It is no secret that many writers work for low wages, whether they are on staff, writing for revenue share sites, or taking low-paying freelance jobs. And many times, the reason these writers settle for these low wages comes down to a lack of confidence. Writers often fail to realize their own worth and, thus, settle for low wages.

Barbara Stanny would argue that this lack of self-confidence may be based on deep-seated beliefs that they are simply not the type of people who could ever earn a lot of money. She provides guided questions to help readers determine how their beliefs about money and the people who have it affect their own ability to earn more money.

This is not new territory. The popular self-help books Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and Rich Dad, Poor Dad both address how belief affects earning potential. But Stanny brings a new way of addressing those beliefs that I believe can be more effective. Where the Millionaire Mind and Rich Dad authors simply tell their readers to stop having negative beliefs about money, Stanny uses journal exercises and questionnaires to help readers understand where their beliefs came from and how they can address and change them.

These exercises are of particular use to writers who need to earn more money — we all journal already, so it is easy to add the guided  exercises to the regular rotation and use them to follow the steps Stanny outlines to break through our own personal earnings barriers.

Have you read this book? If so, how did the steps work for you?

What are your personal earnings challenges?

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The Business of Writing

• Adventures in Self-Publishing: A great look at the pros and cons of self-publishing by John Sundman, author of Acts of the Apostles, Cheap Complex Devices, and The Pains.
• E-books as the New Mass-Market Paperbacks and Don’t Be Buridan’s Ass: Bob Mayer shares his reaction to New York’s realization that e-books aren’t the devil.
• An Author’s Guide to Book Birthers, Book Shepherds, and other Consultants: Liz Alexander gives tips to help you pick the right independent contractors for your book.
• Amazon Advantage Blamed in Borders Liquidation: We’ve all heard about the demise of Borders, and I’m avoiding including a lot of the stories about it here. But this one is a nice look at what the future might hold for bookselling.
• How Long It Takes to Sell a Novel: Nathan Bransford has reposted this piece, and it continues to have value. Novels are a long-term enterprise, and anyone looking for fast riches is looking in the wrong place.

Craft

• Top Ten Blogs for Authors: Shelley Hitz provides her favorite blogs. Do your faves appear on her list?
• Wrangling with Copy Editors: Lev Raphael shares some not-so-positive experiences with copyediting. How can we learn from his experience as both writers and editors?
• One Woman’s Writing: HOW Many Words in Print? Elizabeth Moon, whose work I love, talks about how much she writes in comparison with other authors in her genre. Haven’t heard of Moon? Start with The Deed of Paksenarrion. If you like fantasy with strong women characters, you won’t be disappointed.

Fiction

• The Best Books on Writing Fiction and Creative Nonfiction: Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen collects her favorite writing books. What are your favorite books?
• Style Blunders in Fiction: A handy cheat-sheet to help you self-edit.
• Fresh Ink: An Interview With Debut Novelist Samuel Park: A nice look at the writing and revision process from a newly published author. He shares the lessons he learned from publishing this first novel.
• If I Could Just Do It Right the First Time: Are you a one-draft writer? Rachel Vincent (author of YA and adult paranormal) talks about her writing process.

Freelancing

• When Are You Ready to Freelance?: Get prepared for everything a freelancing career will bring before you quit the day job.
• 80 Great Ways to Become a Better Freelancer: A nice list of tips to improve your freelancing career both from an income standpoint and from a perspective of personal satisfaction.
• The State of Full-Time Freelancers’ Work: Kelly James-Enger shares some stats on what we writers are doing to earn a living.

Platform

• Maximize Social Media Traffic to Your Blog: Awesome tips to leverage the power of social networking to get people to your site and build your platform.
• Make Life Simple: Consolidate Your Sites: Angela Wilson has begun consolidating her blogs into one, with an emphasis on keywords and categories to ensure her readers find what they need. I did this earlier this year, folding my Ed Tech Jen blog into this one. Of course, then I went and started Mom-amo. Can you simplify your online world, too?
• Benefits of Short-Form E-books: Jennifer Mattern shares her thoughts on writing and selling short e-books as a means of building your expertise and reach.
• Success on Twitter is how strongly you can stand in the stream of popular opinion and still express something contrary because it’s true for you: An interview with platform guru Christina Katz on how and why she uses Twitter. I am a big fan of Katz and have taken two of her classes and read her books Writer Mama and Get Known Before The Book Deal.
• How Google+ Will Transform Search and Search Marketing: This article gives some interesting ideas of what Google+ will mean to us. Have you tried it yet?

