an eye toward getting it over and getting paid. Do it with an eye toward being a resource for your client. What does your client need? Do you work without hand-holding? Do you produce the quality of work the client expects? Do you make working with you easy? Make sure your business practices and work product will endear you to clients. Clients who have a good experience with you are more likely to come back for more. So ask them for more business when the project winds down or shortly thereafter. And similarly, ask them to refer others to you. Sure, there are some pain-in-the-behind clients you can’t wait to get rid of and really aren’t interested in working with again, but for the most part, you should enjoy your clients and the work, and you want them to enjoy you. So make that enjoyment pay off in a tangible way, more business.

5. Hook Up With a Kindred Soul

One way to help grow your writing business is to team with someone who has complementary skills. Maybe that could be a graphic designer or a Web designer. You two can refer business to each other, as clients of one might naturally need assistance of the other. For instance, your graphic designer friend might have someone who needs a brochure designed, but the graphic designer may not be a copywriter. You could team up and land the project together. When I first started out running a writing business, I offered only writing services. A celebrity client asked me several times if I could handle the entire project — writing and design — but I could not. I eventually expanded the business, thanks to marrying a man with design experience! Today, our company is a full-service solution for people who need to publish books for their businesses. We can write, edit, design, and even manage the print production of the projects!

You don’t have to know how to do everything, but consider partnering with someone (or several) who can add to what you offer.

These are five ways you can get freelance writing clients on your own terms. You don’t have to settle for bidding for low-paying gigs at job boards or content sites. Take control of your writing career and court the type of clients you want to work with and let them come to you.

I self-published my first book way back in 2002, when ebooks weren’t an option and printing on your own wasn’t cheap. I eventually landed a book deal but never left my self-publishing roots, as I decided to continue to self-publish, even with a book deal. Today, as I prepare for the release of my next nonfiction book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships, I’m faced with deciding whether to go ebook only. In fact, I’m sooo tempted to go ebook only, and had decided to do just that. After all, everybody is reading ebooks these days, right?

Wrong.

As I considered more and more whether to go ebook only, I realized it’s not as simple as deciding to ditch the print version.

The ebook craze of the past six years has changed publishing in a big way: It’s given entry to more authors than ever before. Many who could not afford to produce their books before because of higher production costs that included printing are now able to put their work into the marketplace as ebooks. And authors who were able to afford the cost now find they can publish more often, thanks to the lower production cost of ebooks.

Ebook sales outpace print, which is exciting news for authors as we see that readers are happily consuming what we produce. But publishing an ebook doesn’t necessarily mean you can abandon the printed book, especially if you are using a book to grow your business. Ebooks are wonderful. They provide a different reading experience, access to publishing for more authors, and often a less expensive option to the printed book for the buyer.

But…

Here are four reasons why you still need a printed book:

1. Book events and speaking engagements. If you want to sell books in the back of the room at a speaking engagement, having a printed book is quite helpful. You can induce people to go to a website to buy your ebook, but you will lose some sales at your event without a print option. That is because many people will make impulse purchases on the spot if they liked what you said or felt a connection to you when you spoke. And others will want to purchase the book from you so they can have it signed right there.

2. The reader’s experience. Ebooks are great because they are portable and convenient, but the reading experience sometimes lags behind that of a printed book, depending on the reader’s needs. If the reader is using the book as a reference or information source such as a travel guide or instruction book, then getting from passage to passage can be a bit tricky sometimes. For instance, while ebooks allow bookmarking of pages that can be likened to the dogearing of the pages of a printed book, going back and forth between passages can be a bit clumsy. It’s not as easy as dogearing a page or holding a finger between two pages to flip between the two. Remember, we are still in very early development of ebook technology. Ebook technology a few years from now may offer as much convenience of a printed book, but for now, it’s just not there, not in this particular instance.

3. Perception of value. We can pack a lot of information into ebooks. And the ease of publishing allows us to conveniently update. But readers aren’t willing to pay the same for an ebook that they pay for a printed book. In the minds of many readers, ebooks, by virtue of the technology, are worth less. Many readers have thresholds of what they will pay for ebooks. Some won’t pay more than $4.99 or $6.99. But for a printed book, they will pay $15.95 or $24.95 or more. So if you have published “only” an ebook, some readers see that as less valuable than a printed book containing the same information. So consider how you want your expertise and business to be perceived. In some instances, producing only an ebook may work, especially if you are using the ebook as a lead generator on your website. But if you are using the book to build your expertise or credibility or you will use it on the speaking circuit, then you may suffer from reduced perception of value.

4. Access. Ereaders and tablets are quickly gaining in popularity, but that doesn’t mean everyone has an ereader or tablet. In fact, about one-fourth of Americans own a tablet, while about one-third own a tablet or an ereader, leaving three-fourths or two-thirds without ereaders and tablets. Households earning $75,000 or more a year report more ebook usage than those earning less. So consider your target audience and whether it is likely to read books in digital or print format.

Of course there is the bonus reason why you need a printed book: Legacy and permanence. When a reader buys a printed book, the reader owns it. He or she can put it on a bookshelf and pass it to the next generation. When your reader purchases your ebook, it’s pretty much a loan, as the online book vendor can delete the information from the reader’s account. Imagine, one moment your reader has the ebook he or she has just purchased and downloaded. The next moment, it’s gone, taken back by the vendor for some reason.

I love ebooks and believe they are certainly our reading future. But I will continue to produce print versions a bit longer; after all, deciding to publish a book for your business doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition when it comes to how you will produce it.

How do you decide whether to publish in print or ebook format?

Sometimes, hard work is no indication of how much money you’ll earn or how successful you will be. I’ve seen, unfortunately, writer friends who work very hard to churn out articles for content mills and low-paying publications. Yet other writer friends may not work quite as hard but earn way more.

