This month, I made more money from writing web novels than ever before. Most of this money came from just one book, Mage of Wolves, which made more income than any of my other books, including my Amazon bestsellers this month. How is that possible? I'm taking advantage of GoodNovel's pledge to pay $400 for writing 80,000 words per month. If that sounds like too many words for you, don't worry--you don't have to write that many words to get guaranteed money for your efforts. You may even be able to make that sort of money from your backlist if you know where to list it. What about your books? Are your books consistently bringing in that kind of money? If not, maybe you should consider writing a web novel. If you don't know where to start, that's okay. The experts at eGlobal Creative Publishing are here to help you ever step of the way.
A good web novel practically writes itself. It's super easy for me to write between 3,000-4,000 words per day of Mage of Wolves because I know exactly what happens next, and all I have to do is write a few chapters. If you set your web novel up in a way that makes it easy and fun to write, you'll be able to consistently record those sort of word counts as well. Keep in mind, I'm also working on six other projects at this moment, and most of them get updated every day. Even if you have a full-time job, you can still make extra money in your spare time writing a web novel.
I'm going to give you three tips to get your web novel started in such a way that you won't have any trouble writing every single day.
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| Are your books bringing in at least $400 a month? |
Tip Number One: Don't Keep a Good Hero Down--But Start Them There
I am a "pantser," which means I rarely plot out my entire book before I start writing. I just have an idea of what is going to happen. I know who my main characters are and what their motivation is, but other than that, I sort of let the story unfold. Whether you're like me or you're a "plotter" who likes to nail everything down before the first word hits the page, you'll want to start your story off with a specific kind of main character--the underdog.
Why is that? you may ask. Well, web novel readers like to read about underdogs. If you peruse some of the more popular stories, you'll see that underdog web novels tend to do well. Start your MC out on the bottom, knock them down a few more pegs, and then help them make their rise to glory. Of course, it can't be too easy. We'll need a few more atrocities now and again along the way to victory, but starting them at the bottom and keeping them there a while before they start to overcome the obstacles you've put in their way.
Some ideas for your MC might be:
A maid in a castle ruled by an arrogant prince
An actor who keeps getting cast in embarrassing, demeaning roles
The nerd in school who has yet to realize s/he has superpowers
If you're not sure where to start, no worries! EGlobal Creative Publishing has dozens of outlines ready to help you get started, and they'll even provide you a Content Editor to keep you on track. And again--that's all for free!
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| Let's come up with a story that will keep you writing and readers reading! |
Tip Number Two: Keep Your Chapters Short
In a novel, it's not uncommon to have chapters of three or four thousand words or even longer. In a web novel, you don't want them to be that long. Keep in mind that a lot of people are reading on their phones, while they are out and about getting errands done or traveling to or from work. They want to be able to read each chapter or episode in one sitting without being interrupted.
eGlobal Creative likes chapters to be around 1,000 words. They can be shorter or longer, but if you keep them at 1,000 words, you only have to write two chapters a day to have 60,000 words in a month, which is enough to finish your first web novel in a month. Most of my chapters are between 1,000-2,000 words. Even the simplest plot points can usually be stretched into 1,500 words with some description and dialogue. It's much easier for me to think about writing two short chapters a day as opposed to thinking of writing 60,000 words per month.
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| Keep chapters short so readers can get caught up on the run. |
Tip Number Three: Get in Late; Get Out Early
This is a great tip for keeping readers engaged. Unlike some platforms, there are lots of web novel readers just waiting to dive in and give your story a try. They don't really care about grammar and some of the other issues that traditional novel readers will get hung up on. What they want is action, something exciting to happen, and they want it to happen often. They like surprises. They like drama. They like the unexpected.
"Get in late" means the action has already started to unfold before you even start writing. We're not going to spend a lot of time early on introducing characters, plots, backstory, etc. We want to grab the reader from the very beginning when something exciting happens and fill in all of that other information later. Your story should start in the middle of the action, and as often as possible, each chapter should contain something equally exciting. A lot of readers--thousands, if not millions-- will give your free opening chapters a chance. If you can hook them, they'll be willing to spend their coins to unlock the rest of your story. But you've got to hook them first.
Likewise, unlike other novels, web novel readers love cliffhangers. They expect them! Try to incorporate them into every chapter, if possible. That's a great way to keep readers coming back. If your chapter ends with an unknown that the reader must pay to find the solution to by unlocking the next chapter, they'll use their coins to unlock your chapter, and you'll make more money on reads. You can make good money from your royalties. I consistently make over $200 a month this way from a handful of books. So far this month, Mage of Wolves alone has made $43 in profit share. It's not a huge amount of money, but considering my other novels aren't exactly bringing in the dough right now on Amazon, I'll take it.
If you can work these three tips into your web novel, you'll be on the right track toward creating a story you not only can't wait to write each day, your readers will keep coming back to find out what happens next, putting more money in your pocket.
If you want to find out more about how you can join eGlobal Creative Publishing's Author Boot Camp program, check out their web site here or email me at authoridjohnson@gmail.com and I'll help guide you through the process. You will never pay eGlobal for anything. Their services are completely free to you.
Next, we'll explore more plot options and how you can keep your story going for a long time, insuring you're able to make as much profit as possible off of every story.
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| Check out Mage of Wolves only on GoodNovel here. |
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