Money

• Feeling Desperate and Panicked About Money? Three Steps to End the Desperation and Increase the Cash Flow: Monica Shah offers tips to help you react calmly with clients, even if you feel desperate for income.
• Expenses You Can’t Afford to Cut: Looking to cut expenses? Look elsewhere than these, because if you aren’t advertising yourself and giving yourself the tools to do you job, you won’t be able to earn more money.

The Business of Writing

• Amanda Hocking, Storyseller: A nice profile of Hocking and her success.
• Book Expo’s Sorry Turn: This person thinks book’s are dying. Do you agree?
• A Literary Father’s Day Weekend: Stories from writers and their kids.
• Can’t Shake the Devil’s Hand and Say You’re Only Kidding: Why one Seattle shop has said “no thank you” to books published under Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer mystery imprint.
• Ebook Sales Down? Are you freaking out that there was a dip in ebook sales? JA Konrath isn’t, and neither should you. Unless you bet three year’s income that ebook sales would be up in June.
• What If Those Pesky Agents Don’t Bite? First, I have to say how sad I am that I missed Randy Ingermanson’s talk at the Willamette Writer’s meeting this month. I would have to do much more finessing to be able to get baby home to daddy and get to the Old Church on time that I have been able to handle so far, but this one would have been so good! Anyway, here is Randy’s advice if agents aren’t jumping over each other to sign you after you present your novel.

Craft

• Courage to Write: Tips from an Anxious Bestselling Author: If you are nervous about writing, print this post and keep it on your bulletin board to keep you motivated.
• A Good Reviewer Sees Things in Your Writing That You Might Not Have: Kim Falconer shares her response to a review of her work. I am awaiting some reviewer feedback on one of my short stories, and I can’t wait to see what I can learn from it.

http://allfreelancewriting.com/2011/06/24/freelancing/making-money/think-twice-about-writing-for-revenue-share/

• All Superheroes Know Their Strengths: A nice look at how self-assessment tools such as the Strengths Finder can help us improve as writers. I have done the Strengths Finder, and it has given me the power to focus my energy on what I am good at (Strategic, Intellection, Empathy, Ideation, Learner) and look for support for those I am less strong in. (See, “less strong” not “weak.” Our words have the power to life us or crush us. Use your words especially carefully when you are talking to or about yourself.)
• Tricky Words: Past/Passed, Except/Accept: Straight from an English teacher, this advice will help you use the right words.

Fiction

• On Character Authenticity: As part of their Pride Week series, Dear Author has interviewed some LGBT writers about creating true characters. Great advice here.
• Five Openings to Avoid: Okay. I will be honest. My novel WIP currently opens with a wake up. But it works–I swear. Actually, I will probably kill the actual waking up. It is a crutch for me, and it is unnecessary.

Freelancing

• Why Accountability Is Important for Freelance Writers: Do you feel as if you are living up to your potential? If not, here are some steps to keep yourself accountable for growing your business, not just to your current clients.
• 5 Advanced Google Search Tips for Freelance Gig Hunting and Niche Research: Harness the power of Google to increase your career. (Was the cliche enough for you?)
• New Writing Forums: Introduce Yourself: All Freelance Writing is a great resource. See if you can participate in these forums and learn a little something from your fellow freelancers.

Platform

• 5 Twitter Profile Mistakes Writers Should Avoid: The upshot? Be authentic on Twitter and other social media tools.
• The Science of Social Timing, Part 1: Metrics on the best times to post on Facebook and Twitter. This is especially useful if you use a tool such as Social Oomph to schedule updates.

Money

• Mortgage Challenges for the Self-Employed: Jenn Mattern shares her concerns with mortgage shopping as a successful self-employed businessperson. Have you had successes or challenges getting financing without a full-time gig?
• Think Twice about Writing for Revenue Share: Jenn Mattern gives a great list of why content writing for revenue share is a bad deal for writers. If you are being lured by a revenue share deal based on promises of unlimited earning potential, print this out and keep it posted where you can see it.

The Business of Writing

• Erotic Romance Writer Outed: Did you hear about Judy Mays? She is a high school teacher, and some parents found out her pseudonym and decided she wasn’t fit to teach their kids. Most disagreed, and she is still doing her thing.
• 5 Tips to Be Interview Ready: The essential information you should know before you are interviewed for your book, blog, website, etc.
• From Blog to Book Via Twitter: Kerri Sackville’s success story.
• How to Format a Query Sent By Email: Don’t just copy and paste a printed letter into email. Design for the medium.