This can certainly be the case when writing for newspapers and magazines. I used to do some magazine and newspaper freelance work, but moved away from it when I realized I could find my own business clients and write for them for a much better rate that I set myself. And the payment terms would be better. But I know many writers love the idea of a byline and crave newspaper and magazine work. And that’s OK. To each, right?

Well, if you’re a freelance magazine or newspaper writer, you don’t have to be stuck with no and low-paying work. Here is how to raise your rate and make more money when you freelance for magazines and newspapers:

1. Exercise your rights. Consider what rights you are selling to the publication. For instance, if you are selling First North American Serial Rights, then you are selling the right to publish that piece for the first time in North America. But don’t think that’s all the life left in that piece. Consider other rights. Many publications, for instance, buy reprint rights. So that means you can earn money for that piece twice — thanks to those reprint rights. One article, two checks? Cool, right?

2. Eliminate the duds. You don’t have to write for any publication you don’t want to. Sure, you might have written for one that paid you $15 an article way back when you first got into this game, but are you really still at that level? Kick that low-paying publication to the curb! It’s really not worth your time. Not if you want to have any time for anything beyond slaving over $15 articles.

3. Seek out better-paying venues. Would you rather write an article and get paid $30 for it or $300 for it? Well, target the places that pay better. You don’t have to make the leap from the lowest-paying publications to the highest-paying ones in one day. There are many in between. Go for a mid-level publication, and the clips there can help you eventually go for that premium gig. Don’t let fear keep you from reaching higher. Put together a great pitch and query that better-paying publication! Writers Market is a great resource for finding paying markets. You can subscribe by the year or on a monthly basis.

4. Repurpose your articles. If you’ve already written an article and gotten paid for it, why not see how many other story ideas you can get from the research and work you’ve already put into that piece? Evaluate your research and the article to create two to three other story ideas. So you can turn that one story into multiple stories, based on using a different slant or angle.

5. Negotiate a better rate. While publications may have set rates that they offer, if you’ve been working with a certain publication for a while, it doesn’t hurt to ask for more money. If you have a good relationship with the editor and are easy to work with (you turn in projects on time, require no major overhauls, don’t need hand-holding, deliver what is asked), there is a good chance they’ll be willing to hear your request. So make your best case for why you should be paid more (you have more experience than when you first started writing for them, you’ve always hit the mark, you have  a good knowledge of the publication and its needs, etc.). They may have a set freelance budget, but it doesn’t mean there is no wiggle room for you.

6. Syndicate your content. If you write a popular column for your local newspaper, maybe it’s time to consider syndication. When I wrote a popular (and award-winning!) newspaper column years ago, I flirted with the idea of syndication, but never actually got on it. So don’t just flirt with it! Research it to see if it’s right for you. You can self-syndicate, where you individually market your column to publications or go through a syndication service that markets and syndicates the column for you. Check out the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for info on syndication services.

Freelance magazine and newspaper writing can be rewarding and can lead to other opportunities. This type of writing can also provide room for you to boost your income, if you are willing to exercise your rights, get multiple story ideas from one assignment, go for better publications, and negotiate better rates.

What other methods have you used to increase your freelance magazine and newspaper writing income?

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If you are a freelance newspaper or magazine writer, you are constantly in need of story ideas. As editorial budgets get squeezed and editors are making do with fewer staffers, the opportunities for freelancers are growing. After all, it’s a lot cheaper to buy a good story from a freelancer than it is to pay an already-stretched staff writer overtime to go and write one extra piece, in many instances.

So how do you find the good stories to pitch to a publication?

1. Read the publication. This seems obvious, but many freelancers pitch publications without having taken the time to read them. Just because two publications publish articles on the same subject doesn’t mean they approach them in the same way. Read up on the publication so you can reflect its style and tone. See what stories it loves and think about a new angle or take on a favorite topic.

2. Check out the national trends. Get on the mailing lists for associations, organizations, and agencies in your subject or beat area. For instance, if you cover social services, then getting on the Census Bureau’s mailing list and receiving updates on population statistics, including poverty, race, etc., could generate new story ideas. See how these trends can be relevant to the audience of the publication you are querying.

3. Skip on over to the editor’s letter. See what’s on the editor’s mind this month. The editor’s letter can clue you in to topics that will be discussed in the coming months or year. This space can also let you know about the publication’s — or the editor’s — priorities. Is there a story idea that jumps out at you as a result of reading this?

4. Give a fresh take on an evergreen. Look at upcoming holidays, events, or awareness months. What typical stories does the publication run on this? How can you freshen up the topic with a new spin on it?

5. Follow people in your area. Follow people in your area of interest on Twitter or another social network. What are they talking about? This can clue you in on rising issues in an industry or let you see something interesting and newsy someone (or a business) is doing related to your topic.

Great story ideas are all around you, when you are a freelancer. Match the best story ideas with the appropriate publications and query away!

What other ways do you generate story ideas?

Landing a new client can be pretty exciting, but it can also be time-consuming and expensive. You’ve got to get to your marketing channels and beat those bushes. Place costly ads. Hang out on the social networks. Spend time chasing down leads.

It’s an essential part of business and is great when it works. But you’re cheating yourself if you don’t put effort into building relationships with your customers and clients, relationships that last beyond that first purchase. You see, it is less costly and more efficient to get repeat business from a customer or client than it is to go out and acquire a new one. Think about it: You can go out and pay $500 or $1,000 for an ad in a decent spot and hope to bring in enough business to pay for that ad and then some. Or, what if you followed up with an existing client or sent out an email to your mailing list or even made a phone call to someone who has done business with you before? And what if that follow-up landed you just the amount of business you needed? Sweet, right?

Well, that’s the power of relationship.

