One Unstoppable Scribe’s Guide to Writing for Passion and Profit

From having a plan early on to doubling down on his writing routine, novelist Kern Carter shares the secret sauce behind how he landed three book deals — and paid his bills in the meantime.

Header illustration by Yunuen Bonaparte

We know many of our readers are writers, too, and one of the most common questions everyone has about writing is: How do I earn a living at it? As part of our new StoryCraft section, we’re inviting Narratively contributors to share tips and tales about how their stories come together — and how they make a living at writing. Narratively contributor Kern Carter — whom we recently featured as one of 5 Writers on the Rise — shares his success stories over on his own Substack site, Writers are Superstars, where a version of this post originally appeared. 

Having a child as a teenager changed a lot of things for me. I knew I wanted to write, but I also knew that I had to make money to take care of my daughter. That meant I didn’t have the luxury of time. I had to figure out how to make money as a writer and figure it out fast.

But even knowing this, knowing that I had to be a provider at the age of 18, I still stayed patient. I had a clear vision of who …