Craft

• Advice from Johnathan Franzen: Franzen looks at writer’s block. Is your block trying to tell you something?
• Exploring Place: Finding Yourself and Your Story: Remember, you don’t always have to travel physically to a place. You might be able to find enough photos or videos to immerse yourself to some extent.
• 10 Best Books for Aspiring Writers: There were a few I hadn’t heard of here, and it is missing my fave, On Writing by Stephen King.
• Writers and Others: Stop Preparing! I agree wholeheartedly. I know that I can get caught in the preparation/reading/research cycle without ever getting into the all-important writing cycle.

Fiction

• How Sci Fi Makes Us More Open to Strange Forms of Sex and Sexuality: I think this is an interesting look at the differences between sci fi and fantasy and how the two genres deal with sexuality and the other. That was something I always liked about Star Trek–it blazed trails that led to more racial integration (or at least more acceptance of interracial relationships) in the media.
• Better Than Renting Out a Windowless Room: The Blessed Distraction of Technology: Is your novel still languishing unfinished? What can you do to be more disciplined and get it done?
• Meet Aimee Carter: Aimee Carter shares the back story of her new book, The Goddess Test.

Freelancing

• What You Need to Know to Survive in a Rapidly Changing Freelance Marketplace: Is freelancing like orienteering? A little.
• Using Quora to Boost a Freelance Writing Career: I will admit that I don’t always jump on the new social media tools–I’ve seen too many come and go–but it sounds as if I’m missing out with Quora.
• The Print Industry: Realistic Expectations: Nice points!

Platform

• Paid versus Free Book Marketing Activities: This post helps you decide whether to commit financial resources to marketing by laying out the options you have and comparing them with those that cost you only time. Do make sure you adequately value your time, too!
• How to Create a Free Author Website on WordPress: Good, easy step-by-step process. The process will be similar if you choose Blogger, you’ll just start at blogger.com.
• To Blog or Not to Blog: Before you follow the steps in the previous post here, make sure you know what oyu want to accomplish and share by blogging.

Money

• Is Couponing Worth the Trouble? I sure hope so, because I’m working on an article on the topic!
• Why You Are Worth More than a Penny a Word A reminder that writing is a professional skill, and you are a professional.

The Business of Writing

• Brainstorming Non-Bookstore Sales: If you don’t sell your book in a bookstore, where can you sell it? And why?
• Publishing Your Book Digitally: Some things to think about when you consider self-publishing.
• Book Publisher Challenges: Discounters: How can a small publisher–with a thin margin–handle discounting?
• 99 Cent Ebooks and the Tragedy of the Commons: Last week, I pimped Jane Friedman’s new book as a good deal and $1.99. Here, Nathan Bransford discusses the effect on the 99 cent ebook on our economy as writers.

Craft

• 20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire You: A little lesson in the difference between similes, metaphors, and analogies, followed by some examples from great literature. Do you have any faves from this list or from another written work?
• Writers: Are We Always Honest with Each Other? A look at our ability to give feedback to our fellow writers.
• A Foolish Consistency: If you have spent any time on the site Television without Pity, you know that fans of your work do not find consistency foolish–they find it essential. Of course, it is not just essential in fiction. Consistency helps all writing read better.

Fiction

• Deep POV: How to Avoid Head hopping: The final installment on a primer in deep point of view.
• Where Do Ideas Come From? Is it the muse? The energy of the universe? Or your own writer brain generating your livelihood? Kelly Boyce discusses her process.

Freelancing

• Query Critique Week: Shyness Query: Have you made some of these missteps in your own queries? How can you use James-Enger’s tips to make your queries dazzle?
• Magazine Writing Questions Answered: A look at some of the big questions about writing for magazines from an experienced freelancer.
• Self-Employed? Home-Based Business? Tax Info from an IRS Spokesperson: If you are still working on your taxes, well get off the Internet and get to it! Seriously, though, here are some tips that can help you finish things up today and help you prepare for next year.

Platform

• Building a Global Author Platform with Social Media: Does your platform need a boost? These tips can help you grow to where you need to be.
• 5 Innovative Poets to Watch and Learn From: How can these poets work inspire you to invigorate your own writing?
• The Importance of Branding: Do you have a brand?

Money

• I Heart Tax Prep: Did you learn anything about your spending patterns when you did your taxes this year? Did you enact some changes for this year?

