Tyler asked: "Ms. Anske, I very much admire your writing and work ethic and I was just wondering how you do this...how do you make enough money to support your bills and family when you give away your books for free? That is something that has confused me and it would be great if you could explain to me how that works. The only reason I ask is because that is my dream life. I want to write all day and be at home with my kids and take them to new and wondrous places without having to worry about the financial strain of it all. I look forward to reading your response!"

I'm not quite there yet, Tyler, financially. I don't yet fully support myself, after writing full-time for four years (I mostly get chocolate from my readers, and socks). But let me start from the beginning of my story, so you can see the whole path. Oh, and before we dive into it, here is a post on why I'm giving my books away for free, and here is a post on my sales numbers in 2014, which is outdated by now, and I should probably write a new one, but I stopped paying attention to how many books I sell, where and why, and am now concentrating more on writing and sharing my ups and downs with my readers. I'll explain below.