Writers Turn Hobbies Into Businesses - On The Internet 

Hobbies can become obsessions for some people – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing these days.  If you have been involved in your particular hobby over a reasonable period, you will no doubt have developed contacts, techniques and tools, and these have effectively become your own intellectual property. 

You might be surprised to learn that such information is valuable to others with the same hobby but who are less experienced than you (just how much varies depending on the uniqueness of the information).  Telling the world about your resources though has in the past been a huge challenge.  Even if you wrote a book on the topic, it has previously been difficult to publish and market it.

But not any more.

There is no longer any need to get an agent, editor and publisher and hope they will get the book into the right hands and do the publicity necessary for it to be a success.  By having their own website, writers can self-publish to the world!

Building a website will be perhaps the easiest part of the whole process.  For a person to make money on the internet by writing, a very simple website is all that is needed initially. And by simple, I don’t mean cheap.  You are short-changing yourself if you attempt to present a professional product on a cheap and nasty website. 

There are some very user-friendly software out now that makes building a website too easy for words.  Granted, you also need a computer and internet access, but regular word processing skills are enough to build your website with this software.

A simple one page website can be up and running just a short time after completing the tutorial provided in the top software packages.

So how do you market your knowledge?  The best way is to give an outline of your hobby on your self-built website.  Perhaps some historical information about the origins of the hobby, the different disciplines involved, the variety of styles etc. 

Then take some time out to write an ebook about whatever ‘special’ skills you have to offer.  A ‘how to’ or ‘the best way’ or ‘10 simple steps’ is a good way to approach this.  Don’t try to put all of your information into one ebook – keep something in reserve for your next one! 

Once completed, use third party fulfillment houses like Clickbank or DLGuard to receive the funds and automatically deliver the ebook once the sale is made.

Add a sales page about your e-book to your website, describe what it has to offer and how it is of benefit to the user.  Don’t make it too expensive unless the information is really groundbreaking.  It is better to make 1000x$5 sales than 10x$20 sales – and remember, you aren’t selling to your home town, with the internet you are selling to the world!  With each sale you are amassing excellent contact details for future promotions – after all they have already shown to be interested in your hobby.

Promote your website by submitting articles on your hobby to free publishing sites like ezinearticles.com – with a link to your site.  And as your marketing skills increase, so to will you will utilize the many marketing tools included in the top programs.

There has never been a better time to convert your hobby into a business, and good software and guidance, you will have great support along the way.