Build Something That Becomes 100% Yours.
AWAI's All-New “THE SELF-MADE WRITER”
a Body of Work That's Authentically Yours…
Hi there,
President, AWAI
Today, I want to personally invite you to a brand-new initiative we've been working on here at AWAI…
It’s something that’s been long overdue within the copywriting community…
And, something I believe can make a lot of writers great money, if they take it seriously.
You could say it’s the “missing piece” to truly living your version of the writer's life to its fullest.
And the crazy part is — with this new initiative we’ve created…
As little as just 30 minutes a day of writing…
… Can turn into a powerful evergreen asset. (One with the potential to pay you over and over again.)
And get this…
You don’t need a big following.
You don’t need the perfect niche.
You don’t need to post every day.
Heck — you don’t even need to know exactly what you want to write about yet.
The only requirement is you need to be authentically YOU…
And be willing to follow the ideas, stories, questions, and subjects you genuinely care about.
Now to be clear…
I’m not talking about simply starting a newsletter…
I’m not talking about forcing yourself onto social media…
I’m not even talking about starting your own blog where you write down your thoughts each day.
This is far bigger than that.
And you're about to see why.
As Crazy as It Sounds… Some Writers Are Turning a Few Hundred Words a Day Into Assets Worth Hundreds of Thousands — Even Millions — of Dollars
Just take Heather Cox Richardson…
She's one of the most successful independent writers in America.
But it wasn't always that way.
For most of her life, Heather was a history professor at Boston College.
Over the years, she'd written several books.
They got good reviews, but almost none of them sold well.
But Heather didn’t let that deter her.
In 2019, she did something almost no one around her thought would amount to much.
She started writing a short, daily piece online… just a few hundred words each evening.
She’d connect that day’s news to a moment from American history.
One short piece… then another… then another.
At first, it didn’t look like much.
But the pieces started adding up.
Readers began coming back. Her archive grew.
And over time, that daily writing became a real asset.
Today, Heather has more than 2.9 million subscribers.
She’s estimated to earn millions of dollars a year from her writing (thanks to her readers who happily pay her $5 a month to read her work).
She landed a New York Times bestselling book that grew directly out of those short daily pieces.
And she now commands up to $100,000 for a single speaking appearance.
All of it… from sitting down to write one short piece at a time.
Now, here's the part I really want you to understand…
Heather is not some rare exception.
All Across the Country — and the World —
Writers You've Never Heard of
Are Doing the Same Thing
Writers are earning an extra $5,000… $25,000… even $100,000 a year and more…
From following their interests and simply writing about them.
Like Seth Keysor…
A lifelong football fan who started writing about his favorite team, just for the love of it.
Today, thousands of readers follow his work.
It brings him over $4,000 every month…
All because he decided to write about the thing he was already obsessed with.
Or Landon Poburan…
Who started writing regularly and went six full months before earning a single dollar.
But he kept showing up… one piece at a time.
A little over a year later, that writing brings in more than $10,000 a month.
Or Polina Marinova…
For years, she worked at a magazine, using her writing skills to build someone else’s business.
Then she finally decided to use those same skills to build an asset of her own.
So on nights and weekends, she started writing about the people and ideas that fascinated her.
For a long time (nearly two years!), almost no one noticed.
But piece by piece, she was building an archive, sharpening her voice, and giving the right readers a reason to come back.
Then, slowly, the work began to compound.
Today she writes full-time, earns six figures, and counts some of the most successful people in the world among her readers.
And if you think this is only for famous writers… or people with huge audiences…
… or writers who already know exactly what they want to be known for…
It’s not.
Your Writing Could Be Worth
Far More Than You Think
Here’s what’s crazy…
Most writers have no idea this is even possible.
That the writing they do each and every day…
Can grow into an asset that pays THEM again and again.
Not their clients… not some big company… the money goes directly to them.
And to be clear:
I’m not talking about writing the next Great American Novel.
I’m talking about the posts, notes, half-finished drafts, and little observations you already have sitting around…
The lessons and experiences you’d love to share with others…
And the topics, interests, and questions you can’t stop exploring…
All of that could be raw material for something much bigger.
Something we here at AWAI now call…
Your Body of Work as a Writer
Your body of work is exactly what it sounds like:
The growing collection of pieces you write over time around the subjects you genuinely care about…
Until, piece by piece, your writing starts adding up to something far greater than any single article, post, story, or idea could ever be on its own.
For Heather, it started as a simple daily ritual of writing a few hundred words each evening.
That daily writing became her body of work that readers trusted, returned to, and paid for… now bringing what’s estimated to be millions of dollars.
