One of my income goals for 2009 is increasing earnings from alternative revenue sources, such as sales of reprints or blog posts I repurpose into ebooks or revenue from teaching classes, training or mentoring – basically anything I’m not creating entirely from scratch.
During 2008, my passive income amounted to less than 1 percent of my total income – paltry by any measure. I’d like to bump up that number, but am not sure what’s realistic – 2 percent of total income? 4 percent? More?
I’d like to hear from other freelancers:
- Do you make money from alternative revenue sources and if so, what are they?
- What percent of your total income do they represent?
- What kind of marketing do you do to achieve your yearly alternative revenue source goal?
If you’ve had even modest success with this, please consider sharing what you’ve learned.
Ah, good question. I look forward to hearing the answers. Other than book royalties and the occasional reselling of an article, I have no thoughts.
Reuse content/sources for stories with different but related angles…as long as most of the piece is fresh. Intvw good sources on multiple topics for different assignments….and consider the advantages of a non-writing source of income such as tutoring, selling products online, hosting trunk shows, or a special skill such as teaching an exercise class…gets you out of the house too.
Good suggestions Polly. Right now I’m in discussions on two opportunities that could add to my income this year: a paid speaking engagement (or two or three) and teaching an online class on social media that’s specifically geared to writers. For both I could draw upon resources and material I’ve already developed for my writing assignments or this blog. If all goes well you can be sure I’ll share my experiences here.
Michelle