Most Authors Aren't Making Money Writing... But Some Make It Gatekeeping Marketing Knowledge

I've said it before on this blog, and I'm probably going to say it again; most authors do not make a living writing books. While there are a handful of Big Names who cash fat royalty checks, and a few Smaller Names who cobble together enough for a decent living, most of us who do this are rolling the dice and hoping for the best. However, there is a... let's call it a strategy among a lot of authors for making those ends meet.

In short, they're selling courses teaching others how to succeed as an author. And while I'm all for structured education and paying people what they're worth, a lot of the time these things feel like they aren't worth the cost... especially when there are ways you can get the information free-of-charge from authors who don't want to put a paywall on what you want to know.

Just push... the door is open.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Too Many Authors Are Aping Capitalism's Playbook

All right, at the risk of the Soviet national anthem playing while I write this, the strategy used by capitalists and corporations (there's barely a functional difference, but I list them both for completion's sake) to make money is RARELY to invent new things, improve new services, or to actually be competitive. Instead, these monied interests find something that is either a public necessity (water, land, healthcare, food, housing, etc.) and they take control of it. They then force you to pay for access to it, while keeping control and ownership of it so they can make you pay them as much money as possible until you die.

If you've been on the Internet for any length of time, then you watched this happen with paywalls. Once upon a time you could just read the news, play games, and consume content all across the Internet... but then more and more sites started putting up paywalls so that only people who forked over a membership fee could actually access the services, or information. Hell, it's also happening with "free" websites like YouTube, and several social media sites where you can pay a fee for a kind of VIP package.

So what does this have to do with writers? Well, it seems that a LOT of us aren't actually trying to make a living selling copies of our books... instead, we're trying to make a living selling people who aren't writers the tools to publish and market their own books. And we're doing it in the form of online courses that can run for hundreds of dollars.

And holy crap is this becoming an issue.

Now, the idea of this is fairly simple. An author will put together a series of videos that act as a kind of digital lecture, which will be hosted somewhere that the prospective students can then pay money to access. The idea is that you are getting the inside scoop on publishing and writing from people who have been in the trenches, and who can tell you how you can become a writer just like they did. While this isn't new (there are countless books that claim to be able to make you a bestseller, a business tycoon, etc.), it has become something of an issue for a few reasons.

I'd argue that the first reason is because this information is often (though not always) presented as some kind of secret knowledge that will put one on the fast track to becoming a successful author. That it's marketing using the glitz of a get-rich-quick scheme, which is something that has become all too pervasive in the writing world. What makes you successful is rarely the knowledge, but a network of connections and a proven track record; and those aren't what you're paying for.

Secondly, though, is that the information being paywalled isn't secret. It is all over the Internet, and there are authors out there who are literally giving away the techniques to get published, find an agent, market your book, and even down to the nitty gritty where they'll walk you through building an Amazon ad campaign that will actually get noticed (something that's pretty damn valuable). Hell, I make a show that does this on the Azukail Games YouTube channel titled Tabletop Mercenary, and author Alice Liddell has an entire YouTube channel stuffed with topics titled Alice The Author. If you go watch our videos, you'll save yourself a cool C-note... and you can leave questions in the comments if we don't answer everything you need to know!

This whole trend first came to my attention over a year ago when I was talking with PatZi, the host of the YouTube channel (and former radio show) Joy On Paper (which you should go follow if you haven't yet). At the time I figured that every author with any kind of name recognition putting together a course for prospective writers was just another part of the cycle... but it hasn't gone away.

Now, I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. If you feel that this is a fair deal, and that you want to hear what a particular writer has to say, that's your decision to make. However, I've been doing this for a pretty long time now, and I've met a lot of folks doing it longer than I have. The information being paywalled is absolutely out there for free, and you could probably find it in less than 20 minutes of searching. I am of the opinion that people who want to write better books, or who want to learn how to actually sell their books once they've released them, will be far better served by using the resources they already have at their fingertips. Also, join communities of writers. Social media platforms are jammed with them, and we are all more than happy to share our experienced and tips with folks.

