Want to know how to make money writing romance novels? Amazon has completely transformed self-publishing, making it possible for thousands, if not millions, of writers to earn six and seven figures annually. Romance is one of the hottest niches because romance readers are voracious.
Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial shares how you can make money writing romance novels without ever writing a word yourself. She’s an expert in the field and has previously discussed her journey and earnings in romance writing.
Yuwanda has been writing and self-publishing romance since 2013, with nearly 60 novels and novellas to her name. Her goal is to grow her business to gross one million dollars within the next two years. She makes money through various channels, including blogging, affiliate marketing, ecourse development, online writing for clients, and self-publishing both fiction and non-fiction.
Romance writing is a significant part of her million-dollar goal because it’s predictable and scalable income. In a previous post, she detailed her journey, including why she started, the types of books she writes, and her earnings. Today, she focuses on ghostwriting as a method to ramp up romance writing earnings.
Hiring ghostwriters allows you to produce more novels without writing them yourself. This is an industry-accepted practice, even among famous authors like James Patterson. Yuwanda emphasizes that hiring ghostwriters is not cheating; it’s a business strategy to increase output and earnings.
Romance readers are prolific, with 46% reading at least one book per week. If you find an audience, you will sell books. Yuwanda has hired 15 to 20 ghostwriters, with varying degrees of success. Good ghostwriters are hard to find, so when you do, keep them busy to ensure consistent output.
Working with ghostwriters involves paying a flat project rate and breaking payments into milestones to manage expectations and quality. Contracts are essential to ensure you own all rights to the work. When you receive a story back, expect to do some editing to ensure it meets your standards.
Yuwanda aims to write a few books herself each year but will rely mostly on ghostwriters to increase her earnings. Regular publishing boosts sales of older titles, and earnings can ramp up quickly with consistent output.
In conclusion, hiring ghostwriters can help aspiring romance writers increase their output and run a successful publishing company. While it’s a lot of work, it can be highly rewarding if you’re publishing good stories regularly and growing your audience. Are you interested in learning how to write romance novels?