Making Money on Substack

Since Substack's inception in 2017, for writer's and creator's alike, it has become one of the internet's most popular platforms. It's great for both beginners and seasoned writers, and gives you the tools to build a popular platform for free.

Simple Tips to Start Networking

 

“Go-to” moments never happen without the help of people who have the right knowledge.  This is where networking with like-minded people comes in.  

What You Need to Know About Podcasting on Substack

(Blog post updated 27th April, 2025)

Things have changed quite a bit since I last published this particular blog post.

I'm going to tell you more about my progress and where I am today with my podcast.

Starting a Podcast

I started a podcast recently on Substack, and it has been a whole new learning experience, one of which I'd like to share.

I like to keep things simple so I did my research on suitable microphones for beginners and came across the Fifine USB Microphone, which is easy to set up quickly.  I also downloaded some software for recording and editing my voice, called Audacity.  Which I'm still learning about.

Why I Stopped Being an Amazon Affiliate

In recent years there have been a lot of changes going down on the internet transforming the landscape. Opportunities that were once there, and simple to utilise and make money from are now no longer lucrative or have disappeared.

An Introduction to 1976write On-Topic on Substack

When you choose a niche for writing sometimes it can be a bit limiting.  Which is why I decided to start writing on a separate platform

My platform of choice was Substack, because of past experience, it also offers some useful features for creativity.

How I Made My First £100 in a Month Selling My Self-Published Books

If the books are selling, the money will follow. 

Larry Kirshbaum

I self-published my first nonfiction book in 2015 and have gone on to write 12 books.  It wasn't until 2023, and have done over 100 campaigns of varying lengths.

This isn't about getting rich quickly, but rather, it's about building an income and thriving business as a writer.  Which is an ongoing daily battle in itself,  but that's a different story for another day.

How to Use the 1% Rule and Make Money By Writing Books on Amazon

What is the 1% Rule

The "1% Rule" is if you can just consistently and persistently be 1% better at what you do each day, over the course of a year or a decade you will make significant progress.  Summaries.com.  

1% progress
+ Daily Application
+ Persistence
+ Time
= Success

Taken from summaries.com and the book The 1% Rule written by Tommy Baker.

How to Apply 1% Rule to Your Own Writing

What if you were publishing books regularly, every quarter, or every month?

Imagine if you just published book after book after book, think about how much you could make by using the 1% rule to get it done.

The Snowball Effect

It's true the more you write the better you'll become, the better choices you'll make choosing or making your own book covers and the more books you'll have to promote.  

Steps to Get Your Writing Business Started

Let's take a look at some steps to help you turn your writing into a real business.

Start Publishing Regularly

This is when your writing stops being a hobby and starts being a serious business that needs a lot of work.

One of the best ways to do this is to start your own blog, if you haven't done so already.  You may also want to look into writing your first book and getting that published.

Blogging professionally requires a lot of time and patience, and it may help to start setting yourself deadlines for both your blog posts as book publishing.  By setting a date for publishing will give you the push you need to get things done.

Once you get past the initial steps of seeing your thoughts on paper or webpage the sky's the limit.

By keeping up with your publishing schedule you'll prove to yourself that you can write, and you'll start getting feedback from people telling you exactly what they think about your blog.

Content Marketing for Writers

 

Content comes in four different forms: the written word, audio, video and images,  each medium is used to target an audience.

What matters most of all is that the content you produce is of use to your audience and keeps them interested and wanting more so they'll continue to read your books and blog posts.

Content Marketing is Producing High Quality Content for a Targeted Audience

You can do this by creating articles, blog posts, audio, video, images or podcasts.

a. Every blog post you write should be aimed at your audience.

b. It's no good throwing anything and everything out there and hoping for the best.

Your main aim is to sell books, products or services, and do this by creating high quality content for your audience to read.

Freelance Writing, What You Need to Know

When you write it starts opening up a number of different doors and gives you more opportunity to expand your writing business.  From not just writing books, but also writing articles, blog posts and much more for not only yourself but for other people.

When your books and blog start making money, people will start noticing you and your work in a whole new light.  And this is where freelance writing comes in.

You don't need any qualifications to become a freelance writer, what you do need is experience writing really good articles and books people want to read and buy. 

How to Make Money from Sponsored Blog Posts as a Writer

 

Sponsored blog posts have been a contentious issue for many bloggers, but on the positive side, hold the possibility of extra revenue from well-written content.