For Landon, it started with showing up week after week to write about the ideas he was learning and testing in public.
Piece by piece, that writing became proof of how he thinks… what he knows… and how he can help.
Today, his body of work brings him a steady stream of income, around $10,000 per month.
And for Polina, it started with nights and weekends spent writing about the people and ideas she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Piece by piece, that writing became her body of work that attracted loyal readers, opened doors, and gave her a path out of writing only for someone else’s business… and a six-figure income.
Now, to be clear…
I’m not saying you’ll make millions like Heather.
Or even $10,000 a month like Landon.
But I am saying this:
If you can write even 30 minutes a day — consistently — you can begin building something that has the potential to pay you week after week, month after month.
How Your Body of Work Makes You Money
One of the best parts of building a body of work that’s 100% yours is the income potential (which is practically unlimited!).
And, perhaps, even better:
You get to choose how it pays you.
For example…
- You could write a weekly newsletter that your readers happily pay a few dollars a month to be part of.
- Or, once your work has gathered an audience around a subject, you could turn that subject into a course or a workshop.
- Or you could package your best pieces into a book, a guide, or a simple digital product… You create it once, and then it can pay you again and again.
- Or you could partner with brands eager to reach the very readers you've brought together.
- You could even use your body of work to attract higher-paying clients… or speaking invitations that come looking for you.
The opportunities are almost limitless.
And that's exactly what makes building a body of work so lucrative — and so wonderfully flexible in how it pays you.
You simply choose the path that fits the life you want.
And here’s the best part:
Your body of work can begin with almost anything you’re interested in.
Heck, right now people are making money writing about things like the Kansas City Chiefs…
The daily news through the lens of American history…
Houseplants…
Backyard chickens…
The economics of fast food…
And the private habits of the world’s most successful people.
Six wildly different subjects.
But the pattern is the same.
Each writer started with something they were already interested in.
Then, piece by piece, a recognizable point of view started to emerge.
And over time, that's what began turning their writing into income.
None of them had it all figured out when they started.
They just followed what interested them — and learned how to build it into something that pays.
And that's exactly what we want to help you do.
If you want to turn your writing into a body of work…
And if you want to know how to shape it, guide it, and grow it so it can become a real asset with the potential to keep paying you for years to come…
Then I’d like to personally invite you to join us in our brand-new AWAI initiative…
Introducing… The Self-Made Writer
The Self-Made Writer is a monthly membership where you’ll get the guidance to turn your ideas, stories, interests, and experiences into a body of work that can pay you month after month.
We’ll meet you exactly where you are…
If you’re starting from zero, this is your way in.
You’ll learn how to uncover the subjects you’re naturally drawn to… find the thread hiding inside your interests… and start creating pieces that can grow into an ongoing income.
And if you already have something started — a newsletter, email list, book idea, or a clientless business in motion…
You’ll learn how to take that raw material and start turning it into a real asset.
The Six Pillars of Turning YOU
Into a Self-Made Writer…
Now, to help you make this happen, The Self-Made Writer is built around six core pillars:
IBuilding Your Body of Work — How to turn your writing into something that builds and compounds over time.
IIFinding Your Thread and Voice — How to uncover the throughline inside the subjects you already love, and the voice only you can bring to them.
IIIAudience and Connection — How to attract the right readers, keep them coming back, and build the trust that makes your writing much more valuable.
IVExpanding Ideas Into Assets — How to turn one strong idea into many: articles, series, newsletters, books, offers, and more.
VOwnership and Creative Independence — How to build work that belongs to you, instead of pouring your best ideas into systems you don’t control.
VIThe Self-Made Writer Mindset — How to stay with the work long enough for it to compound into something real that could potentially provide income.
Each month, you’ll focus on one of the pillars.
This is how you’ll build your body of work on a solid foundation and grow it over time.
And guiding you through this journey is someone very near and dear to the AWAI family…
Meet Your Mentor Sandy Franks
If you’ve been around AWAI for any length of time, you may already know Sandy Franks.
She has spent more than two decades in publishing, marketing, and copywriting… including many years at Agora Inc., where she rose from marketing assistant to publisher of Taipan Publishing Group.
Along the way, she’s worked with some of the best copywriters in the industry… overseen numerous multimillion-dollar campaigns… launched products that are still in existence today…
… and co-authored two nonfiction books published by John Wiley & Sons: Barbarians of Wealth and Barbarians of Oil.
But here’s why Sandy is the PERFECT mentor for you…
She hasn’t just helped other writers build meaningful work.
