Books & rights
Publisher advances
Money on signature, recoupable against royalties — the traditional down-payment on a book.
No book requiredUncapped
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Catalogue
The streams
34 ways writers have been known to turn the skill into money — from the contract you hope for to the invoice you can send on Thursday.
Every categoryBooks & rightsSelf-publishingAppearancesTeaching & coachingCommissioned writingDigital & audienceCollecting, prizes & grantsAdjacent skills
34 streams
Books & rights
Royalties from publishers
A percentage of each copy sold, once the advance has been paid back.
Needs a bookSolid ceiling
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Books & rights
Subsidiary rights
Every way a book can be reused: serial, clubs, large print, digest, and the rest of the small print.
Needs a bookSolid ceiling
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Books & rights
Translation rights
The same book, in another language, with another publisher, and another cheque.
Needs a bookUncapped
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Books & rights
Audio rights
The book as a performance: studio, narrator, and a royalty that now rivals print.
Needs a bookSolid ceiling
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Books & rights
Film, TV and option deals
Someone pays for the exclusive chance to adapt your book — usually without ever making the film.
Needs a bookUncapped
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Books & rights
Serialisation and extracts
A newspaper or magazine pays to run a piece of the book — and tells a million people it exists.
Needs a bookSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Books & rights
Book clubs, large print and special editions
The same text, reset for a different reader — and licensed again.
Needs a bookModest ceilingLess obvious
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Self-publishing
Self-published ebooks
You are the publisher. The store takes a cut; you keep the rest, and all of the work.
No book requiredUncapped
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Self-publishing
Print-on-demand
A paperback that does not exist until somebody orders it — and a margin you can live with.
No book requiredSolid ceiling
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Self-publishing
Kindle Unlimited and subscription reading
Paid by the page-read rather than the purchase — a library card with a royalty pool.
No book requiredUncappedLess obvious
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Self-publishing
Direct sales from your own shop
The customer pays you. You keep the customer.
Needs an audienceUncappedLess obvious
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Self-publishing
Crowdfunding a book
Readers pay to bring the book into existence, in advance, in public.
Needs an audienceSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Appearances
Festivals and personal appearances
A fee, a train ticket, a signing table, and a room full of people who already like books.
Needs a bookSolid ceiling
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Appearances
School and library visits
A day's work, a room of readers who have not yet learned to be jaded, and a fee that is not a royalty statement.
Needs a bookSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Appearances
Corporate speaking and after-dinners
The same craft, a different room: boards, conferences, and people who have a budget line for speakers.
Needs a nameUncappedLess obvious
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Teaching & coaching
Teaching creative writing
A timetable, a cohort, and the strange pleasure of being paid to talk about sentences.
Needs a nameSolid ceiling
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Teaching & coaching
Workshops and masterclasses
A day, a room, a tightly designed session, and an invoice that does not wait for a royalty period.
No book requiredSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Teaching & coaching
Mentoring and book coaching
One writer, one manuscript, a series of conversations, and a fee that reflects the intimacy.
Needs a nameSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Commissioned writing
Copywriting
Words that sell someone else's thing, billed by the day or the job, often at a rate literature cannot match.
No book requiredUncappedLess obvious
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Commissioned writing
Journalism and articles
A byline, a deadline, a word-rate, and a public place to think out loud.
No book requiredSolid ceiling
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Commissioned writing
Ghostwriting
You write the book. Someone else's name goes on the cover. The fee should reflect that fact.
Needs a nameUncappedLess obvious
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Commissioned writing
Scriptwriting for screen, radio and stage
Dialogue, format, and a different set of doors: commissioners, producers, and the writers' room.
No book requiredUncappedLess obvious
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Commissioned writing
Content, technical and business writing
Clarity for hire: white papers, help pages, reports, internal comms, the unglamorous backbone of the web.
No book requiredSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Digital & audience
YouTube from your writing
The research, the voice, the world of the book — performed to a camera, funded by ads, sponsors, and trust.
Needs an audienceUncappedLess obvious
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Digital & audience
Paid newsletters and subscriptions
A letter, a regular cadence, and readers who pay to keep receiving it.
Needs an audienceUncappedLess obvious
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Digital & audience
Online courses
A workshop that sleeps. Record it once, sell it while you write the next book.
Needs an audienceUncappedLess obvious
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Digital & audience
Podcasts and patronage
A show, a listener who returns, and a mix of ads, members, and live dates.
Needs an audienceUncappedLess obvious
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Collecting, prizes & grants
Public Lending Right
A payment for library loans — real money, once a year, if you registered.
Needs a bookModest ceilingLess obvious
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Collecting, prizes & grants
ALCS and copyright collecting
Money from photocopying, educational use, retransmission — collected in bulk, paid to those who joined.
Needs a bookModest ceilingLess obvious
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Collecting, prizes & grants
Competitions and prizes
A long shot with a deadline, an entry fee, and — rarely — a cheque and a headline.
No book requiredSolid ceiling
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Collecting, prizes & grants
Grants, bursaries and residencies
Time and money, awarded, so that the next book can exist.
No book requiredSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Adjacent skills
Editing and manuscript assessment
Another writer's pages, your judgement, a fee that does not wait for publication day.
Needs a nameSolid ceilingLess obvious
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Adjacent skills
Judging, consulting and professional gigs
A prize panel, a publisher's question, a festival's programming note — hired judgement.
Needs a nameSolid ceilingLess obvious
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