Y’know, I’ve been talking a lot about relationships lately, as I believe they a major part of business success. That has certainly been the case for us, where a lot of our business comes from or through relationships, either because people know us or because they have worked with us in the past and return to us or send their friends. I talk about the best ways to cultivate relationships in my soon-to-be-released book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships. And I discuss social media relationships at SocialMouths.com.

So yeah, I’m big on the power of relationships.

In fact, what I’d like for you to do is see your projects, not as one-off bits of work that give you money now, but as opportunities for more work and impact in the future. This can happen when you take care of your clients and go beyond the typical ho-hum interaction to create clear communication, fulfilled expectations, and genuine appreciation.

Here are ten ways to do that:

1. Get it in writing. It’s tempting to skip the formality of a written agreement when you take on a project, but take the time to do it anyway. This agreement helps make sure all expectations and promises are clear and understood.

2. Point to the agreement. If your client goes against the agreement, makes unreasonable demands that are addressed in or that are outside of the agreement, or tries to change the rules of the game, simply refer her back to the agreement. No need to be distasteful about it. Just say, “According to the agreement you signed, XXXX….” and explain why what the person is now saying or doing doesn’t fly. Most times, that will right the course.

3. Go the extra mile. One of the things I always try to do with my clients is to offer some added value beyond what the client is paying for. Sure, I do the work that the client has hired me to do, but I also look for ways to do a little extra. Sometimes, that means offering advice or insight to help the client make a decision about the project. After all, I’m a publishing expert; my client, usually, is not. So if I can offer insight about the publishing industry or something related to helping the client earn more money from his book, then I will likely share that. Sometimes, I may provide additional resources to help the client in this new world he has entered. Other times, the extra may mean providing some extra service to the actual project. In a recent example, a client realized he needed his books much earlier than originally planned. To make that happen, we worked late hours and weekends to get that project turned around in a much escalated time frame. It’s not something we had to do, nor is it something we would do all the time. But we did it because that was the extra this client needed. In another instance, I took the time to talk a client through some of the income-generating potential of her project. Before that conversation, she was simply thinking of her book as a nice expression of her creativity and ideas. But after that conversation, she realized her book could be a piece of a much larger equation that earned her income through speaking and other products. Now, she speaks on her book’s topic.

4. Realize the customer is not always right. Chances are, you know a lot more about your client’s project than your client does. If your client runs an idea by you and you know that it’s going to be disastrous to the project, don’t be afraid to share that. Know that your customer doesn’t have all the answers, and sometimes, the customer will appreciate a well-placed piece of advice or a suggestion from you. Of course, you’ll need to consider the overall interaction and just how open this person has been to other feedback, to know how to proceed. That is because …

5. Don’t take “No” personally. Not every client will listen to your ideas, advice, or suggestions, even if the client hired you for your ideas, advice, or suggestions. That’s just the thing about clients. Sometimes they know how to stay out of their own way and let you do the thing they hired you to do. Sometimes not. So when you run into a client who won’t let you do your job, don’t take it personally. Instead, remain professional and remain polite. Do the work the best you can and offer suggestions where they are warranted. But ultimately, remember it’s the client’s project.

6. Be ready with “Yes.” If a client asks you for something extra that is outside of the contract, don’t automatically X it out and say no. Instead, consider whether you can accommodate the request. If you can, say yes and let the client know the associated cost.

7. Admit a mistake. Most clients get that we’re all human and mistakes occasionally happen. So if you realize you forgot to do something, just admit it and offer a remedy. Pretending the mistake didn’t happen or trying to blame someone else just isn’t cool. If you realize your mistake — whether you discover it on your own, or your client points it out — try to figure out what went wrong and fix the process so it doesn’t happen in the future. But for now, for this project, the main thing is to acknowledge the mistake, apologize, and provide a remedy.

8. Deliver the goods. Clients hire you for a reason. They expect that you will do the work. So just by doing what you promise, that is a very good way to build a relationship. That is because, unfortunately, too often we run into service providers who say they will do one thing, but they don’t. So just work to do the thing you agreed to do. Sometimes, delivering the goods means something as simple as sending an email when you said you would. Sometimes I start my emails with, “As promised, I am sending the XXXX.” This is a way of reminding the client of the original promise and of subtly (or not so subtly?) reinforcing the idea that I do what I say. Try it.

9. Know when to stop. If you do business long enough, you will run into a client who is simply too demanding or unreasonable. It will not matter how many extras you do or how many times you point to the contract, this person will insist on being unhappy about something, even if that something really is nothing. You can address every point the client makes and still find the person isn’t satisfied, for whatever reason — often a reason that has nothing to do with you or the work. So realize that not every client will turn into a long-term relationship. For some, you’ll just want to get the work done and move on.

10. Go into every interaction with a positive attitude. Remember that the fact that you get to build a business you love is a blessing. You could be doing any other type of work, grinding away the days, but you’re doing this. And to do it successfully, you need repeat business. So expect the best from each project and be ready to do what you can to make it happen.

These are all ways to create trusting, open, and lasting relationships with the people who hire you. Do this, and you will find they return to you time and time again because they know you’ll be helpful, truthful, and real with them. This is the case whether you are working for a freelance writing client, writing an assignment for a magazine editor, or making revisions for an agent. Don’t resort to the sterile, impersonal interactions you may have favored in the past. Meet each client with an eye toward a relationship, and not just a dollar-based transaction.

And get this: Loyal customers — those customers and clients you build relationships with — are worth up to ten times the amount of money they originally spent with you. Yep… Got you thinking, huh?

Why do you do repeat business with your favorite service providers?

