8 revenue ideas for authors/experts (more tomorrow)

Authors, if books are the only products in your inventory, you’re missing out on selling to people who don’t like to read.

Consultants and experts, the same goes for you, too.

I know lots of people who don’t have time to read. But they love listening to audio books in the car, driving from one appointment to the next, or going to and from the airport. Here are eight additional income streams to consider after you publish your book:

1. Affiliate sales

Become an affiliate and sell other people’s products and services on topics that tie into your book, or on unrelated topics your audience would love.

2.  Premium podcasts

Create weekly podcasts and offer subscriptions.

3.  Sell bonus chapters

This idea works for both fiction and non-fiction. If you’re a romance author, write bonus chapters that give the backstory of your characters, or other chapters that were too big to fit into the book.

Non-fiction writers can sell bonus chapters that offer more how-to information, or step-by-step directions, on something they wrote about within the published book.

4. Sell a video series on how you wrote the book.

If readers love your books, they’ll love knowing about how you wrote them, where you wrote them, problems you encountered, chapters you rewrote, etc. Create a series of short talking-head videos in which you simply talk to the camera. Vary the length of each video, depending on how much you have to say.

5. Coaching and mentoring programs.

Fiction authors, teach others how to write in your genre. Non-fiction authors, coach people on how to achieve success in an aspect of their lives that tie into your book. Example: How to be a better parent.

6. Participate in Google’s Adsense program.

Google will pay you to display small classified-size and larger display ads at your website or blog. You get a certain amount of money every time someone clicks on the ad.

7.  Create tutorials, cheat sheets, action plans, blueprints, checklists, to’s and outlines.

Any time you can go into more detail and explain how someone can do something—make a souffle, fix a leaking toilet, save for their child’s college education, lose belly fat—you have a topic that would make a great tutorial, cheat sheet, etc. You can compile many of these on the same topic, or related topics, and compile them into a workbook. (Don’t forget to write a press release about your new product and distribute it online.)

8. Lead a mastermind group.

Many coaches and consultants lead virtual mastermind groups. They meet online, or by phone, a few times a month and help each other with business problems, projects and brainstorming.

Here’s a Bonus Tip

Ask people for donations if they enjoyed reading y0ur blog posts by including a “tip jar” at your blog. Read about blogger Jim Hopkins, a former editor for Gannett newspapers, who makes several thousand dollars a year from his tip jar and ads.

More Revenue Tips Tomorrow

During a free webinar for authors and experts tomorrow afternoon, Steve Harrison will list 22 super-lucrative income streams which most people overlook — but are surprisingly easy to implement (and certainly MUCH easier to prodouce than writing another book. A few of his ideas might overlap with mine, but I’m betting that many of them will be new to you.

It will be at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Feb. 28, and it’s called “How to Thrive as an Author/Expert in Any Economy.” It’s completely free and you must claim your seat here. (This is an affiliate link and even though the call is free, I might earn a commission if you buy something from Steve down the road.)

On tomorrow’s call, you will learn proven tips for creating spin-off income streams based on your book or expertise. Steve will tell the story of how one non-fiction author created over $720,000 a year of non-royalty income and how sell large numbers of books to one company.

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