The Business of Writing

• Guest Post by Mark Coker, Creator of Smashwords: J.A. Konrath hosts the creator of Smashwords. Coker provides some interesting insight into self-publishing.
• The First Ever Write It Sideways Blogging Contest: Here is a nice opportunity to get some publicity and some feedback on your blog or website.
• Top 10 Blogs for Writers: Do you visit these blogs regularly? Which ar your favorites? I’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments.
• An Interview With Jane Friedman About “The Future Of Publishing: Enigma Variations” E-book: Jane Friedman shares her predictions for the future of publishing. Have you bought her book yet? At only $1.99, it is a darn good deal. (I bought it, but it is still in my virtual TBR pile. I’ll be posting a review when I finish.)
• Sell Your Books to Organizations: Does your book have appeal to a large organization? If so, this post can help you find the right ones to approach.
• Book Distribution in the Digital Age: The New World Order Emerges: What lessons can we learn from the digital shift in the music industry?

Craft

• Grammar’s Dirty Little Secret: I love the Fake AP Stylebook Twitter feed. And they are right: grammar is simply a construct. Certain rules apply over multiple style guides, but many differ. This really makes grammar look like smoke and mirrors to those who don’t work in publishing in some way!
• Does Pro Editing Pay Off: This is a nice look at when you should spend the money on an outside editor and when you should keep plugging away on your own.
• When You Hate the Book You’re Writing, Part 1: Are you sick and tired of your book? If so, you can commiserate with Lynette Benton and, I hope, get some tips to help you fall back in love.

Fiction

• Why You Need to Make Yourself Completely Unavailable: This post, which argues that sometimes we need to completely disconnect to enhance our creativity, makes me think of Stephen King’s suggestion of writing with the door closed for your first draft. The Internet, TV, even family members can distract us from our creative processes.
• Just Write the Story: Quit tying yourself up in knots and just write. You know, back to writing with the door closed. Turn off your inner editor and get that first draft done.

Freelancing

• 6 Great Ways to Use Email Marketing to Find Work: Is email part of your marketing plan? If not, this post might help you integrate it successfully.
• Carve a Niche and Create Your Own Demand with “Query-Free Freelancing”: How would your freelancing business change is you didn’t have to spend so much of your time pitching and querying?
• Marketing a Key Component of Freelance Work: The SCORE counselors discuss marketing tips.
• When (and How) to Leave Your 9-to-5 for the World of Freelancing: Do you have a day job? If so, do you know when (or if) you will leave it to devote your entire work time to freelancing?

Platform

• 30 Inspiring Ideas to Develop Content for Your Blog: A great source of inspiration when you are struggling for blog topics.
• The Aspiring Author’s Blog Isn’t Just about Platform: Are you blogging? What are you hoping to gain from it? This post will help you focus on what is important, especially if you are a newer author.
• Author, Sell Thyself: An interesting look at the importance of marketing ourselves as writers, not just the books we produce.
• How to Grow a Blog Community with Social Media: A nice video with tips to create more engagement in your blog.

Money
I’m going to send you to the entire money week discussion on Nathan Bransford’s blog (remember, I mentioned it in Friday’s post). He did a great job of looking at the different financial issues we need to think about for our futures.

• Self-Publishing versus Traditional Publishing: Which Will Make You More Money?
• How to Make Money from Your Web Presence
• How to Use Kickstarter to Fund a Self-Published Book
• How Will Authors of the Future Make Money?

The Business of Writing

• Agent Jon Sternfeld on a Handful of Writing Don’ts: This piece is targeted toward novel queries, but there is guidance for anyone writing a query or finished piece.
• Avoiding Negative Responses to Your Book Pitch: The first in a series of tips to help you create a more focused pitch.
• The Power of Positive Thinking: I read a lot of discussion about the law of attraction and the ways you can attract success into your life. It really is just having a positive attitude and approaching your career with the belief you can succeed. How does positivity affect your ability to write and to market yourself?
• Emotions and Writing: More on how positive and negative emotions affect your writing.
• Interview with Lee Goldberg about E-publishing: Does Goldberg have it right?
• Who’s Listening to You? Jane Friedman raises some interesting questions about the future of the biz.
• Powell’s Books Lays Off 31 Employees: Not even the most amazing independent bookstore in the world is immune from the changing reality of book sales. How can we help our independents stay strong in the future?

Craft

• Self-Publish Does Not Mean Self-Edit: Margaret Atwood reminds us that none of us can serve as our own sole editor.
• 50 Things a Writer Shouldn’t Do: Print this list and use it when you tackle revisions. It will help you move your writing from good to great.
• A Versus An: Grammar Girl gives the lowdown on when to use which article.

