Are there any writers here that make decent money from writing?

Question:

Are there any writers here that make decent money from writing?

What do you write? How did you start?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What do you call decent money? I make a living by writing fiction, but it's not much of a living! I write short stories --- fantasy, SF, literary, mystery, horror. I've written some novels, too, just for the money. For instance, I wrote one of the early Magic: The Gathering novels.

The people who I know who make decent money from fiction writing did so in one of two ways. Terry Brooks just started writing the fantasy novels he wanted to write, and he was very lucky. He had multiple million-copy best-sellers. So write what you love and be lucky, that's one way.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes whatever kind of novels the market seems to demand. She writes SF and fantasy under her own name, mystery novels as Kris Nelscott, and romance novels as Kristine Grayson. She works VERY hard at it, and she makes very good money. I don't doubt that there's some luck in her case, too, but less so than in Terry's case since Kris analyzes the market to determine what kind of book will likely draw a lot of readers. So analyze and work hard is another route. It still requires some luck, I think.

Finally, you can turn to non-fiction writing and make yourself an expert in whatever area looks both lucrative and interesting. Business books are a good bet. So are diet and self-help books, where often the writer partners with a non-writing expert.

In a sense, it doesn't matter how you start, but THAT you start. Start writing book reviews, articles, stories...any sort of short piece according to what you want to write. Get publication credits in smaller magazines at first, then look for better-paying opportunities. Just don't expect to make much at first. The apprenticeship can be long.

Alternatively, you just write your book, read books about publishing, submit your work to agents and publishers, and keep plugging steadily along in the face of disappointments.