What sets this space apart is its foundation: decades of real-world experience, not yesterday's viral hit or last year's pseudo-advice. My strategies represent the distillation of a forty-year professional career, plus experience with many, many established professional writers and publishers. Here are timeless principles that separate hobbyists from professionals.

I'm a writer/self-publisher/editor/mentor and babyboomer. I began professional writing when I was 16 and convinced the editor of The (Chicago) Daily Herald to let me write and produce a weekly section for local teenagers. Never losing my passion for communications, I learned about marketing, computers, and how to polish my writing from some of the wisest editors and publishers in the business. Transitioning into editing, developmental editing, and publishing, I served as editor-in-chief for a weekly newspaper and then wrote for dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites--wrote about a dozen books. I've earned the degree and some certifications, including Professional Ghostwriting from CalState. I love working with burgeoning writers who want to make money writing. Ask me anything, and don't expect me to charge for the answer. I have 15 grandchildren who occupy my free time, and I make pottery in my basement. I don't have a dog. I don't love cats. I seldom walk on the beach.

I don't just solve surface-level problems like "find markets" or "embrace a specific niche." I tackle the deeper, more corrosive challenges: the syndrome that keeps you undercharging, the absence of repeatable systems for landing clients, and that sense that you're winging it. What do they call it? Impostor syndrome? Nonsense.