The route of sponsored blog posts can be both ethically and legally challenging due to advertising disclaimers, cookie awareness and privacy policies required.  Not to mention the guidelines you need to follow to keep Google happy.

So let's get started.

Selling Your Books and Other Products as a Writer

 

An essential part of your author platform is your book product page.  People need a quick and easy way to access these links so they can order your books.

Making money through your writing doesn't just stop at producing your own books, there are many other options you can use to make extra income on top of the income you're already receiving from the sales of your books.  Find some of those options below.

Selling Easily Downloadable or Digital Products

Digital products are e-goods and only exist in digital form but can easily be downloaded via a web page, consumed or watched online, but can also be delivered by email.  No shipping or storage is required, making profit margins higher than any physical products being sold.

You Could Sell:

A Resource or Guide 

Offering Consulting or Coaching Services as a Writer

 

If you're already producing content regularly, and have an audience that likes what you produce, chances are some may even want to call upon your expertise at some point.

This is when you can start offering your services and making some extra income from your writing.

When you started writing you built yourself a really useful skill set that can be used to your advantage. 

Driving Your Writing Business With Content Marketing

 

If you want to make writing your business you need to think about how you're going to establish multiple streams of income through content marketing.

The most obvious form of content marketing is writing books.  What other avenues are there to expand your income stream as a writer?

Thinking that writing books as your primary income stream is a dangerous way to think.  

Having a single income stream can be a rocky path to choose, especially in the times we're living in today.

The more you expand your income stream the better off you'll be.  Writing opens up so many different doors, and even new projects you can build on to increase how much you earn.

How to Really Profit from Your Books

If you want to be a successful author you need to think seriously about making real money from your books.  In this section we're going to look at how to really make your books work for you, and create a long-term income.

One Book Isn't Enough

Writing just one book isn't enough to live off if you want to make money with your writing.  You need a whole shelf of books for people to buy to make real money as a writer.

It's also worth pointing out that the more books you write, the less you have to market each one, because you'll be reaching a bigger audience of people with different subjects and genres.

Don't think less is more, think more is more when it comes to making a living from your writing.  The more you stretch yourself as a writer writing in different genres, the more money you'll make in the long run.

10 Best Online Courses That Will Help You Make Money as a Writer

Going to college or University used to be the only way to access knowledge from the professionals.  The Internet has changed all of that, and now you can get the best help by simply sitting at your desk or on your couch, all at a fraction of the price.

All of these courses come highly recommended from CreativeLive, a company I've used in the past to improve my writing skills.  The list covers a variety of different niches, so there's bound to be something to catch your eye.

Here are some online writing courses that come highly recommended:

Simple Tips on Writing, Productivity and Mindset

 

Productivity

Productivity is a big player in your writing routine.  If you want to be a full-time writer you need to be able to write consistently, and regularly, otherwise you won't make any money.

For many, writing can be fun and easy to do, but don't be fooled, it's actually really tough and requires a lot of time and energy.  But I wouldn't change it for anything.  

 

Here are some useful hints to get you started:

Fix your writing routine and habits

Writing shouldn't just be a hobby, or something you do in your spare time, it should be a habit.  Habits are something you do on a daily basis without thinking.  Like brushing your teeth, or combing your hair.  When I first started writing online I did it as a form of therapy.  It took a couple of years to realise it had developed into something else.  From writing articles weekly on Hubpages, I started a blog and ended up devoting my time to writing regular posts.  I used to sit for hours (and still do), writing blog posts each week.  This eventually formed into a weekly routine of writing and publishing.  Before long I used the content I had published and started turning them into books.

Why It's the Best Time Ever to be a Writer

 

Since the inception of the Internet, opportunities have emerged that were never dreamed of before.  You could liken this to the invention of the printing press, by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450.  People started building their own printing presses, creating work for writers everywhere.  All of these presses required books and printing materials.  Giving more people new opportunities to move up in the world.

Several centuries later in the 1700s newspapers were the big businesses of the day due to new developments of the time.  This followed with a demand for editors and journalists, not to mention copywriters to create the ads, which brought in extra revenue for these big businesses.

Companies such as Sears benefited hugely from these further advances at the end of the 19th century.  Copywriters and editors were needed to write pages and pages of copy for their catalogues.

By the 20th century radio produced a new kind of writer, so the hunt was on for new talent to write and produce their TV shows, and write their scripts.  Included in each TV show segment was a 6-7 minute break for commercials, and more writers were needed to create material for these commercials.