Most of us actually want to sell copies of our books. Information, though, that we generally give out free of charge because we understand that creating community means you help others out where you can.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Consistency Trumps Talent Every Time

We've all heard the story of the tortoise and the hare. The two of them set up to race one day, and the hare bounds off, taking an early lead. The hare decides there's no rush, and pisses about, having a snack, taking a nap, etc. When all is said and done, even if the hare had all the natural gifts in the world, he didn't apply them properly to the task at-hand. Thus the tortoise, who was here to win the damn race, crossed the finish line first.

This is something you see a lot of when it comes to writing. Because there are plenty of people out there who have a lot of talent... but the person who shows up and writes every day is going to be the one who finishes their projects, and crosses that goal line. Not just once, but over, and over, and over again.

You'll get there... eventually...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Discipline, Not Passion, Is What Lays Your Foundation

When people think about art, they usually focus on the thrill of creation, and the happy brain chemicals that flow through you when you get do it. Whether it's drawing, sculpting, or writing, the rush of translating something from your mind and onto a page is the part that most folks tend to focus on.

However... that is only a tiny fraction of what actually goes into making art as a craft (to say nothing of doing it as a profession). Because natural ability and the joy of movement and execution is a single facet of a complicated gem. There's also studying other creators, attempting to learn new skills and master new tools, but at the core of it all there is the one thing that really makes a difference... practice.

To paraphrase Bruce Lee, you don't need to fear someone who has tried a thousand different kicks 1 time each. But that fighter who has perfected a single kick, throwing it a thousand times or more? They will be able to execute that maneuver with power, grace, and a precision you do not want to be on the receiving end of. 

Lock in. Get it done.

Think of any physically demanding job or task out there, and you probably imagine them doing drills, and going through constant training to stay on top of their game. From soldiers and SWAT teams, to firefighters, athletes, dancers, and others, the idea is that if you want to be at the top of your game then you have to put in the hours to perfect your skills. You can't just pick up a fencing rapier, mess around with it for a few hours, and become a sword master; you need thousands of hours to familiarize yourself with the weight of the sword, the strategies of attack and defense, and so on, and so forth. The same is true with wielding a story and making sure that you can twist it, turn it, and execute it as tightly as possible.

Just as important as the amount of practice you put in, though, is the fact that you need to make sure you don't lose your instincts for it because you let yourself get rusty.

Take a moment and think back to when school was in session during the Fall. You've had 3 months off, and you haven't cracked a textbook, done a math problem, or put together a science experiment. Now you're back in school, and your teachers have to spend the first few weeks of school priming your brain pump and reminding you of all the things you learned last year that you've forgotten. And if you haven't been in school for years, instead of months? Well, you might need entire refresher courses to get your brain back in gear, and performing where it was. The same is true of writing... if you have weeks, months, or even years in between your bouts of work, you're going to find yourself trying to make up progress you lost. Like if you went to the gym, got in shape, and then stopped showing up for the holidays... you're going to notice some of your gains are gone, and you aren't as tight as you were before cookie season.

I thought holiday calories didn't count...

Drive is important. Talent is important. But discipline and dedication are going to be your bread and butter when it comes to writing, because they are the tortoise who puts one foot in front of the other. Because when you practice writing every day, no matter how you feel, whether it's rain or shine, then that is the same as showing up to drill even on your off days. And it's why you're going to be that much faster, that much smoother, and that much more natural than someone who just practices when they feel like it, or when they're in a good mood, or when they don't have anything else to do.

You get out what you put in when it comes to your work. And there's going to be frustrations and annoyances, stumbling blocks and hurdles... but if you want to be able to create, you have to keep coming back every day, stretching, and trying to be just a little bit better than you were yesterday.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

As An Author, The Algorithm Controls Your Fate (And It Determines Your Success)

There is this belief among most people that if a creator is talented, and they produce high-quality work, then they will be rewarded for the work they've done. After all, the cream floats to the top, and if your work is really good then of course people are going to find out about it, and buy copies.

All right, real talk. Can quality work that creates a lot of buzz and gets word-of-mouth build an audience and get more and more people to check out the book? Yes, it absolutely can. However, it's the buzz that's important. Because people are absolutely more than willing to check out and buy bad books, see bad movies, and so on, as long as there's some kind of buzz about them.

And if you're a creator in the modern day, then one of the major deciding factors in how much buzz you generate, and the visibility of your work, is the almighty algorithm. And it hates you.

