2. Royalty publishing (which is what people normally think of when they think of writing). A company pays you an "advance" to write your book, and then they pay you a little bit everytime somebody buys a copy. Most books you buy in bookstores are like that. A publishing company pays you, and you write the book.

It's not a great way to get rich, because most royalty payments are only about $1 a book. So I have to sell an awful lot of books to make an average income. But if you're really itching to write, and you're wondering how to find such a publisher, the best thing to do is to read my writer's tips, which I have on my website right here. That gives you a heads up on how to write a "book proposal" and how to eventually find a publisher, if you can. It's getting harder these days.

Image by Veronica Belmont via Flickr

I should say, though, that I often wonder whether the traditional book publishing world is quickly going the way of the dinosaur. I think in the future, most of us will download books, we won't buy them from a store. So perhaps it will be easier to make a living as a writer, because you won't need a traditional publisher to foot the bill. You'll be able to just send people a downloadable copy, which doesn't cost you much money.

But when you're going to the beach, it's a lot nicer to have a book in your hands to read, rather than a computer screen that's going to act all screwy in the sunlight. So there will always be a role for the traditional book, in some capacity.

And that's what I'm counting on as I'm getting these chapters done. So far I've written them all and I'm in the editing stage, but I often find that the hardest. I never know when I'm done. So I've given myself a deadline of Tuesday to get them into my agent and see what he thinks. I'm off next week to teach at a writer's conference anyway, so I've got to get this thing done. Wish me luck! And if you have any particular questions about writing, ask them in the comments, and I'll try to answer them, or create a post that's Q&A about how to start a writing ministry/career!



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