The reality is that the reality is never the fantasy.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I dreamed that I would write in a rickety, old frame house and do my best to put peanut butter and tuna on the table for two kids. I’d bang out great pieces on my typewriter — yes, typewriter, because this was my ’80s fantasy. Somehow in that fantasy I was a struggling, single mom, happy in her writing, even as the personal life was unremarkable. Not sure why I automatically envisioned my writerly self as a single mom — did not even the teenage me see the value of a husband? The only conclusion I can come up with on that part is that not many dads were around, which is weird because I had a dad in the home, although he was rather emotionally unavailable.

But I digress.

In a Media Bistro interview, Antoine Fuqua, director of Olympus Has Fallen, which opened this weekend, said this: “Feed your artist.” I found that an appropriate reminder for us writers. You see, you can’t feed anything if you’re broke.

That’s why I had to rewrite my fantasy. In my fantasy, I was happy enough with writing to be content with being poor. I actually fantasized about being poor. Of living in a rickety house with barely enough means to support myself or my children. Because of love. Of writing. I embraced the starving artist stereotype in my fantasy.

But then reality hit. I realized that in the soft light of a fantasy, a churning belly is romantic. In the harsh light of real life, it’s tragic. I didn’t want to write a tragedy of my life.

So I decided the reality needed to be different from the fantasy. After reading  A Day in the Life of a Digital Editor on The Atlantic recently, I knew that the lesson has been lost on way too many writers. Alexis Madrigal made an interesting case for why publications (often) ask writers to work for free. Publications decide some people can be paid decently and others can be asked to do the same work for little or no money. It’s all based on budgets (of course) and whether a writer is lucky enough to land a job as a staff writer, a paid contributor, or an unpaid freelancer who gets compensated with exposure.

I don’t fault the publications for their business models. Publishing is a tough business these days. Print is no longer what it once was and digital is still largely finding its revenue-generating way. Businesses set their rates and they can make offers to people to work. A writer can choose to accept or decline. If you accept a no- or low-paying gig, don’t complain about it. Suck it up and do the work. You agreed to do it. But if you get an offer you feel doesn’t properly compensate you, don’t be afraid to pass. Yep, say no. And move on.

Today’s writer must be something most writers are not interested in being: A business person. If you want to have a successful writing career, you must be a business person first. That’s the only way to “Feed your artist.”

You see, most of us grew up fantasizing about the beauty, grandeur, or, in my case, the romantic sacrifice of a writing career. We focused solely on the writing. Of creating something others would weep over or find hugely funny or marvel at in its eloquence. We thought a successful writing career was about the writing.

It’s not.

A successful writing career, today, is about seeing the return on your investment of time, skill, and expertise. If you’re not getting a return on your effort, then it’s not successful. Period. But only the writer can decide what return is worth it.

I generally advise writers not to write for free. Except when it makes sense to do so. Huh? Yeah. There are certain times when you may decide to write for free. But get this: It’s not for free. It may not be for a dollar amount, but it has to be worth something for you to consider it. If it truly is for free and there is no value or benefit to you, then you would be better off spending that time taking a nap. You’d get more of a benefit. But sometimes — in rare occasions — a writer should consider compensation beyond the dollar, when deciding whether to take on an assignment or project.

Writing for free — or for compensation other than a specific dollar amount — can be a smart career strategy if you are clear about what you are doing. Maybe you write for free as a guest blogger to gain access to a bigger blogger’s audience or to boost your own credibility. Or maybe you write for free to gain exposure in a noted publication because you are promoting a book and believe that publication’s audience would be interested. Or maybe you write for free to solidify a relationship or to parlay that opportunity into a specific benefit later. And get this: Sometimes you write for free just for the heck of it. Maybe it’s an assignment that you have interest  in anyway and this publication provides an outlet for a type of work you would normally have no home for.

But writing for compensation other than money should be the exception in your writing career, rather than the rule. Many writers are starving right now because they have mistakenly taken on the belief that they must accept every assignment that comes their way, even if it isn’t all that great. They think building a career on the foundation of no-pay and low-pay assignments will one day pay off and usher them into the “big time.” They get sucked in by all the promises of “exposure” or “future opportunities.” Well, peeps, the future is now. The writing career you have right now is the future you were dreaming about just a short while ago.

Disappointing, huh?

Do Something Different to Get Something Different

Well, if you are disappointed with where your writing career is now — that you’re stuck writing for $10 or $20 a post or piece, then stop. Yes, stop. It’s as simple as that. Stop living as a starving artist and decide to be an artist entrepreneur, an ambitious entrepreneur. The shift is in both the mindset and the methodology. The mindset now means that you will seek out work that will pay you decently. You won’t just be grateful for any ol’ thing that comes your way. And the methodology means you will structure your business in a new way. You will set your rate. You will develop a brand. You will settle on a niche or type of work you will focus on now. You will conduct your writing career as a business person, and not as a hapless artist.

If you’ve been toiling away for ridiculous pay, you owe it to your talent, skill, and expertise to do something different. What you have been doing obviously isn’t working. I have a writer friend who writes for ridiculously low-paying assignments. I have talked with her about this, but she thinks this is the way to build a career. And maybe it was, in the beginning as a rank newcomer. But she’s been at this writing game for years now. It’s really time out for pay like that.

But I get why some writers take on such projects. Some don’t want to put the time or effort into developing an actual business. They’d much rather work for sites that will pay them such paltry sums in exchange for spoon-feeding them assignments. Or they would rather work with the few publications they know than take the time and effort to go find new avenues. They prefer starving to the work of making their own way.

I get that. After all, making your own way is tough. I’ve been there. Casting about for clients. Going weeks — months? — with no new money coming in. Feeling unsure about what you should be doing to make this thing work.

