I had a very busy month in July. Work continued on my books, which now number four. Yes, I’m working on what I think are four books at the same time!
I also had a lot of work from other people. I think I had almost 40 different projects this month from people all over the world. And I wrote just about every type of content there is under the sun, except for one thing: I didn’t write an eBook.
That’s right; I haven’t written an eBook for someone in more than two months now! Perhaps people are finally realizing that there’s not a whole lot of money out there for people with just one book.
And things were of course busy at home as well. Apartment hunting is never the most exciting or glamorous thing, but this month my wife and I had to engage in it thoroughly.
So let’s break down the month and see what we can learn from it.
I also had a lot of work from other people. I think I had almost 40 different projects this month from people all over the world. And I wrote just about every type of content there is under the sun, except for one thing: I didn’t write an eBook.
That’s right; I haven’t written an eBook for someone in more than two months now! Perhaps people are finally realizing that there’s not a whole lot of money out there for people with just one book.
And things were of course busy at home as well. Apartment hunting is never the most exciting or glamorous thing, but this month my wife and I had to engage in it thoroughly.
So let’s break down the month and see what we can learn from it.
My eBooks
I’ve been struggling to get 2 of my own eBooks finished this month, and I managed to get closer. Here are the books I’m currently working on and how they’re progressing:
- The Montana Book: I call my rough draft for Priests and Prospectors the Montana book. I’ve got up to over 20,000 words now and have 5 major sections: priests, the Mullan Road, prospectors, cattle, and Montana Politics. I need quite a bit more on gold and a bit more on the Indian policies of the 1850s. Hopefully I’ll get it finished sometime in early August.
- The China Book: I still don’t have a name for this book, although I’m leaning toward “China Sucks” or “English Last.” It’s about teaching in China, and profiles public schools, training centers, kindergartens, and tutoring. It also talks quite a bit about what China’s like. Right now I have 33,000 words and just need to finish the kindergarten section, which I’ve really been putting off. Hopefully I can get motivated, get a cover, edit it, and put it out there soon. If you want to read excerpts, check out my ESL website.
- The Other China Book: About 2 months ago I began posting regular weekly posts on the Goodreads History Book Club forum. I talked about ancient China’s Spring and Autumn Period as well as the Warring States period. I’ve got 3 novels on these, so I could easily work a lot of my previous notes and outlines, until those ran out last week. So far I’ve gotten up to about 7,000 words on this, and I’m thinking if I can get another 20,000 more I might just have a short history book on what China was like in 500 BC. Still, this is months from being completed.
- The Hirelings: This is in the real, real rough draft stage. I got the idea to start working on another fictional fantasy novel when I finished writing up a battle story for hire, which is written about below. It inspired me to start working on this idea I’ve been kicking around for a fantasy book series about a group of mercenaries for hire. They’re led by a dwarf, and the group has 2 barbarians, 2 elves, a human female spell caster, and an orc. I’ve got about 7,000 words on it and am seriously considering the Kindle Serials option. (Read about the Kindle Serials Submission Guidelines here)
Rough Sketch of The Hirelings
Computer Image of a Possible Cover
My Writing Assignments
I had a lot of different jobs during the month of July, nearly 40 in fact. Some were simple little writing assignments that took little more than an hour, and often less. Many, however, were bigger projects that took more time and effort.
- ATM Articles: I started the month off working for this guy in Australia. He had a site that was all about different ATM receipt tape. So he wanted to come up on the top page of Google each time someone typed in a certain ATM machine. I had to write up about 200 to 300 words on all these different machines. It was pretty boring, but well paying at the same time.
- Gay Marriage Article: I had an interesting job working on a political article. I could choose the topic, so picked gay marriage, or more specifically what those seeking to overturn or limit the ruling could do now. I was working for an American woman I believe, through some intermediary in India. This guy in India gave me a hard time and what I should have been paid $50 for I only got $2 for, and he wanted to fight even that!
- Proofreading: I got a lot of simple proofreading jobs this past month. These will come through every once in a while, usually later at night when people in foreign countries need their English checked. They don’t take much more than a half-hour or so and generally help with my editing and proofreading abilities.
- Motorhomes: I got a job writing about the motorhome industry in Australia this month. It was a really short job focused on people wanting to travel around the country in style. I got paid really well for a limited amount of work. I love jobs like that!
- Press Releases: I had some problems in this category all throughout July. I worked for one day retreat place in the US that wanted a press release. I loaded them up on their current special promo, but they didn’t like it and wanted to cancel the job. Perhaps my copywriting skills still need to be polished further.
- Child Care: I was driving back from Oregon when I got a great job writing some child care blog posts. These were to be around 700 words each, and I did 4 of them coming in around 900 each. They were really easy to write since I’ve got a 2-year old. And the money was great!
- Aruba Hotels: This one came in around the end of the month. All I had to do was go to this Aruba hotel website and pretty much rewrite their content. It was easy because I used Google Maps. Aruba is a small island so it didn’t take long to find all the beaches and their distances from the hotel. And the guy was so impressed with my work he bought 2 of my books!
- Battle Story: Probably my favorite job this month was writing for a guy in the UK. He needed some type of battle story to go along with his new website, and chose me to write a one-page story for $20. It had to include 2 armies: one of angels, psychics and kings led by God, Buddha, and Zeus. The opposing army consisted of devils, demons, and djinns and was led by Lucifer, Hades, and Shaytan. I ended up doing 4 pages and got inspired to write fiction again!
Family Affairs
And of course I’ve been dealing a lot with family things all this past month. We moved back from China in late June and have been staying with my aunt for ever since. We recently got an apartment squared away and should be moving in there sometime in early August. It’s in a different city, so that’ll be interesting.
Well, it’s been a busy, but very profitable month, both on my own work and in regard to the money I’ve made writing for others. In fact, this has been my most profitable month since March or April. I hope that August continues to be busy, and I hope I can put a book, or two, out this month!
Well, it’s been a busy, but very profitable month, both on my own work and in regard to the money I’ve made writing for others. In fact, this has been my most profitable month since March or April. I hope that August continues to be busy, and I hope I can put a book, or two, out this month!
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