In 2017 there were 105 authors in the Netherlands who made € 19.200 or more annually solely from royalties aka selling books.
The rest made less, or they had extra sources of income like speaking gigs or writing for magazines.
But usually they just made less money.
You’d think someone who has just started a business wanting to be a full-time author would think that number was disheartening.
But I loved it.
ONLY 105 authors making a minimum income from selling books?
Are you joking?
Surely, it can’t be that hard. I don’t believe that.
For the past couple of weeks I ve been toying with the thought of picking up other means of income; Coaching, consultancy, speaking gigs, selling online programs.
Yet the minute I read that supposedly disheartening figure of how few writers make an income in the Netherlands?
I was back to only selling books.
Fuck other gigs.
To focus exclusively on selling books, was actually a decision I had already made a while back. But because I have other talents as well, and many are perfectly monetizable, I let myself be swayed from the path.
Why not do all those things that I’m good at and I would love to do, and I could make money from?
But now I knew I wanted to be one of those 105 authors who made that income ONLY from selling their books.
I didn’t want to be with the authors who made it from other things as well.
Because I suddenly remembered WHY I had considered doing those other activities; and it didn’t have anything to do with money.
It was because both writing, and even more publishing, are a pretty lonely.
I was just looking for a way to meet new people and have interesting conversations.
But I had also sworn that I was going to create an ideal business!
That everything I did, would be stuff I would also do if it didn’t make me any money. And I would still do them if I had a normal job to finance a book publishing hobby.
I insisted on having a 100% purpose driven company.
And the article on the number of professional authors in the Netherlands brought me back to this fact;
Coaching, consultancy and speaking were not activities I would still turn myself inside and out for, in order to squeeze it into an already busy life.
They were not activities I would do if I already had a million dollar income.
At least…. not for money!
I did recognized that especially speaking gigs would be fun.
Just not as a source of income.
I would do it for free and sell my books while I was there.
I made a note to get a business account that offered a device to pay with cash card, since barely anyone carries cash around these days.
And suddenly I noticed how much energy it had cost me to leave all those coaching/consultancy options open.
And how much clarity I gained if I saw myself as JUST a writer!
And a publisher of my own books.
This would be my new identity.
And also the topic for this blog from now on – since I quit writing about my personal life yesterday, after 12 years.
You can read my final blog post about being a mistress here.
Writing about my personal life had become constricting.
Sure – there will be many ways in which my personal life and professional life will intertwine.
I m going to pick up filming for YouTube – that’s the first place where I’ll share the parts of my daily life that influence my life as an author/publisher.
I don’t intend to pick up diary writing, in the traditional sense.
But having said that! I will be keeping a log on my workdays, on what I encounter doing what I love, and making a business out of it.
I WILL SHARE MY empire building DAY ON Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
And the number one thing it should include is:
One Lighthouse Moment a day!
One moment where I can shine and feel totally in my element.
These can be social meetings or creating a video on YouTube.
So come join me on my road to becoming one of those 105 authors who make a minimum of € 19.200 annually.
Well… I was actually kidding when I said that.
My income goal is way higher!
In July I already made a blog post called:
Watering the Bamboo Tree – five years to becoming the first 7-figure Dutch author, WRITING whatever the fuck I want
A 7 figure income in five years.
And I already wasted the first five months.
I think. Hard to tell. Maybe this is all part of the daily watering and fertilizing the bamboo tree.
Anyway, aside from a prestigious income goal that blog posts contains a “not to do list”. To my horror it had (not)”creating YouTube videos” on number one.
For a moment I thought my resolution to do YouTube videos here, for this new phase, was a big mistake!
That I was not taking my own advice!
But then I realized it said: Don’t create daily YouTube videos as a form of promoting yourself/ to increase book sales.
And in my current resolution creating YouTube videos are lighthouse moments.
So I’m making a management decision; Making YouTube videos, to shine and feel great is allowed.
Just not as way to promote myself.
The other things on this summer’s Not To Do List were;
– Public speaking and conferences
Just like in this post, it didn’t mean I didn’t want to do them – just that I didn’t want them in my business model. I jokingly added:
“My 7 figure income is not going to come from charging 100K for a day.
I’m not going to be the Tony Robbins of mistresshood.”
Clever girl.
– setting up online programs or coaching
This is also already covered in this post.
But I made a useful reminder as well:
“Setting up and running an online business, will be totally draining for a writer.”
WANT TO GROW YOUR OWN MONEY TREE?
For the next four and a half years, I ll be sharing my watering schedule, fertilizing secrets and other daily habits that will ensure the Chinese Bamboo grows into a 7-figure income.
The subscribe button should be somewhere on this page.
Have you found it?
And you can get to know me better by through my erotica and diaries at my new improved shop (English books, might have to scroll down)
<3LSH
An Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living
I quit writing
Project M. and in particular its last chapter Like a Prayer is my final diary for an indefinite period of time.
I ve been writing about my love life, pretty much non-stop, since 2006, the moment I became single. And although it has brought me many things – in particular the opportunity to have relationships that are way out of my league – it has now started to constrict me.
The cage of self-reflection and transparency, that I built to protect myself, has become a prison.
I need to start living, and start experiencing life, without the pen.
Or at least without diary writing/ blogging about my real life.
I m going to use this time to create my four new books.
One Dutch book with columns:
Blote Kont
Verhalen over mannen, macht en dagjes uit
One English book with columns:
I M NOT CHANGING MY FUCKING SHOW
One English book about Mistresshood:
The Big Mistress
And one diary 2017-2018, called Reboot.
Which will also include my last diary Project M.
My diaries en erotica are available at
my BOOK SHOP
25% discount on all prices
If you check your cart, you can select your store
f.e. Nederland or United States
with the flag in the upper right corner.
The best places to follow me are:
This blog – subscribe button on this page, most likely on the right.
Facebook
and Twitter
I’m not writing this because I’m discarding my plan to become the first Dutch author who is internationally successful writing in English.
I wish I had a quote at hand, to mark the occasion.
LS Harteveld 