And even now, I wouldn’t call it easy. Sure, I have clients and a business that actually supports our family. But it comes with a lot of heavy lifting: I manage client demands, am always in marketing mode to land new business, and have to keep that bottom line in sight. I write for money, and sometimes love has to fall by the wayside: My fiction career doesn’t get as much attention as I’d like, but that is the sacrifice I make to keep the client projects coming and the work going well.

It takes time and effort to figure out your writing business. And you don’t build it overnight. But if you decide to focus on the business of writing, it does come.

You Can Make a Living Writing

Your writing reality can be so much better than some hazy fantasy. I know mine is. I’m not a single mom struggling to feed my kids peanut butter. I’m not a starving artist chasing $10 assignments. Instead, my husband and I run a writing business where we get to work with interesting clients doing significant work. I get to ghostwrite books for business owners and speakers, consultants, and professionals. I don’t bang out assignments, then look for publications that may or may not pay me for them. I decided a long time ago that the sexiest writing life of all was the well-paid one.

This may mean making some tough decisions. One decision I made years ago was to focus on business clients. The idea of writing for magazines sounded fun, but I wasn’t interested in the dismal pay rates many set. And I certainly wasn’t interested in having to wait months to be paid. I did some magazine writing early on, but decided to forgo it as I grew in my career. I could find my own business clients who would live by my terms and pay my rates. I didn’t need to grovel at the pen of some magazine editor. Of course I still fantasize about seeing a byline in some esteemed publication.

But then I realize I like eating better. It does feel good to feed my artist.

And my kid.

*

Join the mailing list and get our free e-course, 21 Days to Making More From Your Writing.

Many authors write a book and expect an audience to find it. As a result, their sales are disappointing — most likely, dismal. You can’t think book writing is a Field of Dreams and all you have to do is build it and they will come. They won’t know it’s there. They won’t know what it’s about. They won’t know where to get it.

So you’ve got to identify who they are and get the word out to them. With book writing, you’ve got to market the book. That means telling readers about the book, how it can help them, and how they can get it. We’ve talked quite a bit about book marketing in this space. But there is another side to marketing your book and building your brand. It’s about productifying your book.

Yes, productifying. Turning your one book into multiple products and services.

I’ve told you on this blog that I’ve done that with my own books. In fact, I’ve built a whole writing business from my one novel I first self-published in 2002. I’ve added other books, services including ghostwriting, editing, and design, and lots more. My husband and I have a multilayered business, all thanks to our willingness to see beyond one book.

What can you do if you choose to see beyond your one book?

It can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Not only can you turn your one book into multiple products or services that grow your business. But you can give away the products and services for free to market something else or you can offer the products and services for a fee so they become income-generating tools. So, before, where you thought the only way to make money off your book was to sell copies of it one by one, now you realize there are lots of other ways! I’ll share a few with you here.

By the way, this works for nonfiction and fiction, both. If you offer any value in your book, then you can productify that book.

Hallelujah! You don’t have to hoof it to tons of book events, hoping to sell 10 or 20 books just to have a good day. Instead, you can build additional products and services around your expertise or elements you share in the book and make a lot more money off your book that way. In fact, you can make more money off your book and even generate more sales of the book, by taking the productify approach. Imagine selling one product or service based on your book and earning 10 or 20 times (or more!) what you’d make selling one book. That’s very possible with the productify approach.

Most authors stop at the book, thinking that’s all there is to it. But it’s not. Your book is merely the beginning. Your book can be the centerpiece in your book empire. Here is how:

Determine which one or two products/services you want to develop from your book

1. Videos. Does your book lend itself to video? Perhaps you want to develop a video series about the book’s topic or a particular idea you share in the book. You can offer a free video series on your blog or decide to charge for your video by creating a course.

2. Audio. You can create a free podcast based on some element of your book or create a CD series or the audiobook version that you charge for.

3. Blog. You can blog your book’s topic and share information for free or even build a membership site that offers additional, valuable information for a fee.

4. Speaking engagements. You can develop a workshop, seminar, or keynote based on some element or information from the book. You can speak for free, of course, at local organizations, or build a program around your book’s information and charge a fee for presenting it. You can do this by holding your own signature events or by presenting at conferences where you get a fee.

5. Coaching or mentoring. You can offer a coaching or mentoring program based on your book’s topic or expertise you share in the book. You can offer brief coaching or consulting sessions for free as a marketing tool, or you can offer coaching, consulting, or mentoring for a fee to clients who want to get a better knowledge of your topic or learn how to apply your teachings in their lives or businesses.

6. Webinars and teleconferences. These are tools to present your coaching, mentoring, or consulting. Again, as with the other options I’ve shared, you can offer a free version as a marketing tool or a paid version as an income-generating element to your business.

7. Events. You can host a free event as a marketing tool built around your book, or you can host an event as an income-generating element. For instance, let’s say your book is about weight loss. Your free weight loss event may be a health fair or a workshop where you discuss the Top Ten Ways to Lose 20 Pounds. It’s a marketing tool because it’s aimed at attracting your target audience, people who are specifically interested in the event’s topic. Or, you can build it up and make it a paid event that becomes an income-generating part of your business. There, you may seek sponsorships or charge an admission fee. You earn money from the sponsorships, the admission fee, and selling any products or services you choose to sell. You may provide a copy of your book in the registration packet based on the fee the attendees have paid, or sell the book separately at the event.

8. Software or apps. Does your book or your expertise lend itself to developing a new software program or an app? As with the other options, you can offer some version of your software or app for free or you can ramp it up and offer it as a paid tool.

These are just some of the ways you can productify your book! Regardless of which way you choose, make sure you are high on quality. Even if you are offering a scaled down version of a product or service as a free marketing tool to bring in leads that may turn into buyers of the paid version, what you offer has to be good. Nobody wants to waste her time on something that is clearly just fluff. So if you promise valuable information, deliver valuable information. If you promise an entertaining or educational time, deliver an entertaining or educational time.

