by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: January 08, 2010

With proper planning, both fiction and nonfiction writers can earn long-term residuals from a variety of sources.  The Internet has opened up a lot of opportunity in the form of revenue sharing websites and affiliate opportunities, as well as an outlet for selling larger projects such as ebooks, novels, and other creative projects

*Writing Online Articles

The beauty of residual income is over time you can earn more income spending an hour writing an article than you could ever make at a traditional job.  If you understand the concept-that the few cents you may make each day on an article can build into hundreds of dollars over your lifetime-it can be very motivating.

Obviously not every article will make the same amount of income as another article of a different topic, and you have to put some thought into your subject matter.  For example, I've found that financial-related articles tend to make more over time than other topics-which reflects a demand in our society right now.  If you only stick to what's "popular" however, you miss the opportunity to carve out a niche area in topics where your passion for them makes you a better writer.  There may be less competition in these areas, but you have the advantage of becoming an authority that people in that niche recognize.  Building credibility and a reputation is a secondary benefit to writing articles, but you shouldn't ignore it.

There is also a volume vs. quality aspect to writing articles, and it's important as a writer to find a good balance.  The more articles you write, the more you're going to make.  If they're sloppy and of poor quality however, your residuals are going to dwindle over time.

*Blogging

The main thing that separates blogging for yourself as opposed to writing for revenue-sharing websites is you have to do some extra work on your own in the form of gaining affiliates for your blog or website.  This is not difficult if you stick with well-established affiliate programs such as Google Adsense, Ebay, and Amazon.  If you have a niche, you may also be able to find individual advertisers that would fit with the topic of your blog.

*Ebooks and Novels

You may find after writing a lot of articles that you have a much larger idea of creating your own book, or if you're a fiction writer you may have considered writing a novel.  Both are worthwhile projects, but to earn long-term income from them it helps to be willing to publish free excerpts to help people become aware of your work.  If allowed, linking to your books from articles is helpful marketing as well.  The same principle can be applied to poetry as well.

*Integrating Multiple Projects

Having a primary author's blog that contains links to all of your work is helpful, since it provides you with one link to put at the bottom of any online project you create.  When someone comes across one piece of your work that they like, you need to direct them to where they can find out more.

I hope you've found these tips helpful.  Good luck and best wishes to you!

Learn more about this author, Patricia Gilliam.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.