Freelance fiction: can you make money?

I’ve had a couple of questions this week along the lines of “how do I freelance fiction?”

This is a challenging question. The short answer is: you don’t.

But let’s look at what you can do.

Freelance fiction on the outsourcing sites

You can certainly visit the outsourcing sites, where buyers post fiction projects. You’ll often find buyers wanting bids on novels of various kinds (mystery, romance, science fiction).

I’d run a mile before bidding on one of these projects, but that’s just me.

OK, so why would I run a mile? For the simple reason that fiction (salable fiction) is VERY hard work. Fiction relies on you being able to arouse various emotions in readers, which means you need to arouse them in yourself first. If a novel doesn’t come from your heart, you’re better off digging ditches, or working at the golden arches.

I can speak with authority on this, because I’ve done it a couple of times, when people waved money at me and I snatched it like a starving guppy. Writing a novel you don’t feel viscerally is possible, but the chances of it being a GOOD novel are zero.

However, let’s say for the sake of argument that YOU are different. You’re a hack for hire, and you accept a project to produce a science fiction novel of 75,000 words. You sweat blood: you develop an intriguing premise, write the synopsis, write your outline, you develop four or five characters which leap from the pages… and you write the book.

Dashing perspiration from your brow, at the end of four months you’ve produced not merely a novel, but a wonderful novel…

This is where the trouble starts.

There’s a lot of emotion involved in writing good novels. You’ll find that when you’re writing a novel for someone else (and you know it’s great) you’re reluctant to give it up and see someone else’s name on it. It’s your child, you gave birth to it, and raised it.

You won’t want to give it up. Indeed, I’ve seen writers who took contracts to ghostwrite a novel who sabotaged the entire project because they didn’t want to hand over the results of their hard work, no matter what was written on the contract, and what they signed their name to.

Want to freelance fiction? Just write the novel of your heart

The easiest (and I use the term “easy” loosely) way to freelance fiction is to write a novel, and sell it. Then you get all the money, all the kudos, and it stays your baby forever.

Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth’s Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format.

Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You’ll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela’s been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.

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Tagged as: freelance fiction, ghostwriting, novel, Write a book