Fiction

• How to Balance Action, Narrative, and Dialogue in Your Novel: Great tips for ensuring that you don’t overuse any key component of your novel’s structure.
• Getting to the End of My Manuscript: A nice look at the process of drafting from urban fantasy author Erica Hayes.
• Building a Fire: How to write a great sex scene.
• Joel and Ethan Coen Spill Their Screenwriting Secrets: How does their process mirror yours?

Freelancing

• Journalism Entrepreneurship: How can you harness the entrepreneurial spirit to increase your business this year?
• The Main Principle of Charging a Flat Rate: If you have a good sense of how much time a project will take you, you can offer a flat rate rather than an hourly rate. It helps your clients budget for the project.

Platform

• How Your About Page Can MAke or Break Your Blog: This post is a good reminder to look over your about page and make sure it achieves your goals.
• Is Your Low Social IQ Dooming Your Blog? People skills are essential for building your platform.
• How to Use Social Media More: Christina Katz offers tips for increasing your social media reach.

Money

• Meredith Exposes Herself: Daily Worth is runnign a series where they help readers increase their net worth. How can you use the information here to help increase your income and decrease your debt?
• Applying for a Freelance Writing Gig Without Looking Desperate: As Debbie Hunt said in Singles, “Desperation is the world’s worst cologne.” Here are some tips to make sure you do’t sound desperate when you go after work.

I enlisted the help of a few experts to create list of tips to help you prepare this year’s tax returns and to prepare for next year.

1. Make record-keeping easy on yourself. Debra Yergen, author of the Creating Job Security series, has an easy system for keeping your receipts organized. “Carry a ‘receipts’ envelope in your purse, briefcase, or car. When you get a business-related receipt, jot any relevant notes on it and add it to your envelope. When the envelope begins to get thick, drop it in an IRS box at home and grab a fresh envelope. Every few months organize your receipts,” Yergen said. Having your receipts together and labeled when tax time comes around will make it easy to account for all of your deductions.
2. All expenses directly related to your business are fair game. Many writers forget some eligible expenses when completing their tax returns. Retired CPA and author Jeffrey Taylor reminds us that “anything that has the direct benefit of generating income, i.e., computer, business phone, isp, website development, publicist, accountant, tax advisory, book publisher, business driving and travel to conferences, education” are eligible deductions.
3. All deductions should make sense. When writing off an expense, think about whether you can justify it easily. Because, Yergen said, “if you get audited, you are going to have to make a case to the IRS for the decisions you made.”
4. Sometimes, its better not to deduct everything. “The worst threat is being declared a hobby by the IRS instead of a business,” said Taylor. “A business must generate income at least for two years within a five year period.” If you haven’t generated a profit recently, you may not want to write off everything. Generate a profit this year to keep your status as a business.
5. Keep up on your quarterlies. Cathy Golsticker, a CPA who works with freelance writers, has an equation to help writers who have day jobs know when they need to makes quarterly estimated tax payments:Self-employment tax rate of 15.4% (assuming day job wages are below $106,800, other-wise SE tax rate is 2.9%) + income tax rate (estimated (25-28%) = 40% (rounded) tax rate times net income from freelance

   Deduct from this amount the expected tax refund (what you usually receive in a typical year)

   Equals: Annual federal tax estimates to pay in

   Now divide by 4 for the quarterly amount.

   Goldsticker also cautions writers not to forget about state estimated tax payments. Check with your accountant or your state’s department of revenue to get rates and deadlines.

6. Consider incorporating. According to Michael T. Hanley, CPA and author of Effective Tax Planning for the Microbusiness, “Most writers who earn $250 or more each year will end up paying less tax each year by operating as an S-Corporation.” In addition, Hanley said, writers who incorporate have “an audit risk that is approximately nine times lower than the audit risk of any writers who report all income/expenses as if they were personal income/expenses.” [Note: I'll be going back to Hanley to find out a little more about incorporating. Stay tuned for an April post on this topic.]

Writer’s Digest also posted some further tax tips. What are your favorites?

No Money…Are You Really a Writer?
Rebecca starts a series on what makes you a writer. Is monetary compensation your measure of success? Or is it a story well crafted?

Writers, Let’s Join Together on Payment
Kristine Meldrum Denholm provides a bit of a counterpoint in her call for writers to quit taking crappy low-paying writing jobs.

What is your take on payment? Do you take a different approach to fiction and nonfiction projects? How do you decide when a low-paying project is worth it?