How copywriting royalties work

Earn these on top of your up-front writing fees [The Writer’ s Life]( June 11, 2021 Hi {NAME}, National treasure Dolly Parton is an extremely generous philanthropist, most notably creating the Imagination Library, which has to date gifted more than 157 million free books to children age 5 and under. She's been a multifaceted entertainer for more than six decades, and she's also had incredible success as a songwriter. Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" made Dolly $10 million in royalties in the 1990s alone. Dolly was very grateful about that, quipping, "I bought my new house with that song." Of course, that's not the only house bought by royalties … World-class copywriter Gary Bencivenga bought a $5 million oceanfront home in the Hamptons with his royalties from just one piece of copy he wrote for Rodale! That's money he earned above and beyond the letter-writing fee. In fact, we know many copywriters who regularly cash four- and five-figure royalty checks … for letters they wrote months, years, and even decades ago. Compared to many other professions, copywriters have unlimited earning potential, thanks to royalties paid out by satisfied marketers. Today, I'll walk you through how royalties work … because I want you to have a solid understanding of the money you could be banking as a sales letter writer. And if you decide the earning potential is for you, today's a great day to get started because there is no more comprehensive level of training than in our [Sales Letter Writing Mastery & Certification]( training. Our Senior Copy Chief Sandy Franks has agreed to mentor a small group of eager writers, just as she did with some of the industry's best copywriters today. Working directly with an experienced mentor like Sandy is the fastest way to get up and running as a Certified Sales Letter Specialist who commands the highest fees plus royalties. >> [Go here now]( to see exactly how Sandy will guide you step-by-step from zero to well-paid writer in a matter of weeks. To your success, [Rebecca Matter’ s signature] Rebecca Matter President, AWAI How Copywriting Royalties Work By Rebecca Matter [Man with many hundred dollar bills and laptop on his desk, recording copywriting royalty fees in a journal] Writers often think you have to be James Patterson, Dan Brown, or J. K. Rowling to make a crazy amount of money as a writer … But it's simply untrue. Direct-response copywriters have just as much earning potential … possibly more … thanks to the royalties they receive year after year from letters they once wrote. (And as I'll explain in a moment, that's on top of the big fee they were paid to write the letter in the first place.) It's how "A-list" copywriters like Carline Anglade-Cole, Jedd Canty, and Mike Palmer make millions each year. To illustrate how royalties work, I'm going to use the financial market because it's fun to look at the numbers … and happens to be the niche that has created the most million-dollar copywriters. You're about to see why … In the financial niche, a client might ask you to write a letter that promotes a specialized financial advisory service that costs $1,000 a year for a subscription. Now, you might be thinking, "$1,000 a year — for a newsletter subscription?!" Yes! Avid investors routinely pay anywhere from $100 to $5,000 a year for specialized financial insights. So, no worries there. People will pay it. You agree to write the letter and negotiate an up-front writing fee. How much you get depends on your experience. (Experienced writers in this niche charge $10,000, but some charge a lot more … $25,000 and up.) Now that's just to write the letter … It gets much better. After three or four weeks of writing, editing, and polishing, your letter is finished. You send it off to your client by email and he or she does another round of final editing … gets it to a design crew, who readies it for printing or posting online … Then your letter is sent to a list of people who have signed up to see new financial letters like the one you've just written. (Important: Your letter is never sent as unwanted spam. These are people who have "opted-in" and have agreed to see what you're writing.) A few days later, your client tells you that 1% of the people who saw your letter loved the idea you wrote about … and paid the $1,000 to subscribe to the newsletter you were promoting. Again, I can almost hear what you're thinking: Only 1% — that's 1 out of 100. Boy, that must have been a pretty bad letter! Okay, maybe it wasn't the best letter ever written … But here is what's great about it: It's still enough to make you a lot of money. That's because 1% of 100,000 means 1,000 people were persuaded enough by your letter to subscribe. And at $1,000 each — that's a cool $1,000,000 in sales. Boy, is your client happy! Your letter just made a million bucks walk through the door! And here's that "better" part I mentioned: Copywriters typically get paid a royalty on every sale — anywhere from 2% to 5%. And remember — that's on top of your up-front writing fee. It's like a commission … or a bonus. So now let's tally up what this one letter that got a 1% response ended up paying you. You got your $10,000 writing fee, up-front … Your letter helped sell $1,000,000 worth of subscriptions. At a 3% royalty — that's an extra $30,000 you'll be paid. Altogether, that's $40,000 … Do just six of those a year and you're looking at a $240,000 income … Now, let's say you wrote a really great letter … and the response was 2% instead of 1%. So instead of $1,000,000 in subscriptions, your letter sells $2,000,000. Now your royalty is $60,000 — for a total payment of $70,000! Imagine you do six of these letters a year — one every two months. $70,000 x 6 = $420,000! And here's the best part. If you write six letters a year — and it takes you a month to write each letter — that means you have six months of "off" time … time you could be travelling … golfing … anything at all! Or you could decide to use that time to write three or four additional letters a year — make even more money … and still have two or three months a year to spend as you please. Are you starting to see the big picture here? And if you really hit a home run with a letter you write — the money can be almost obscene. Recently, for instance, a colleague we know and work with here at AWAI wrote a letter that sold $10 million worth of financial subscriptions. His potential share? $400,000 … From just one letter! Another gentleman we know wrote a letter that was used over and over again for over four years … and earned him in excess of a million dollars for about two months of work all-totaled. Imagine what it would feel like having a $30,000 or $40,000 deposit show up in your bank account — for a letter you wrote years ago … And having it happen time after time after time! Now I realize that's not the norm, but even if you scale the numbers way down … Let's say you charge only $5,000 to write a letter for a supplement company … The letter sells $100,000 worth of product when it mails, and you have a 3% royalty arrangement. That's $3,000 that shows up for not doing any more work. And any time they mail it … you get another check … for as long as they continue to mail it! And that's only ONE letter … Most trained copywriters who've completed [The Accelerated Program]( can bang out a long-form sales letter every 1-2 months. And even if only a few letters become winners (otherwise known as controls), you can see how quickly the royalty checks would add up. Imagine only two of your letters every year turning into controls … By year five of your career, you would have 10 letters paying a royalty every quarter. You'd more than likely be well on your way to making a six-figure income. And that's money you are earning from something you wrote years ago! Do you have any questions about copywriting royalties? [Please share with us in the comments]( so we can get you the answers. Excited at the prospect of earning royalties for your writing? Become an "apprentice" to Sandy Franks and walk away with the skills, sample, and confidence you need to make high fees (plus royalties) as a Certified Sales Letter Writer. Don't miss your chance to get direct access to Sandy, as well as work on a full sample and get feedback on your work. [>> Go here now for all the details and to grab one of the limited available spots.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Check Out This Success Story from the Launch Party! Kate B. had been working as a personal trainer before the pandemic hit, but decided to change careers to become more remote-friendly. So she began working with a start-up that does health coaching via text. After joining the Writer's Launch Party, she realized she had even more to offer the new company than coaching, so she reached out to the CEO to help with their online messaging. Here's her follow-up Facebook post … [Facebook post about AWAI's Writer's Launch Party] She also stated: "I'm trying to get to the level of awesomeness of the rock star known as [EG Orren](. You inspire me!" We agree, Kate, EG is awesome — and so are you for pursuing your new goals with so much enthusiasm. Way to go! Are you ready to join the Party? Our next 5-day Launch Party begins Monday. 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