✍️ Desk of Amy Suto: How to Make Writing Your Job
Thoughts on becoming a working writer from a full-time author and book ghostwriter.
In this post you’ll read about…
✨ What you’ll need to do to make writing your job
✍️ Lessons I’ve learned as a six-figure freelance writer & author
💻 Pathways to monetize your writing through paid newsletters and books
📚 How to Make Writing Your Job
When I first arrived in Los Angeles in 2012, I had one question I was trying to answer:
How do I make writing my job?
It’s quite literally what I was studying to do as I attended USC for my BFA in Writing for the Screen and Television.
When I graduated, the answer came in climbing the ladder of Hollywood until I got my first writing credit on a show I loved. Writing was, finally, my job.
But when 2020 hit and all of Hollywood went on Zoom, I decided it was time I changed what making “writing my job” looked like.
✍️ Unlocking the Power of Freelance Writing, Substack, and Writing Books
In 2020 and 2021, I embarked on a journey to ramp up my freelance writing, leaning further into my memoir ghostwriting for inspiring clients all over the world. I detailed my life as a digital nomad and how I grew my freelancing writing business in my book Six-Figure Freelance Writer: A Holistic Guide on Finding Freedom in Freelancing.
This year marks another huge step in the direction of earning more of my income from my own books, with the launch of my debut fiction book The Nomad Detective: Volume I.
I’ve also received bylines in publications like the Los Angeles Times (and some new publications — coming soon!), so I’ve hit quite a few of the buckets of “working writer” in my career so far.
Every professional writer is going to have different streams of income from their writing. I know authors who make YouTube videos about the craft of writing that they also use to sell their books or other products such as courses. I also know authors who lean into creating content for digital communities (some hosted here on Substack!)
Personally, I find these 5 income streams to be the most effective stack for writers: (in order of what I make the most from!)
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