Serious Writer Podcast

Each week, the co-owners of Serious Writer bring you info to help you get further ahead in your writing career and marketing journey. And somehow, each episode contains some type of blooper that we've chosen to leave unedited for your listening pleasure. This week, we present to you an episode on how to write nonfiction and our phrase of the week: "Mooses" of the Adirondack. Enjoy!  

In this last of a three-part series on diversifying your income as a writer, Serious Writer co-owners Cyle Young and Bethany Jett discuss more ways to earn money while still focusing on the talent and skill you have as a writer.

Some examples include:

• Getting paid to speak in front of audiences (virtually or in-person)
• Selling books in the back of the room as a speaker
• Teaching your courses for online sites like Udemy and Serious Writer Academy  
• Consulting & Coaching
• Niching on a specialty within the writing industry
• Editing
• Sponsorships 

In this episode, Cyle Young and Bethany Jett continue the conversation about how to diversify your income as a writer.

This is part 2 of three episodes where we reference an article by author and literary agent Mary DeMuth: That article is here: https://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/author/marydemuth/

Some options include:

• Traditional publishing contracts with large advance (& royalties)
• Self-publishing
• Ghostwriting
• Work-for-hire & Freelance writing
• Copywriting
• Grant writing
• Participating in content creation for cash (ex. Reels Bonuses)
• Create content for social platforms, grow an audience, and earn from your views
• Create ancillary products to sell   

[update: The Twitter buyout is constantly changing. This episode was filmed April 2022.]

In a surprising move, South African-born American entrepreneur Elon Musk proposed to buy out Twitter after previously acquiring 9.1% of the company's stock for $2 billion on April 14th, 2022. With all the controversy surrounding the Twitter buyout Bethany Jett and Cyle Young answer, the question of whether is Twitter dead for the writing world?

Diversifying Your Writing Income - Part 1 of 3

Author and literary agent Mary DeMuth wrote this article on diversifying your writer income. In this first part of the series, Serious Writer co-owners Cyle Young and Bethany Jett discuss why having a few avenues of income is a smart decision.

Not everything you learned in school is wrong...except that "adverbs are bad verbs." 😂 The writing world is extremely different than the educational writing world, so in this episode, Serious Writer co-owners discuss the non-academic side of writing.

1. Go to a writers conference. Now!
2. Read in your genre and subgenre and learn the style of that genre.
3. Get the resources you need from the beginning. Check out the emotions thesaurus & Story Trumps Structure)
4. Your 1st book might not be published. Common fear: I won’t have another story after this one.
5. Learn the rules first before you break them.
6. Know how to structure a story. Modern story is based on the 3-act structure. Act 1 is short. Act 2 is rising action over the middle and it’s longer; character development. Climax. Act 3 is descending action. [Fantasy: Hero’s Journey of the 3-Act Structure.]
7. Set a regular writing time period or a daily word count. Earnest Hemingway - wrote 500 words a day. Stephen King: 2000 Jack London - 1500. Mark Twain - 1400. Michael Crighton - 10,000 words - Jurassic Park. Suggestion - start lower until you’re consistent.
8. Just write and don’t edit.
9. Write in scene, not sequence.
10. Know the word count for your genre.
11. Write flash fiction.

Tools: Word Scrivener

Resources:

SW Fiction Proposal

The Emotions Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman

Story Trumps Structure by Steven James

Write from the Middle by James Scott Bell

In this episode, Bethany Jett and Cyle Young discuss hooks for nonfiction writing, different types of writing software,  why the market is uber-popular for board books, and a jump into email service providers.

Timestamps:
0:33 
Do you need platform?

5:20 
Will this book sell?

6:00 
ROI for writers

11:01 
Borrowed Platform

15:51
Does the publisher want a good book?

21:01 
A little goes a long way

22:35 
Consistency

26:48 
Don't be afraid to try new things

 30:10 
Expectations

In this episode, Cyle Young picks Cody Morehead's (Serious Writer Creative Director) brain on all things related to websites. 

Cyle and Cody cover different options for creating websites, reasons why you may want to pay for hosting,  and tips for those who dare to tackle this task themselves. 

• 00:21- Children's Writing
• 1:21 How does your Idea Fit the Market
• 4:00 Book Style
• 6:55 Start Quick
• 10:54 Non-Fiction Know Your Why
• 12:59 Define Your Target Audience
• 17:43  Set Goals
• 19:14 Write in Chunks 
• 26:34 Loosen Up
• 33:01 Marketing and Platform
• 42:18 Closing Remarks

Some great quotes:

• “The ones that work the hardest and hustle the most get the book deals.” - Cyle Young
• “If someone tells you that you need platform, they’re just eliminating their competition.”  — Bethany Jett
• “…net of minutia…” - Cyle Young
• “You don’t get a pass for being new.” — Bethany Jett
• “An erratic writing life produces erratic results. A consistent writing life produces consistent results.” — Cyle Young

LINK:
 Bethany quoted Seth Godin as building the platform “three years” ago. Here’s the actual quote we need to share: 
“The best time to start that was seven years ago. The second best time is right now. So start!” - Seth Godin
Reference link: https://writetodone.com/seth-godin-part-2/

 Timestamps 

In Episode 2 of the Serious Writer Podcast Bethany Jett and Cyle Young discuss: 

1:26
10 Tips for children's writing

1:42
Moral Lessons

2:58
Entertainment

4:45
Know Your Audience

10:39
Short and Sweet

12:06
The mentor influencer research method

15:05
Social media and research

22:09
Fiction Writing Tips

23:29
Don't start with the weather

25:16
Prologues

32:21
NO Exclamation Points!!!!!

35:55
Don't use Dialects
 
38:15
Conclusion, Second Annual Intensive, and Contest Details