by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I realized at some point last year that I wanted to write a new series. For one thing, it’s nice to have an additional revenue stream, especially if a series may appeal to a different pool of readers. For another, I wanted to make sure that I was still growing. I wanted to try something different to keep myself sharp.
Writing a new series or a new genre (or both) is one way to creatively stretch. But there are other ways of pushing ourselves. The beginning of the year is a good time to assess where you stand in your writing business. And it is a business, which is sometimes tough for writers to wrap their heads around.
My income has increased in direct relation to the number of books I’ve published. It’s also increased whenever I’ve added new streams of revenue by diversifying into new formats (print, digital, audio), and distributors and retailers (using aggregators like Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Smashwords, Ingram, and StreetLib to reach retailers all over the world).
As with anything, I think it’s important to break down any of these tasks into many smaller tasks. Don’t let it be overwhelming if it’s something you want to tackle in 2019.