She’s built her own body of work, too.
Over the last few years, Sandy began quietly building something even more personal…
Through essays, memoir writing, historical investigations, and deeply reflective storytelling, she started sharing her body of work directly with readers online.
Then recently, she decided to take the next step: She invited readers to support the work directly.
Within weeks, readers began purchasing her books, guides, and even a top-tier $100 founding membership built around her writing philosophy.
One chapter from her memoir was later featured in the respected online publication The Memoirist, where it went viral — earning more than 13,000 views, 900 likes, 187 comments, and 58 reposts.
That visibility helped push her memoir into the Top 100 in multiple Amazon categories.
And just recently her growing publication, Just One Good Idea, is now ranked among the rising business publications on Substack.
Her work has also appeared in places like USA Today, The Huffington Post, Barefoot Writer, and StreetAuthority.
In other words…
Sandy isn’t teaching theory.
She’s actively building a modern body of work herself — piece by piece — exactly the same way you will.
Even more important, Sandy understands this path from both sides.
Not only does she know the publishing world and the “business” side of writing that makes money…
But she also knows what it means to sit with an idea that won’t leave you alone… to follow it over time… and to shape it into something more lasting than a single article, assignment, or project.
She’ll be there as a mentor, who understands how to help you see your writing as a body of work…
… and shape it into a true asset that can eventually “work” for you — even when you’re not at your desk.
How It Works
Every month inside The Self-Made Writer, you're handed a clear, guided path for the next 30 days.
This way, you always know the single most valuable move to make and exactly how to make it.
You get:
- Your Self-Made Writer Briefing — Your marching orders for the month. It tells you which pillar you're working on and the one highest-value move to make to build or grow your body of work.
- Your Self-Made Writer Playbook — Where the Briefing tells you which move you need to make that month, the Playbook walks you through making it: the questions to ask, the patterns to look for, and more.
- A Member Spotlight — Each month you go behind the scenes with a writer building a real body of work and see what they're creating, how they found their thread, how they're growing their readers, and where the money is starting to come from. These are ordinary writers who started exactly where you are, and you can take inspiration and insights from them to help you move further along.
Meet with Sandy LIVE
Plus… every month, you’ll attend a hands-on workshop built around one of the pillars of building your body of work.
This is a LIVE training with Sandy and it’s a chance to go deeper on that month's focus, see how it works in practice, and get your questions answered in real time.
So be sure to bring whatever you're stuck on — which idea to build your body of work around, how to turn casual readers into paying ones, whether the move you're about to make is the right one — and get Sandy's eyes on your work.
It's the kind of direct, personal feedback you’d normally have to pay a small fortune for.
And don’t worry if you can’t make it live.
Every workshop is recorded, so you never miss a thing.
Who The Self-Made Writer
Is — and Isn’t — For
Every month, The Self-Made Writer gives you everything you need to turn your writing into an asset that could pay you for years to come.
That said, it's not for everyone. The Self-Made Writer is not for people looking for overnight success.
This isn’t about chasing algorithms… posting constantly… or trying to become internet-famous by next month.
Because building a meaningful body of work doesn’t happen all at once.
It happens piece by piece.
A single essay. A single observation. A single idea you care enough about to return to again and again.
And over time… those pieces begin to form something larger.
Something readers recognize as yours.
So if you’re looking for a shortcut, this probably isn’t for you.
And it’s probably not for you if you're looking to get rich overnight.
Building a body of work can become one of the most valuable things you ever do as a writer — but it's not a lottery ticket.
Heather didn't get to $100,000 speaking fees and book deals overnight.
Landon didn't hit $10,000 a month after three posts.
So if you're after quick money, this isn't it.
It's also probably not for you if you expect results immediately.
A body of work rewards patience.
It builds over weeks and months. And that slow build is exactly what makes it so valuable.
This IS for You If…
This may be exactly what you’ve been searching for if deep down, you’ve felt one of these quiet frustrations for years:
You’ve spent your life writing for clients, companies, or employers… while secretly wishing you had something of your own to point to.
Something with your name on it.
Something that reflects how you see the world.
Or maybe you’ve been carrying ideas, stories, memories, questions, and unfinished projects for years… but never knew how to shape them into something lasting.
You keep thinking, “One day I’ll finally start.”
But the years keep moving.
And the work still lives mostly inside your head.
Or maybe you HAVE started…
A newsletter.
A blog.
A memoir.
A collection of essays.
A book idea that keeps calling you back.
But it still feels scattered.
You sense there’s a deeper thread running through your work… you just haven’t fully uncovered it yet.
