I did an AMA on Reddit about my job, NaNoWriMo, etc. once and it was so popular that I still get comments years later. Maybe there are people here who are interested in what I do too. Who knows?

Anyway, I'm a full-time copy and research writer. I write from home and work for myself. Yes, it's a job. Yes, I get paid for it. The typical salary for what I do is between 50 and 70,000 a year (I get asked this a fucking lot, so I thought I'd get it out of the way.). It very much depends on your clients, how much time you put into your work and how well you manage your time. The great part is, you can work as little or as much as you want, so if we need me to do more family/home oriented stuff and don't need money as much, I can shift my focus there and back again as we see fit. It's very nice.

I'm also an author. I have published two horror novels and a novella so far. I'm currently working on a short story anthology, another horror novel and a non-fiction book about mental illness. No, I'm not famous. Yes, I self-publish. I've never even tried to be traditionally published for multiple reasons. Self-publishing, done properly, is the now and future of literature. It's cheaper. You have way more control. You get way more of the royalties on the books you do sell–up to 70%. You'd be quite surprised how many popular films and novels you have heard of were actually self-published. I don't want to travel. I don't want to meet people. I have zero interest in heavily promoting my work. I want to work at my own pace. That freedom is amazing. The stress of seeking a publisher is tremendous. That said, you have to find and hire your own editors, deal with formatting for print and digital, etc. All of those things become your problem, which has its own difficulties.

Okay, I think I got the basics out of the way. Ask away.

Cool.

Do you love it?

Yes, I prefer research writing and novel writing to copywriting, but copywriting pays the bills.

Between 50 bucks and seventy large? Sounds about right. Congratulations, BTW.

Do you have a preferred platform for self-publishing and/or any that you stay away from? Like CreatSpace or Lulu?

(November 22, 2016 at 11:24 am)houseofcantor Wrote: Between 50 bucks and seventy large? Sounds about right. Congratulations, BTW.

LMAO, yeah, that does sound about right, doesn't it? I know people who make pennies. I have no idea why they do it.

Nothing to congratulate about. I've been doing it for nearly a decade now. It will be ten years next year, I think.

(November 22, 2016 at 11:26 am)Tonus Wrote: Do you have a preferred platform for self-publishing and/or any that you stay away from?  Like CreatSpace or Lulu?

I like CreateSpace. It's partnered with Amazon, which makes it much easier to move from one platform to the other. It's been pretty consistent with preview and printed format as well, so I don't have to stress much about the look of the book once it looks right there. I haven't tried Lulu. I've considered trying something new, but it ain't broke yet . . .

(November 22, 2016 at 11:27 am)Shell B Wrote:

(November 22, 2016 at 11:24 am)houseofcantor Wrote: Between 50 bucks and seventy large? Sounds about right. Congratulations, BTW.

LMAO, yeah, that does sound about right, doesn't it? I know people who make pennies. I have no idea why they do it.

Nothing to congratulate about. I've been doing it for nearly a decade now. It will be ten years next year, I think.

Thought I remembered reading about how you wanted to do it full-time but couldn't then but can now was the reason for the congrats; unless I'm mis-remembering stuff, which wouldn't be too much of a surprise. 

(November 22, 2016 at 11:30 am)houseofcantor Wrote:

(November 22, 2016 at 11:27 am)Shell B Wrote: LMAO, yeah, that does sound about right, doesn't it? I know people who make pennies. I have no idea why they do it.

Nothing to congratulate about. I've been doing it for nearly a decade now. It will be ten years next year, I think.

Thought I remembered reading about how you wanted to do it full-time but couldn't then but can now was the reason for the congrats; unless I'm mis-remembering stuff, which wouldn't be too much of a surprise. 

Yeah, I was already full-time when I came to this forum.

Fantastic, very cool. I contemplated going into science writing/journalism for a while, and I do have a handful of book projects, but I ultimately decided that I can't handle the stresses and lack of security of freelance work, and am doing these things on the side now - I admire you for being able to pull it off! So my question is, how do you acquire clients, and was it difficult to become established in the field until you could actually make a living?