See your book through new eyes

As you can see with each of these examples, there is a way to turn your book into a new product or service and offer it for free to your target audience, and there is a way to turn it into a paid product or service for your business. All of this is based on your one book! If your book is offering enough value in terms of information, inspiration, or entertainment in its current form, there is a way to leverage that book into some other product or service. You’ve just got to be creative enough to see your book’s potential beyond its pages.

If you are in a service business, you need a book. That’s because a book can:

• Outline your expertise
• Allow you to discuss your target clients’ pain points a way that helps them see you can solve the problem
• Become a key marketing tool to sell higher-priced products and services

Many solopreneurs, sales professionals, small business owners, and freelancers miss the opportunity to stand out in their fields because they don’t realize how important having a book is. A book often is the best way to go from average to credentialed star. That is because a professional, small business owner, or freelancer with a book behind his or her name is immediately seen as someone who knows something. This person, just by virtue of having published a book on a subject, is seen as more knowledgeable, more authoritative, and more useful than someone who hasn’t written a book on the subject. And this means the professional with the book can charge more money and sell more products and services.

One key difference between writing a book to grow your business and writing a book as a hobby, creative literary endeavor, or other undertaking, is that this is not your life’s work. It doesn’t have to take years and years to produce this book. In fact, it shouldn’t. Getting your message out to your target customers and clients is the point. Not blowing everyone away with your use of five syllable words or the beauty of your prose. You want to produce a great product and pay good money to ensure that happens, but you don’t want to get lost in the process. After all, you’ve got a business to run, sales to bring in, and a reputation to build.

Learn the process so you can publish with efficiency, excellence, and effectiveness. So how do you publish a book to grow your business?

Address Your Clients’ Pain

If you are running a service business, that means you are there to ease someone’s pain or make it disappear altogether. If you are a fitness trainer, you’re there to address the pain of obesity, health issues, and poor body image. If you run a writing business, you are there to address the pain of poor writing ability, poor sales, and lack of communication. If you run a photography business, you are there to address the pain of missed moments and unflattering pictures.

We help clients with book projects. Their pain: They need to produce a book but don’t know how — or want — to do it themselves. A lot of the people come to us for information about publishing. So the natural book product for us was The Easy Guide to Getting Your Book Published. It’s a complete resource to help readers self-publish or position themselves for traditional publication. But for readers who realize they would just prefer to have someone do the work for them, it becomes a marketing tool that leads readers to contact us for a quote on a book project.

So consider your clients’ issues. Why do they come to you? What questions do you get over and over? What types of projects come your way? What bugs your clients? If you don’t know, then it’s probably safe to say you’re not doing as well as you could be doing in business. So it’s your job to find out. Ask them. Ask your clients what their most pressing concerns are, related to the area where you can help.

Write a book that addresses this concern — pain — in some way.

Within the book, outline the problem, why it’s a big deal, and the experience you have with it. Explain, through examples, how you’ve been able to solve this problem for others. Give some suggestions for how to address this problem. Include your website several places throughout the book or at the end. Also at the end, offer a call to action. Invite people to join your mailing list, sign up for your service, call a number, or take some other action, if they want additional help.

Hire the Right Editorial Help

When you’ve finished your manuscript, send it to an editor. (Of course, if you don’t want to write the book yourself, then you’ll need to find a ghostwriter). The editor you are looking for is one who will do a content edit for marketability. In other words, it’s not enough to ask your cousin who got a good grade in high school English to edit your manuscript, or even your teacher friend. While having a grammatically correct product is good, you are looking for a higher level of expertise for your business book. You need an editor who will edit to help make sure your book will appeal to your target client. Is the book written in a conversational, yet authoritative tone? Are all logical questions answered? Do you illustrate your points in a way your target client can understand? Is the book organized well? Do you share information in an interesting — not dry or boring — way? You see, something can be grammatically correct, but still boring. You don’t want boring for your business book. That’s why the editor is important.

Your designer needs to have experience designing business books. It’s not enough just to have a pretty piece of art on the front of your book. Your book’s cover includes three elements, the front, spine, and back. An experienced business book designer will use or recommend a standard trim size so you’re not paying extra to publish some odd-sized book. The designer also will use appropriate fonts and art, based on your book’s genre and target audience. Many authors think as long as the cover is pretty, that’s all that’s needed. But your experienced designer will consider much more than that.

Besides the cover, the designer will typeset, format, or design the interior. Many considerations go into interior design. The designer will use an appropriate font, art elements as necessary, etc. The designer also can advise you on whether art (photos, illustrations, etc.) that you have provided will print well or be appropriate for your book. Just because you can print a picture on your home printer doesn’t mean it is appropriate for commercial printing. The last thing you want is some low-resolution image ruining your hard work, or stalling the project at the printer stage because it doesn’t work.

While it’s possible you may end up hiring an editor and then a designer in another place, it’s also possible to work with an editorial company that provides both editing and design, as we do at our company, RootSky Books. That way you can get all the services you need to publish your book, in one place. But even if you hire those professionals separately, make sure they are what you need. This book is for your business. It has to hit the mark.

Handle the Technical Details

If you want to sell your book at bookstores or have it eligible for library consideration, you’ll need to have certain technical details, including an ISBN, barcode, and LCCN/PCN. You can go to the different agencies and get these elements yourself (Bowker for ISBN and barcode, Library of Congress for LCCN/PCN), or your editorial team may handle these details for you and save you the time.