Because it is what determines so much of your success in the modern world.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Some Examples of Algorithm Impact

As most regular readers know, in addition to being a novelist, I'm also a tabletop RPG writer. In fact, I recently finished the 200th published piece of mine (more on that over on my sister blog, with the entry I've Got Over 200 TTRPG Credits Now!), and there are two, distinct incidents I've experienced over recent history that shows exactly how much impact the algorithm can have on your work's visibility, and thus your sales potential.

All right, let's break this down, shall we?

So readers have context, I've been writing TTRPG content for going on 12 years or so now. About 2-3 years ago, my monthly earnings from the website Drive Thru RPG (which is where all my supplements and books are available for sale) was between $350 and $400, with occasional boosts pushing my earnings up to as much as $500 in a single month. That was, overall, pretty good for me in terms of earnings, and I was making some real progress toward building up my savings and keeping all my creditors happy.

Then Drive Thru RPG launched a new website... and everything got shafted.

Myself, and every fellow creator and indie publisher I talked to, had their organic discovery (the ability for people to find your titles through the search function or just be browsing the site) absolutely cratered! Incomes were cut in half for most people, so I went from getting close to an average of $400 to $500 a month for the 2-3 months before the release, to just barely managing to scrape $250 on a good month. My titles didn't change, there weren't huge upsets in the industry, and everything else was holding steady... but the way the site's algorithm shifted meant people couldn't find my work, and the work of countless others.

Our money was tied directly to the algorithm, and whether or not it let people find our titles. It didn't matter if they were good or bad, well-written or drek, if people can't find a book, they can't very well buy or read that book. Period.

But that isn't the only recent horror story regarding the capriciousness of the algorithm, and how it can literally make or break you as a creator.

And even when it doesn't, it will nickel and dime you.

You see, several months ago DTRPG experienced a problem with Reddit. Normally you could just leave a link to a supplement on Reddit, and it would display the cover image, and give you a title... well, something went wrong, and it became impossible to share links that didn't look broken. This meant that if you wanted a proper title and preview image you had to either share the link through an interim site (like Pinterest), or you had to upload the cover image, and then in the cover image's description you needed to leave a link to the book in question.

Do you know why they put all the candy bars, cigarette lighters, and other junk right up by the cash register? Well, it's because people are WAY more likely to buy stuff like that if it's right in front of them, they're forced to look at it while they're in line, and it's easy to access. And while there were some people who were interested enough in a cover image or a title to check out the supplement in question, it was a LOT fewer people. I was seeing my earnings dropping further from that $250-ish level down to $180, and barely scraping $200 some months.

And you know what happened recently? Well, DTRPG got the glitch solved, and now it's right back to showing direct links like it used to. And the sales I'm making? Also shooting right back up to where they were before.

Because it was never about the quality of the books I wrote, good or bad. It was never about picking the right art, or being engaging enough. It was about whether people could click a single link, and get to the sales page right away. More than one click? Not worth it to most folks in the audience. But back to 1 click? Well, consider them interested again!

Your Actions Affect The Algorithm (And Us)

The algorithm is, in many ways, a mysterious, god-like force. Most people don't understand how it works, and we just try to interpret its will as best we can, and to try to stay on its good side by avoiding behaviors we know it doesn't like. However, something that is important to keep in mind is that the algorithm exists to serve you, the audience. Its entire goal is to give you the kind of content that will keep you on the site, and to make sure you keep engaging with it.

Facebook's algorithm wants you to keep scrolling. Amazon's wants you to keep shopping. YouTube's wants you to keep watching. And so on, and so forth.

They cheer for this one? He shall live another day!

Because the algorithm bows to the will of the audience, it requires the audience to invoke it. The algorithm doesn't care about creators, because we are individuals. But if hundreds, or thousands, of people all signaled that the thing this creator makes is something they like? Well, that is going to put the algorithm in gear, and swing its all-seeing eye toward the creator in question to shine a spotlight on them.

This happens when a book hits 50+ reviews on Amazon; the algorithm decides it's worthy of notice, and starts sharing it with other people. It's why high-selling supplements on Drive Thru RPG are given metal awards ranging from Copper to Adamantine, each of which gives it an advantage over smaller sellers. It's also why videos on YouTube that get lots of comments and upvotes are shared to a wider audience, and why the posts made by creators with large subscriber counts are pushed out to more accounts on every social media platform out there.

