How to make money writing fiction

If you're trying to make money from fiction writing, you already fucked up.

The goal of this post is to show you why.

And if you still refuse to give up the stubborn dream of being a paid fiction writer (like me), by reading this, you'll see what I'm doing about it so you can copy my methods. Copy?

Cool.

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Nobody reads fiction on social

At least very few people do.

I should know. I've been posting fiction online in some form since 2021.

While this isn’t a long time, think about what's happened since the start of the decade.

COVID. AI. Massive technological change in social algorithms. Just these three factors alone have greatly influenced what most folks see online.

And what do they see?

Mostly videos. Some images, primarily in the form of memes, and… well that's basically it.

What about text?

Yes it's there. But I have bad news for you author. Outside of subtitles, the average scroller doesn't read it.

I'm not gonna cite any studies as evidence. Don't need to.

Just think about your own behavior.

You open your phone on a 5 minute break from some activity, pick your preferred social app, and enter the feed.

What greets you on most social platforms (more and more even on Substack) are videos.

Then if you get past those, it's the short form posts.

THEN if you get past those, you might start to read a long form post. But by the time you get comfy and let the magic of words whisk you off to some unfamiliar zone, time's up. Break over.

And this is the chief weakness of most written fiction in our times - it relies on words to draw consumers in.

Not only do lower literacy rates prevent the regular consumption of fiction, but the most popular platforms see text as the lowest priority.

Even after hitting publish, your chances of being read and paid are minimal.

Competition is insanely high

We're drowning in stories today.

Centuries ago, the only way to experience a story was to find a book or be near a skilled storyteller.

Today, as soon as you wake up a story hits your retinas within 5 minutes of eye opening activity.

Don't believe me?

The news feed? Stories.

Any social media? All excerpts of someone’s story.

All notifications, any uploaded video, the message from your best friend or your dad - all invitations to some length of story.

And I haven't even mentioned finished media. These are the bestselling books, blockbuster movies, your video game backlog - everything that you COULD (and probably would) consume if you had infinite time.

I've heard many an online guru say something like “anytime you publish, you're competing with TikTok or YouTube.”

But it's worse than that.

Your competition is anyone with Internet access, or a good book, or a compelling storyteller, which at any given moment is most people on the planet.

Then there's you. The aspiring bag-getting fiction writer with your pitiful Substack of a dozen unedited rough cuts. How can you compete? Not easily.

When you take into account the overwhelming choice the average consumer has, it's no wonder why your work remains the equivalent of spam - a mystery meat - unappreciated, unconsumed, trashed.

Effort doesn't matter, only results

The beauty of writing is a time-thieving beast when it comes to making money.

Often, your beautiful words - long in the shaping - come at the expense of profitable business.

And I see you, Mr./Ms. word-, theme-, character-, craft- obsessed fiction writer. I stand with you.

Problem is craft is an afterthought for the average reader.

If they think about it, it's a passing curiosity, akin to pondering why hair grows on your ears instead of your head after 40. A useless exercise.

A year and a half. That's how long it took me to write my first novel.

Two years. How long it took me to turn it into a podcast.

In that time, I insisted on doing everything myself, which of course dragged out the process. And in the end, the quality was still questionable since I was learning as I went along.

Those were costly years.

This type of slow methodically thoughtful process means nothing to the readers you strive to woo through words.

Just ask Hollywood.

A typical film could take 2-4 years to script, shoot, and release.

Meanwhile, most viral videos are posted in minutes by people with zero expensive equipment, no budget, and no acting talent.

Worse still, savvy writers/prompters/curators can generate instant stories of passable prose quality with AI (remember, average reader doesn't care how it was made, can't tell if there's a dip in quality, and certainly doesn’t care about your ethical hangups about using it). As long as they feel entertained, it doesn't matter if the story took 2 hours or 2 years to write. It's all the same.

My point here?

It takes too damn long for you to publish your precious fiction.

You lack speed, which hurts your ability to generate sustainable coin.

Unless you have a famous brand or name (which if you're reading, I'm guessing you don't) people will not wait for you to publish your masterpiece post or novel.

They'll just move on to the next piece of content, as if you never existed.

What can you do about this?

The world of fiction is changing at a blinding pace.

You and I can't keep up. (I've tried.)

But what we can do is update how we present and package our stories.

That's what I've been doing for the past several years. The results?

Not exactly what I wanted, yet surprisingly promising.

I'll tell you I hesitated for a while to write this post and kick off ANOTHER newsletter.

Reasons being: I'm not wildly successful in the capitalist sense. (Haven't made tons of money.)

I'm not a bestselling author.

Or a YouTube gold button holder.

I'm not monetized on social platforms.

I have no literary awards.

I'm not in any celebrity book lists.

I don't even have a 100 subs on Substack.

And my email list has less than 20 subs.

So, then why should you read me?

Who am I?

My name is Keith Hayden. I'm a U.S. Air Force veteran, former federal agent, and now military spouse.

I work part-time as a substitute teacher in a large public school district in the U.S.

I journaled for 14 years straight before writing my first book in 2017 (published in 2019.)

My first novel published in 2021.

In 2022, I started a business for my creative work.

And since then, I've monetized my writing in multiple mediums and many ways.

I've

:ghostwritten 2 books

:written over a hundred blog posts

:designed 400+ graphics (including my own book covers)

:hosted 6+ podcasts, one of which has over 30k streams

:composed, sang, rapper, produced, or performed 110+ songs

:made 200+ videos

:created dozens of products

:posted of 15k times on social media

:coded 15+ websites, games, and apps

:gotten one of my novels sold internationally (a store in Japan carries it)

:helped a fellow fiction writer publish his book

:earned thousands of dollars writing and publishing stories

Why should you read me?

Because, while I might not have met my monetary goals - I've been paid in other valuable wages:

skills, experience, and an international network of friends, fellow online hustlers, and writers.

I want to share some of that with you here.

What is Fiction Money Engine?

A record of effort documenting a running approach to make money primarily by writing fiction.

If that's unclear, try this:

I do things to make fictional money, share what I did, you try them for yourself.

Simple.

I hope to make this a weekly thing.

This isn't just about what I'm doing. It also involves you.

As you run your own experiments, I anticipate you'll share them in some way too.

That's how we grow in this game together.

Remember that dream you had to change the world through words?

It's still possible.

And I know every time I write and publish anything or tell someone about my writing, I move a step closer to my goal.

I want to help you do the same.

That gives me hope that we're not so fucked after all.

So if you're tired of writing, then releasing your stories to silence or of making nothing from your effort, it's time to warm up your personal Fiction Money Engine to earn what you deserve.

Hayden Academy Collective (HAC) Studios: Backstage is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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