Find an Appropriate Printer

When you self-publish a book, it’s never wise to just go with your local printer right off. That is because there are huge price variations in printing. Collect quotes from at least three to four, just so you can be assured you are getting the best rate. Or, if your editorial team provides print project management, go for that option. This can save you a lot of time. But if you choose to solicit your own printer quotes, you’ll need to request the same information from each printer, so you are getting quotes based on the same elements. Printers sometimes change out one or more elements of the quote, so you’ll need to review each quote to make sure it is as you specified. For instance, a markedly cheaper quote may be cheaper because the printer is quoting you on a different paper weight than you requested. Unless you want specialty printing or need something fancy, getting quoted for perfect binding (with hinge score), interior pages stock: 60 lb regular offset (black with no bleeds), and cover stock: 10 pt. C1S – gloss nylon (layflat) film lamination (full-color with bleeds), will work. You’ll get quotes from offset or digital printers, depending on the quantity. Higher quantities mean offset printing.

If you want to use print-on-demand technology to order a very small quantity, then go for a POD printer, rather than a POD publisher, as using a POD printer simply means you are using POD services but you still retain all rights and control over your project, including getting your own ISBN.

Send the Project to the Printer

Once the project has been edited, designed, and corrected, based on any errors or changes noted in the final review, it’s time to send it to the printer! The printer will send you a proof, which is a file where you can review the product once more before it is printed. The proof will be digital or it may be in hard copy form, mailed to you. This is not the place to make a lot of sweeping changes, as changes at the printer’s proof stage are quite expensive. But if you see some big issues or changes you absolutely must make, go for it.

Order a modest quantity. I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Get Your Book

When those books arrive from the printer, you’ll be excited! Or at least, I hope you will be. This is a big deal. Your new marketing tools are in your possession and ready to go to work for you. Plan your release party and marketing efforts before your books arrive, so you know where you should send review copies, promotional materials, etc.

Also, review the book as a reader. While you should take the time to go through the book with enjoyment and pride at your accomplishment, also note any minor changes you may want to make in a future printing. Don’t let the desire for minor changes spoil your joy in this moment. Revel in the book you have just produced and know that it is a good product that will help you accomplish your goals.

Reasons to print a modest quantity:

1. Why tie up too much money in inventory? Unless you have solid distribution already lined up, it’s not necessary — or wise — to publish more than 3,000 books to begin. Those books could end up taking up valuable space in your garage, spare bedroom, or elsewhere, if you don’t have a means to market and sell. A better idea is to publish 500 to 2,000 in your first print run. As you get low on books, you can use the money from the sales to reorder.

2. You might see some changes you want to make. No matter how many times your book is edited, or how many times you personally review the manuscript, it’s possible that a mistake or two will slip past. That’s normal, and part of the process. Of course, there should not be egregious errors or too many, but printing a small quantity helps to ensure that you don’t invest in a large print run only to realize there is some issue. For instance, if your aim is to use this book to drive traffic to your website, wouldn’t you hate to print 5,000 books, only to realize your website was left out? … Even as you review the book for changes, don’t go crazy. It’s not necessary to make changes for every print run. This isn’t about the elusive quest for perfection. In business, sometimes good enough is good enough. This isn’t to say, produce junk! Obviously that won’t work. But remember that sometimes you can get caught up in the idea of tweaking and changing, but not really improving. Just because you make something different, doesn’t mean you make it better. So don’t fall into the trap of unnecessary changes. If you see real issues or errors that need to be corrected, sure, correct them for the next print run. But don’t go into rewrite mode. Save that for your next book. Produce your best work for this book, market and sell it, then produce your next book. Don’t get fixated on one book. But more on that in a moment.

Market, Market, Market That Book!

Of course producing a quality book is important. After all, you are building your professional reputation on this product. But next to production, marketing is the most important part of publishing your book. After all, you’ve got to let your target client and reader know about this great book! Whether you will publish your book a year from now or 30 days from now, start marketing now. Yes, you can — and should —market the book before you get it in-hand. In fact, if you wait to get the book in-hand before you start marketing, you’ve waited too long.

Marketing your book means getting the word out. Your marketing activities will vary based on your industry, goals, resources, etc., but your marketing activities may include:

1. Blogging. Tell your blog community about your book and how it can help. And also comment on related blogs, but don’t spam! Make thoughtful, relevant comments, rather than comments that are designed only to promote your book. If you spam other blogs, you may find that those blog owners delete your comments or mark them as spam.

2. Publicity. Send press releases to local and regional media. Post press releases to online sites. Press releases to local and regional media can land you interviews, while press releases on online sites can help build your online reputation by showing up in searches. Some press releases at certain online sites can result in interviews.

3. Social media. Post to your social networks about your new book. But don’t be obnoxious about it. Consider the culture of the network. Abide by the etiquette and rules of engagement of the networks so you don’t alienate or annoy those you are trying to reach.

4. Content marketing. Write guest blog posts, letters to the editor, and articles about your book’s topic or some area your book covers and submit them to the appropriate publications.

5. Industry events. Attend appropriate industry events where you can share your expertise and information. There are lots of conferences, conventions, and retreats going on, online and offline, so create a list of events, along with relevant information (entry fee, entry deadline, whether you need to travel there, etc.) and then go through the list to determine the best events for your. Sign up as a vendor or presenter.

6. Speaking. Speak on your book’s topic to your local civic groups. As you gain more experience and comfort, you may expand your speaking to include other organizations and events, and even offer speaking, training, or lecturing on your book’s topic for a fee.

Rinse and Repeat

A book can sell as long as you are willing to market it. That’s why you see some books that are years and years old, but they are still selling. But building your expertise in an area may mean regularly producing books, so just repeat the process you did to publish the first one. Consider the type of book it needs to be, how it will help your readers, and do the appropriate production details (have it edited and designed, get ISBN, barcode, etc., find printer).

Producing new books can mean new income, a new audience, or new interest from your existing clients and customers. Your books are just the tool to grow your business.