Your interaction is what generates buzz, and like I said above, that buzz is what gets our books seen, and being seen is what allows us to make sales so we can keep doing this.

So even though it feels like I say this every other article I write on business matters, I feel it is imperative to drive this point home... especially because not everyone makes it to the end every time, so I have to repeat myself a lot. If you want to help push your favorite creators up, boost their signals, and get them noticed by the algorithm, do the following:

- Leave Ratings and Reviews: This directly gets the algorithm's attention, and it can take as little as 50 folks doing it. It's an important start, but still just a start!

- Subscribe and Be An Active Member of Their Audience: Subscribe to your favorite creators on YouTube, Facebook, Blue Sky, and whatever other platforms they use, and then interact with what they post! Leave hearts, reacts, comments of 7+ words, and share things... it all makes a difference!

- Tell People About Them: Whether you're making posts on a forum, giving shout outs in your podcast, or just talking about someone in a discord chat, big-up people whose work you like to others and spread the word. We can only do so much, and people believe you over us when it comes to our work.

It is absolutely helpful to support the creators you love in financial ways, as well, but since this blog entry is about the algorithm, I wanted to focus on that first. So remember to buy your favored creator's stuff, leave them tips if you can, and support them on whatever crowdfunding platform you can.

We're depending on you, because we need your help to force the wheels of the algorithm to move so we can actually get onto the platform where people can see and hear us. So join the good fight... the creators you love will be appreciative.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Inauthentic Voice Undermines Your Narrative

It's the 17th of September in 2025. A right wing organizer and talking head was gunned down onstage. In the chaos, the shooter seemed to have gotten away. He was eventually brought into custody, and details emerge about this 22-year-old from a conservative background in Mormon country. And, in an attempt to solidify their case, the government presents a record of a supposed conversation had between this shooter, and their roommate who they may or may not have been in a relationship with.

This man grew up in the digital age, was a part of various online cultures, and marked the brass of his ammunition with memes and references. Yet when investigators released a transcript of what he supposedly said to his roommate, it reads like a combination between a Civil War-era love letter from the front, and a second-draft attempt by a middle-aged man who has no friends under the age of 40, and who doesn't have kids, so he has no goddamn clue how the young people talk these days.

In other words, it's about as convincing as the Steve Buscemi, "How do you do fellow kids?" meme.

You know the one.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Make Sure Your Story SOUNDS Right To The Ear

How your characters talk is a complicated combination of tone, slang, time period, ethnicity, cultural background, and a thousand other things. And it's a lot like eating a carefully-crafted lasagna; when it comes together, all the disparate pieces form a singular whole. And sometimes when you have just one or two little elements off, it might be written off as a quirk, or a chef's decision. But when something is really off, it ruins the entire ensemble.

One of the easiest ones to screw up is when you have someone who is part of a certain demographic, but they sound like they're part of another one. For instance, a rebellious 20-something with contempt for his father might sneeringly refer to him as "my old man" in the 1970s, or even the 1980s... but not in 2025. If a character is supposed to be British, then it's likely they're going to give measurements in the metric system, or use Celsius for temperature, unless they're acclimated to doing things differently for some reason. Someone who was raised on Chicago's South Side will have a different local dialect than someone from Boston's south side... as well as completely different understandings of cuisine, culture, and everything in between.

You can always tell when something sounds off.

Speech is the manner we use to communicate, but beyond that, it's a road map of who we are, where we're from, and what experiences and interests we have. If you've ever heard veterans talk, then you know they have their own lingo and jargon, and it can offer some real insight as to who they were during their time in the service. If someone is terminally online, they'll have particular ways of speaking that might not making sense to people who aren't... and even if it doesn't crowd into their speech, they'll understand it when they see or hear it somewhere else. You can often tell if someone has been to therapy by the way they talk about issues, or if they read a lot of books without talking to too many people by how they mispronounce words they've only read before.

Writers often develop characters who have similar experiences to themselves, not just for ease of slipping into their skin, but for making sure their voice sounds authentic. But the further you're going to stretch outside of what you know personally, or places you've been and people you've heard, the more research you're going to have to do if you want to avoid the literary equivalent of your characters sounding like parents trying to be hip by drastically misusing their kids' slang in front of their friends.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!