How to Make Money as a Writer Class

Learn what it takes to build a career as a writer and how professional writers make money in this 3-part class taught by WSJ bestselling author (and full-time writer since 2014) Joe Bunting.

How Pro Writers ACTUALLY Make a Living

In this comprehensive class, you'll explore five key ways that writers can earn a living from their craft: book sales, speaking, author services, freelance writing, and running niche websites. Through real-world case studies and practical exercises, you'll learn how to build multiple income streams that fit your skills and interests. The course also covers essential business and marketing strategies to help you launch a sustainable writing career, from identifying profitable niches to networking with clients and setting competitive rates.

You'll also get special guest interviews from freelance and ghostwriter Sue Weems, editor Alice Sudlow, and publishing services contractor Jamie Biggs.

Here are the topics we’ll cover in each lesson:

  • Lesson 1: Five Income Streams for Writers. In this introductory class on how writers make money, you'll get an honest look at how much authors typically earn from book sales alone and why most writers need multiple income streams to make a living. The lesson covers how writers can supplement their income through speaking, author services like teaching and editing, freelance and ghostwriting, and running niche websites monetized through affiliate marketing and advertising.
  • Lesson 2: Freelance Writing & Ghostwriting. In this class, you'll learn how to launch a successful career as a freelance writer, including choosing a profitable niche at the intersection of your writing skills and subject matter expertise. The lesson covers key strategies like building a portfolio through small starter projects, cultivating professional relationships with clients and editors, marketing your services by establishing your authority, and setting competitive rates for your work.
  • Lesson 3: Author Services. In this class, you'll learn how to offer author services like editing, book design, and marketing to help other writers while supplementing your writing income. The lesson covers how to choose a profitable author services niche based on your skills and interests, build a strong professional network for referrals and support, create a portfolio of your work, and establish your authority by teaching what you know through a blog, podcast, or other content.

How does it look? Ready to join?

How to Make Money as a Writer

About Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is a Wall Street Journal bestselling writer, book coach, and the founder of The Write Practice, with fourteen years experience transforming aspiring authors into published authors.

Joe’s believes everyone deserves the chance to share their story, and since 2010, he has been demystifying the writing, editing, and publishing processes and guiding thousands of people to become authors.

The Write Practice, the writing community Joe founded in 2011, is one of the world’s leading resources for creative writers. It has reached over 25 million readers since 2011 and is cited by educational institutions globally for its practical take on the creative writing process.

More than anything, Joe is driven by a passion to help people who dream of sharing their stories and ideas with the world. He is committed to guiding aspiring writers through the hurdles of writing and publishing, from tackling writer’s block and structuring their stories, to obtaining professional feedback and mastering the intricacies of the publishing industry.

Joe Bunting

Learn from Joe Bunting and Other Authors Today

At The Write Practice, our mission is to create experiences that help you transform from aspiring writer to published author.

That’s why we’re so excited to host monthly classes to give you the training you need to get published and accomplish your writing goals.

Sign up now, or learn more below.

2024 Class Schedule

Find out what classes we have planned for the following year. Note: This schedule is subject to change.

August

Plot Type Mastery
Instructor: Bestselling author Joe Bunting

September

Book Study: Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (fantasy)
Instructor: Bestselling author Joe Bunting

October

Book Study: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (literary)
Instructor: Bestselling author Joe Bunting

November

Point of View
Instructor: TBD

December

TBD

Past Classes

All past classes may be purchased individually, and some are included with your classes membership.

Plot Type Mastery

Plot Type Mastery

Do you know which of the 9 types of story you're writing? Do you know how plot type works with form to create stories that just work? Learn everything you need to understand what's really going on at the heart of your story. By the end of this class taught...

Book Sales Tactics

Book Sales Tactics

Ready to take your book sales to the next level? Join us for our impactful two-part workshop, "Book Sales Tactics," designed specifically for authors looking to boost their market presence and skyrocket their sales. 

Plot Type Cheat Sheets

Plot Type Cheat Sheets

Write your story with confidence by drawing from the patterns stories have used for thousands of years. Download them FREE from The Write Practice!

How to Master Dialogue: New Dialogue Dynamics Class

How to Master Dialogue: New Dialogue Dynamics Class

Transform your dialogue writing and bring your characters to life with our latest class, Dialogue Dynamics: Crafting Impactful Conversations and Vivid Characters taught by Jeff Elkins,The Dialogue Doctor.  This comprehensive course is designed to elevate your...

Membership Bonuses

You can sign up for individual classes, but when you sign up for a membership, you’ll also get all of the following.

The Write Structure Course Mockup

The Write Structure Course

Master book structure for fiction, memoir, and nonfiction and learn to write or edit your masterpiece.

Foundations of Publishing Mockup

Foundations in Publishing

How do you get published and become a professional author? In this extensive course, you’ll learn exactly what it takes to become an author in the 21st century.

Professional Editing

Book Writing Library

10+ hours of video lessons on the ins-and-outs of writing a great book.

There’s more though. You’ll also get:

Community Access

Build your writing team in a community of writers who want to help you succeed.

Get Feedback in Our Writing Workshop

Post your writing and get feedback from your fellow writers in our writing workshop.

Get Published in a Literary Magazine

You’ll have exclusive submissions to our partner literary magazine, Short Fiction Break.

Join Our Writing Contests

Put your skills to the test in our regular writing contests.

Pricing

Sign up for one class or join as a member and save 50 percent, plus get bonuses!

Pricing

Ready to take How to Make Money as a Writer Class?

Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question not covered above? Find it here or contact us.

I don't know if I can make it to the live lessons. Will they be recorded?

Yes! All the lessons will be recorded, so if you can’t make it live, make sure to sign up for the paid course to watch the recordings.

Plus, if you sign up for a memberhsip, you’ll have access to many past courses, including Foundations in Publishing and The Write Structure Course.

What if don't live in the United States?

This course is open to all authors and aspiring authors, whether in the United States, Europe, Australia, India, or elsewhere. If you want to write a book, this course is for you. Keep in mind that you’ll gather live on Zoom several times a month with your mastermind cohort, and let us know in your application which of our available time slots works best for you.

When do the payments for the membership end?

You can continue to receive the classes, access to the community and workshops, and access to past classes indefinitely. If you’d like to end your payments, just let us know at admin [at] thewritepractice [dot] com. 

Do the classes include individualized feedback?

The membership plan includes access to our writing workshops where you can receive feedback on your writing.

Our instructors always make an effort to connect with students, but they’re not able to provide feedback. If you’d like coaching and feedback on your writing, please consider signing up for 100 Day Book, our book coaching program, or 1 Year to Publish, our writing mastermind. Thanks!

You Need to Learn the Craft.
Let’s Do It Together!

If you want to get published, there’s no way around it. You have to learn the craft of writing. You also need to learn how the publishing industry works. Plus you need a team who can support you along the way.

At The Write Practice, we want to support you in every facet of the writing process, starting with learning the craft. 

Our unique, practical approach will help you put what you’ve learned to use immediately so you can start becoming a better right away.

Then, we’ll give you the tools to get feedback and share your writing with the world.

Sign up for classes and let’s get started transforming into a published author today.