For as connected as we are today, thanks to social media and the Internet, feeling isolated is not an uncommon state of mind. Many people collect hundreds or thousands of friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter or members of circles on Google +. Yet they feel a bit alone. Especially when it comes to sharing their work with others. They don’t think anyone is interested in their blog posts. They don’t think anyone notices their status updates or tweets about the new book. They wonder, honestly, if anyone at all is listening.

The answer, I believe, can be “yes.” People will listen to what you have to say — if you give them a reason to listen. Quality of life isn’t about the number of people you collect on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, or anywhere else. It’s about how you connect with those people. Put in a little extra effort to turn your contacts into connections and you will find a way to grow your writing career. You’ll find an audience who is interested in what you have to say.

Remember, growing your writing career isn’t just about the work you produce — it’s also about the relationships you build. Neglect the relationships, and your work is destined to be a “best-kept secret.” And that, my friend, is never a good thing. You don’t want your work to be unknown, unappreciated, and undiscovered. You don’t want your hard work to be a secret! So carve out some time to work on relationships, to truly connect with people in a meaningful way.

Simply sitting on social networks isn’t enough.

This is the deal: Signing up for a social media account, you get instructions on how to collect contacts. Not how to connect with them. So I’m here to show you how to connect. Learn how to truly connect with the people around you, and you’ll never feel like there is an echo in the room again. You’ll speak and they will respond. If you’re struggling with finding an audience or you’re not sure how to turn shallow social media contacts into meaningful connections, then I have a word for you. Check out my post at The Creative Penn today. There, I discuss building a relationship on trust. So go. Now. It’s just that important.

Learn to connect and conquer those things you feel are holding you back, like issues with marketing.

And if you’re not on my mailing list, please do sign up so you can be among the first to hear about my next book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships. It’s coming out soon. Very soon.

WL: You’ve had success in many ways as a writer — as a self-published author who landed book deals, as an author who has reached bestseller lists, as an author who has gained a loyal following, as a blogger with a longstanding blog. What has been the “secret” to your success?

Goss: There’s no secret. It’s a combination of things: faith, hard work, and determination. This business is not for the faint at heart. The key is to never give up, even when faced with obstacles or rejections.

WL: Was landing on bestseller lists part of what you were shooting for or was that a surprise to you? Please explain your answer.

Goss:  It was a surprise. I still remember the night I found out my book was listed on the Essence Magazine bestseller’s list. I was so excited. It would also be a dream come true to see my books on the New York Times or USA Today’s bestseller’s lists.

WL: How have technology and social networks changed your marketing?

Goss: I wonder how we did it before the Internet and social networking. The Internet and social networking have allowed me to reach people I never would have been able to reach without them. It’s opened up a whole new world.

WL: How do you use social networks in your marketing?

Goss: I use Facebook and Twitter to market my books. Being on the social networks is a must if you want to reach customers or new customers. You must be engaging and most importantly be yourself. Post your book information but don’t do it on other’s pages unless they give you permission to do so.

WL: Is offline book promotion still necessary in light of social media/social networks? If so, how do you promote your books offline?

Goss: Yes. I still do social events and conferences. I don’t do as many events as I would like because it can be costly. Social networks have made it cheaper to reach out to people.

WL: How important are book clubs to you as an author?

Goss: Book clubs are very important. Book clubs are what helped get my name out there. Book club members are usually avid readers so after they read the group’s book of the month, they read other books. If a book club member likes your book, they will tell someone else about it. Word of mouth is still the best form of promotion.

WL: What marketing advice do you have for someone who wants to become an author who can sell books?

Goss: First, have a good product (nice cover, good content, reasonable book price). Secondly, try several different marketing techniques until you find your niche. What works for one author may not work for the next, but you have to be willing to try different methods until you find what works for you.

WL: Why did you decide to write in multiple genres?

Goss: I’m an avid reader, and I read in multiple genres. I like to write the kind of books I like to read. It also keeps my writing life interesting.

WL: Does writing in multiple genres make book promotion difficult in any way? If so, how?

Goss: No, it doesn’t. I just have to use different techniques. For example, with young adult books, I have to reach out to the parents and librarians to help get the word out about the books to my target audience: teenagers.

WL: How have you been such a productive writer?

Goss: I’ve had to learn to discipline myself. Sometimes it’s easy but other times it isn’t. I will want to do everything but write. When I learned to treat my writing career as a business, that’s when I became more productive.

WL: What productivity tips do you have for other writers?

Goss: First thing to do is to log off of the social networks. Social networks can be time zappers. Make an appointment with yourself to write and keep it. Don’t allow anything to interfere with your writing time. Teach people around you to respect your writing time. Don’t allow procrastination to keep you from writing.

WL: What is a writing-related goal you are working on or a dream you have for your writing career?

Goss: In addition to me writing novels, I’m currently writing screenplays and it is my goal to sell them and have them made into movies.

WL: What has been the toughest challenge you’ve had in your career? How have you dealt with that challenge?

Goss: The toughest challenge for me has been getting mass exposure for my books due to a limited budget. I’ve dealt with the challenges by praying about it and pressing forward and doing what I could on a tight budget. God has opened doors in certain avenues that have given me more exposure.

WL: What is one misconception others have about being a successful author?

Goss: Many assume if you’re a successful author that you are rich. The average author doesn’t have the income of J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or Stephenie Meyer.

WL: What are you working on now?

Goss: I’m working on a new women’s fiction series dealing with family, love, and community. I don’t have a publication date for it right now because the details are still being ironed out, but I’m hoping the first book of the series will be out in the latter part of 2013 or first part of 2014. I also am adapting some of my books to screenplays.

WL: Where can people learn about and purchase your books?

Goss: To learn more about me or my books, please go to www.sheliagoss.com or join my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorsheliagoss