If you’re not Steven King or JK Rowling, you probably don’t make a huge income on writing alone. Most of the authors I know write as a second job, or have a spouse who works and can help support them.
My husband Mark has been fully supportive of my writing career. But that doesn’t mean I can abandon our own business, and so there’s always a tension between the two in terms of deadlines and my time.
This is my third year earning money as a writer, and the trend line is definitely going in the right direction. But I’ve also branched out into a couple other areas to make a little more income in the biz.
I’m doing some cover design, starting with my own, but I’m also proud to announce my first paid cover – for Jamie Fessenden’s new Bigfoot MM romance “Bigfoot Hunters in Love” (above – and no, Bigfoot is not one of the lovers LOL). I had a great time with this one – Jamie was perfect to work with, and helped me find one of the models and set the spooky goofy tone of the cover. You can pick up this fun ebook here.
I’ve also started doing a limited number of blog tours for other authors, after doing them for myself for a year. The fabulous Angel Martinez and the amazing Toni Griffin have let me helm their latest tours, and it’s been fun making contacts across the queer romance world and to start to make inroads into the mainstream sci fi one.
Finally, I’m part of the Amazon Associates program, which brings a small but steady trickle of income.
How about y’all? How are you making extra money outside of your writer gig?
Well, there’s the extremely old fashioned method of finding a patron. Bernini did it. (rueful grin) Although if something happens to your patron, you’re in big trouble. (another rueful grin)