That’s what The Self-Made Writer is really about.
Not simply publishing more.
But helping you slowly build a body of work that feels deeply connected to who you are… and that has the potential to grow into an asset that belongs entirely to you.
Because at some point, most writers realize: They don’t just want assignments anymore.
They want something that lasts.
The Self-Made Writer gives you a simple, low-pressure way to start — and to begin building something that's yours from day one.
You've written for clients for years but have very little of your own to show for it. You've used your talent to build other people's businesses. Now it's time to build one that belongs to you.
And above all, this is for you if you're ready to start building something that's 100% yours.
If that's you, then you're exactly the writer we created The Self-Made Writer for!
So What's It Worth to Build a Body of Work That Pays You for Years?
By now, you can see this is unlike anything else out there for writers.
In fact, as far as I know, there's no other membership built around this one idea — helping you turn your everyday writing into an asset that can pay you for years.
Because remember, every month inside The Self-Made Writer, you get…
- Your Self-Made Writer Briefing — The one high-value move to make that month, spelled out.
- Your Self-Made Writer Playbook — The step-by-step walk-through that turns that move into a finished piece of a real, valuable asset.
- A Member Spotlight — A behind-the-scenes look at a fellow writer turning their work into income, with moves you can lift straight into your own.
- A Live Workshop with Sandy — Monthly training on building your body of work, plus the chance to get her eyes on what you’ve worked on that month. This is the kind of direct access you won’t get anywhere else.
- A Community of Writers Building Right Beside You — Sharing what's working right now, and keeping you motivated, accountable, and “in the game” long enough for it to pay off.
Like I said, as far as I know, there's no other membership that gives you this combination and guidance for helping you build a body of work that could potentially pay you for years to come.
Who knows…
Maybe your body of work could end up generating $3,000 a month… or even $5,000 a month… or $10,000 a month or more…
It’s really up to you to decide how far you want to take it, and how you want to monetize it.
No matter what you decide, the potential is big.
Which is why, when I first talked it through with the team, the number we kept landing on was $97 a month.
I believe it’s a steal at that price, given what you'll be learning and building with Sandy’s guidance.
After thinking about it, though…
The idea here isn’t to help you start a hobby or join just for a month or two and then quit.
It’s to help you build a real asset — one tied to your ideas, with the potential to generate income for years.
And because of that…
Our goal is to help you stay consistent over the long-term.
Which is why when you join today, you won’t pay $97 a month…
Through This Invitation, You Can Join The Self-Made Writer for
Just $47 a Month.
No Obligation — Cancel Anytime
I'm 100% confident that once you step inside The Self-Made Writer…
… you'll see how good it feels to write in order to build your own body of work — with a clear path, direct guidance from Sandy, and a room full of writers building right alongside you.
But here's the thing…
I only want you in The Self-Made Writer if you genuinely want to be here.
That's why there's no long-term commitment, no contract, and no pressure to stay if it isn't the right fit.
You're free to cancel anytime.
Start Building Your Body of Work TODAY
By now, you know your writing could be worth far more than you ever realized.
It can become an asset that grows over time — and starts generating income, the way it has for ordinary writers all over the world.
It earned Heather Cox Richardson an estimated millions of dollars and a bestselling book.
It brings Seth more than $4,000 a month writing about the Kansas City Chiefs.
And after a slow start, it grew into more than $10,000 a month for Landon.
Who knows what your body of work could end up doing for you?
The truth is, you’ll never know unless you get started.
And the way I see it, you’ve got two choices:
Choice #1 You join The Self-Made Writer today — for just $47.
You step inside, get your full first month, your live workshop with Sandy, and a clear, guided plan for turning your writing into a real, valuable asset.
And you start building something that connects with readers, compounds, and can pay you for years to come.
Choice #2 You do nothing.
You keep writing the way you always have — a piece here, a piece there — hoping it eventually adds up to something.
Or maybe you don’t write at all, waiting for the perfect time to get started.
Either way, time will keep ticking by…
And every month that passes is a month you could have spent building real momentum toward a body of work that's genuinely yours… and that could potentially end up funding a much nicer life for yourself.
It's up to you.
But I sincerely hope you’ll choose Choice #1 and join us as a member in the all-new Self-Made Writer.
Click the button below to get started.
To your success,
Rebecca Matter,
President, AWAI
P.S. A year from now, you can either be exactly where you are today…
Or you can be the proud owner of a body of work that's one year old… growing, gaining readers, compounding — and becoming a true asset with the potential to pay you month after month.
Only one of those futures starts by clicking the button below: