$10,000 a Month as a Writer. Five Streams. $2,000 Each.
Substack. Ebooks. Ad revenue. Affiliate income. A sponsored newsletter. Five streams, $2,000 each, and you’ve got a $10K writing business. Here’s how I’d actually build it.
Five streams. One writer. Here’s the model.
Stack income, don’t chase one
One stream having a slow month doesn’t sink you when four others are still running. That’s the whole point of five instead of one.
Every stream comes from the same words
A blog post becomes a Substack note becomes an affiliate recommendation becomes ad revenue. You’re not creating five times the content — you’re reusing the same content five ways.
$2,000 per stream is realistic, not a moonshot
You don’t need a massive audience to hit $2K in one stream. You need consistency, the right offer, and the right reader in front of it.
Writing compounds
A post you published two years ago can still earn ad revenue, affiliate commissions, and traffic today. Writing is one of the few kinds of work that keeps paying after you’re done.
The 5 streams, $2,000 each
This is the model, not a guarantee — your mix and your timeline will look different. But this is exactly how I’d build it if I were starting from zero.
Substack — $2,000/month
Publish consistently. I send notes daily and one full article a week. Once readers are used to hearing from you, add a paid tier. A few hundred paid subscribers at $5–$10/month gets you to $2K — not thousands of free readers.
Ebooks — $2,000/month
Package your most-requested topic into a short, specific guide. Sell it for $17–$47 from your blog, your email list, and your Substack. You don’t need 300 pages. You need one clear promise, delivered fast. I sell mine through Fourthwall since it connects straight to my YouTube channel — if you’re selling from a blog instead of a channel, Kit or Stan Store is the simpler start.
Ad Revenue from a Blog — $2,000/month
Once your blog has consistent traffic, a display-ad network pays you per pageview — no extra content required. This is the passive layer sitting under everything else you’re doing.
Affiliate Income from a Blog — $2,000/month
Recommend the tools and products you actually use, and link them. This stream rewards specificity — readers buy because they trust the recommendation, not because of the tool itself.
Sponsored Newsletter — $2,000/month
Once you have an engaged list, brands will pay for a mention. You don’t have to pitch brands yourself or build a rate card from scratch — Kit’s built-in sponsor network matches you with offers based on your content and engagement, not your list size, and pays you per click automatically. The first yes teaches you what your list is actually worth.
“$10,000 a month isn’t one big win. It’s five income streams doing $2,000 each.”— Lori Ballen
Want help building your five streams?
This model works because it’s simple, not because it’s automatic. Inside Ballen Academy, I show you exactly how to set up each stream, in order, so you’re not building all five at once.
Join group coaching →Where to actually sell your ebook
Some of the links below are affiliate links — if you sign up through them I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever share tools I actually use.
Kit
Grow your email list, sell your ebook, and get matched with newsletter sponsors automatically — this is what powers the free guide below.
Stan Store
A simple storefront for your ebook, no website required. Link it in your bio and start selling the same day.
Fourthwall
What I personally use — it connects your storefront straight to your YouTube channel. Best fit if video is (or will be) part of your mix.
Get My Free 3-Bucket Business Field Notes
The framework I use to sort every income stream — including all five in this post — into three buckets, so nothing falls through the cracks.
The 3 guides that back this model
Stream 01 · SubstackSubstack 101
A no-fluff guide to building and growing a paid newsletter, start to first paid subscriber.
Stream 02 · EbooksFrom Idea to Income
My exact system for turning what you know into an ebook people pay for — and where to sell it.
Stream 04 · AffiliateContent to Commissions
How to pick products worth recommending and turn one post into recurring commissions.
Pick one stream. Start this week.
Join group coaching at Ballen Academy →Not ready to coach yet? Get Letters from Lori — my field notes on building a business that earns for the long haul.
Hey there! Just a quick heads-up: some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase (including through the Amazon Associates program), at no extra cost to you. Occasionally, products featured here are gifted by brands.
I also use AI tools to help research and create content for you! While I love sharing strategies to help you succeed, please remember that everyone's journey is unique—individual results vary, and there are no guarantees. Thanks so much for stopping by!
