Sunday, January 3, 2010

Writing a First Novel - How to Make Money Writing and Finance Your Work


By Jorge Chavez



Many people aspire to write novels. It's not an easy market and it takes time for researching, outlining and writing a first novel. So how do you support yourself while you are writing? It could take months and few can afford to spend that much time on anything that doesn't produce immediate revenue.

You have to be independently wealthy, find a rich patron or be gainfully employed at some other work to be able to afford the time. Later, after you are published and a success you can ask for advances from publishers, but that comes later. We are talking about writing a first novel here...

But much writing requires travel to visit places you are writing about. Or it takes a special schedule or research more conveniently done during the day, when it would conflict with a day job. So how do you get around those problems?

Why not take advantage of some freelance writing opportunities and be a freelance writer? There are two good possibilities: freelancing as a travel writer and getting paid to write for the Internet.

As a freelance travel writer you can travel free or for very reduced rates while you visit places for which you are writing articles for travel magazines. Oftentimes the publisher will give the writer the front end costs of going and returning as a down payment on the coming articles, promotional pieces, etc. that he expects.

Being a travel writer can be a great job for visiting exotic places, gathering materials and knowledge, doing research and everything required for writing a first novel. And you get paid for it, while you learn how to speak and write authoritatively about the places you've been!

Working as an Internet freelancer, where you make money writing for the Web, is great for managing both mobility and hours. You can work whenever it is convenient for you... there are no fixed hours. Almost all work is done on a a short-term contract basis. So you can go into and out of the Internet "workforce" at will.

And you can work from anyplace in the whole world! Take your laptop with you and work anywhere. All you need is periodic access to the Net to communicate with clients, upload finished work, negotiate your next contract, etc. You can work just enough to make the money you need for the moment while you are writing a first novel.

If you are interested in writing a first novel, those are things that would bear looking into...

For more information on being a travel writer, making money writing for the Web or writing a first novel, follow the links below...

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