I spent most of last weekend devouring Starve Better (see what I did there?) by nihilistic_kid, aka Nick Mamatas, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make money writing. This book is along the same lines as John Scalzi’s …Coffee Shop, in that it’s made up of essays from Mamatas’s Livejournal and various other articles and essays he’s written over the years, but unlike Scalzi’s book, Starve Better is more focused on practical advice on how to sell your work.
It’s divided into two sections – The Book of Lies and The Book of Life – the first of which discusses writing and selling short stories. This section has inspired me to try selling my short stories before self-pubbing them, once I get around to having time to write some short stories after the novel is done, that is. The second section focuses on non-fiction writing and gives a good, unintimidating view of the query process, as well as good advice on which markets to target, coming up with article ideas to pitch, and other useful facts.
I have to say, my favorite part of the whole book was a chapter about Demand Studios. Well, content mills in general, but DS is held up as a prime example. If you know me, then you know I have a love-hate relationship with Demand Studios. I love that they’re a reliable paycheck when I need one, but I hate writing for them, and this chapter outlines a lot of the reasons why. It also confirmed my suspicions that I need to take some of the time and energy that I’ve been giving to DS and instead spend it trying to write for better paying markets who have more respect for their writers.
At any rate, if you’re in pursuit of a writing career, Starve Better is a must-read. So go read it.