I’m a writer and here’s how I earn money
I was once a dying shopping mall
As a teenager growing up in the 90s, I spent my life in a mall. And I mean my life. I shopped in the mall. I ate questionable pizza at Orange Julius (while simultaneously wondering why a place named after a drink was serving pizza). Later, I worked at one of those cheap teen clothing stores where everything smelled like cucumber melon and regret.
Malls rely on anchor stores. You know, those massive department stores that sit at either end like the popular kids. They're the Sears, the JCPenney, the Macy's, the big names that draw customers and drive foot traffic so all the little stores in between can survive.
But we've all seen what happens when those anchors disappear. The food court starts looking post-apocalyptic. The fountains stop running. Eventually, some entrepreneur with questionable judgment tries to turn it into an indoor paintball arena. The mall dies.
When I first started my business at the ripe age of 26, many years ago at this point, I very much ran my business like a mall. I had little drips of income here and there—workshops where three people showed up, classes where I was essentially paid in compliments, one-off projects that barely covered my coffee budget for the month.
But mostly, I relied on my anchor client. One glorious whale of a client who paid a sum substantial enough that I could pretend I was a real business person. They were my Nordstrom, my Bloomingdale's. They kept the lights on and the website running.
And when that client eventually disappeared?
I was a dead mall! RIP me! Just an empty shell with tumbleweeds blowing through my bank account. I could practically hear the eerie mall muzak playing as my business flatlined.
It was terrifying. Also humbling. Mostly terrifying.
So then I got smart, or maybe just desperate enough to finally do what every business book had been telling me to do from the beginning. I started diversifying my income so I wasn't reliant on a single source. No more putting all my eggs in one overpriced department store basket.
Today, I use the Drip Trickle Flow Flood method coined by my friend and podcast co-host,
. It's exactly what it sounds like—creating multiple income streams that range from small (drips) to occasional windfalls (floods).If you want to hear some honest money conversations and learn how to diversify your income, especially if you're a writer or creative who's allergic to spreadsheets and business jargon, then check out our brand new podcast Drip Trickle Flow Flood on any platform.
Breaking Down the Drip Trickle Flow Flood Method
Let me break this down before you think I'm just making up fancy water metaphors:
Drip: Your smallest amount of income. This can be consistent or inconsistent. Maybe you're just getting started with a side hustle that brings in a drip of cash, or you're earning small dividends from an investment.
Trickle: More than a drip, but not life-changing. The kind of money that makes you say "neat!" but not "I'm paying alllll the bills with this!" Can be consistent or inconsistent.
Flow: A solid, often predictable stream of income. This is your responsible adult money. This would be from anchor clients, W2 income, an installment payout from a book advance, etc. The stuff you can actually build a budget around without laughing hysterically.
Flood: This is a big flood of money that comes in all at once. The kind that makes you temporarily believe you're rich before tax season humbles you. For example: you sell your business, sell a house, get a big production bonus payout from a film, land a significant book deal advance that’s paid out in a lump sum, or sell a course once a year that brings a giant flood of income.
My Income Breakdown
DRIP 💧
Etsy store - I have an Etsy shop where I sell fun t-shirts & sweatshirts and when I do a signed book drop or merch for my Melissa Cassera books, I sell them here. This shop can waffle between drip and trickle depending on time of year and what I'm selling. December? Trickle. July? More like a sad little drip.
Interest/Dividends - We have a number of different investments that sometimes vary between drip and trickle. I pretend to understand how they work when talking to my husband.
Cash back business credit card - I have a business credit card with pretty awesome cash back rewards that drip back into my biz.
Secret pen name - I wrote a book under a secret pen name that was once a trickle but went down to a drip (one month I made 26 cents on it! It counts!) I've pulled that book down and I'm starting up a new pen name in a new category this month. My goal is to get that up to a trickle this year and a flow next year, but it will start as a drip.
TRICKLE 💦
Workbooks - I have a personal brand workbook called the Swirl Effect that brings in a trickle of income. I will be launching a Bestseller Energy Digital Publicity Kit later this month that I want to turn into a flow by the end of the year.
Speaking gigs/corporate workshops - Some months this is a flow and not a trickle, but I'm taking these less and less to prioritize some other things I enjoy doing. Like writing books. And not having to wear business casual clothing.
FLOW 🌊
These are my bread & butter!
Publicity/Copywriting/Personal Brand Ghostwriting - I offer Publicity VIP days, Copywriting VIP days, and retainer personal brand ghostwriting projects. In the past, I used to hinge all of my time on one retainer client and get burned! Never again, anchor store. Never again.
Screenwriting - I usually make between 1-3 movies per year, depending. A few years I made more than that. Sometimes I sell projects that don't get made but I still get paid. The film industry is weird (and great) like that.
Novel writing - This is my Melissa Cassera author brand that, right now, is the Lockwood series (paranormal romance). I started this business in March 2023 and was super consistent in marketing the books during that year. I took a short sabbatical from novel writing in 2024 for other priorities and this fell down to a trickle for a while. I just released a new novella which triggered interest and sales in my backlist so we are back to flow again. The readers have returned! The mall is alive!
FLOOD 🌊🌊🌊
Screenwriting - Sometimes I consider screenwriting in the flood bucket if it results in a larger payout. For example, a production bonus payout when someone actually makes the thing I wrote.
Book Ghostwriting - I only take on one project per year to ghostwrite a book (nonfiction, self-published only) for a significant sum. If you're unfamiliar with ghostwriting, this means that I offer an end-to-end book ghostwriting solution that includes manuscript writing and seeing the book through the entire publishing process. Basically, I birth their book baby while they get to avoid labor pains and take all the credit!
Why I Do This
This approach lets me diversify and not put too much pressure on any one area. Mentally, it's so much healthier. I can focus on projects I actually enjoy without the panic of "if this fails I'll have to sell my organs on the black market." I don't put all my eggs in one basket, creating a business that won't collapse if one income stream dries up.
I want to make it clear that this is my choice and feels best for ME. This will not be everyone's path! That's ok! I'm sharing this because 1) I want to have more honest money conversations and 2) I want to show writers and creatives, if they're interested in diversifying, what a real example looks like.
No matter what income strategy works for you, I think we can all agree on one thing: nobody wants to be a dead mall with empty storefronts and broken fountains. You deserve better than that.
Obsessed is brought to you by Melissa Cassera, a Publicity Strategist, Professional Screenwriter, and Author. If you're interested in working together on a writing project or a publicity strategy for your book, product or service, check out the options here.
Ha! The dying shopping mall is what I have felt like in the last year. But it's a good thing because it has forced me to create the next level of the kind of writer I want to be. I've wanted to kick content marketing to the curb for at least 2 to 3 years, but didn't because it was my bread and butter. Now all my tech clients are no longer answering my emails and I'm forced to move on. I found it hard to think that I could be a creative writer and be paid for it, so I dragged my feet on that dream for years. But the economy forced me into writing magazine articles, writing books, coaching nonfiction writers. It turns out that I probably should have been doing this the whole time. Ha! I'd love to learn screenwriting and how to sell my work, but I'm working on finding a rhythm in what I already have. I'm particularly working on memoir and learning how a quality memoir is written and how it eventually turns into a movie. So this article is inspiring! Thank you.