Year of Fearless Writing – Don’t quit your day job (or maybe do)

Welcome to the Year of Fearless Writing!

Your writing career

That’s right, we said “career,” but we mean it in the broadest sense of the word. What kind of writer are you? What are your long-term goals? (You do have long-term goals, don’t you?) Is it important to you to make an income from your writing, or is writing itself enough? Maybe it’s time to give it some serious thought and start to plan out what your future as a writer might look like.

Writing isn’t an all-or-nothing job. Depending on how much writing you need in your life to feel fulfilled (and whether you need healthcare, USAmericans) you might scale your writing up or down in career priority level. We’re framing “writing careers” in a deeply capitalist way this month, and you should definitely consider that but you should also consider what other nonmonetary benefits you get from writing. Especially because “writing jobs” range from “this costs money to do” to “this pays obscene amounts of money.”

So let’s look at a few.

Keep your day job: Everybody needs a hobby

Let’s face it: this is where most writers fall on the career scale, and you know what? Hobby writers are still writers, so if you find yourself nodding along, you’re in good company. There’s a lot to be said for keeping it simple.

• Hobbies are fun; work is, well, work. Turning your passion into a paycheck can be demoralizing, and even lead you to stop loving the thing that used to bring you joy.
• There’s less pressure. Every publication, large or small, is a victory. You don’t have to chase the next byline or shortlist if you don’t want to or don’t have time.
• You’ve got a little more leeway to follow your heart and write what you want to write. You want to write a book about space mermaids chasing a fleet of rogue star-squids across the galaxy? Go for it! Share it with your friends, post it on your blog, self-publish it, or heck, send out queries.

Even hobby writers need readers

For most of us, the point of writing is, well, to get people to read our work. It’s hard to find an audience, especially for a hobby writer. It takes time, energy, and sometimes even money. Take your budget into account, and consider a few options for getting your words in front of eyes:

• Submit, Submit, Submit! This is the obvious one, right? With no pressure to make money or get published, you can cast a wide net, writing when you want to, for calls for submissions that are interesting to you. BUT. And this is a big but. There are people who need to get paid to write. See our note below and submit responsibly, so you don’t undercut them. As a writer, you have a duty to your profession as well as your ego, and while it’s nice to see your name in print, it may not be worth the ethical tradeoffs.
• Start a writing website or blog. There are a bunch of free or low-cost options out there, and it’s an easy place to centralize all your writing. You can post entire pieces, teasers, experimental work, or links to your published material.
• Start a newsletter. Again, there are free and low-cost options; all you need is an email address (and a mailing address, per the anti-spam laws of many countries). This is a great way to get into a regular writing routine.
• Find your fandom. If you’re a fanfic writer (or want to be), chances are you’ve got a fandom built in. Check out sites like AO3 or fanfiction.net. You won’t (or shouldn’t) get paid for it—you’re writing stories based on someone else’s characters and work—but it’s a fun and useful way to work on your writing skills and find readers.
• Hang out at YeahWrite! No, seriously—even if our challenges aren’t your cup of tea, find a place like our site where you are invited to put your work in front of other writers and readers.

Competitions

Competitions are a great, fun way to get motivated to write. Most of us here at YeahWrite love competitions (so much so that we created our own!), and if you can afford it, we encourage you to participate. Which leads me to an important question: are you paying for your hobby, and if so, what can you afford? Given the low, low chances of making more money in a competition than you paid to enter, you should consider writing competitions part of your personal entertainment budget, just like video games, movies, and dinners out.

A serious request

Please do not undercut people who are writing for a living. Don’t write for free, even if you can afford to. There are a ton of non-paying markets out there, from teeny-tiny ‘zines to larger publications. There are also a ton of people who are making their living—or supplementing it—from writing, and they can’t eat “exposure.” As long as there are writers willing to submit and publish their work for free, people who are trying to make money with their words will lose out. There are exceptions, of course: for example, you might write for/about a cause that’s near and dear to your heart, or for a benefit publication. But ethical publications will be very clear about where the money goes if it’s not to the writers, and you should know where that is.

Keep your day job: Maybe we can have it all

Writing doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing deal. Treating your writing as a supplemental source of income vs. a primary source of income has a lot going for it. It means you’re taking your work seriously, but you’re also being realistic.

How much time is “part” time depends on your situation. Working a typical 9-5 job and writing in the evenings will look a lot different than working a job three days a week and writing on your “off” days, or working Monday-Friday, 9am-1pm. If you’re considering transitioning to a part-time day job, you’re going to need to answer a few questions.

• What are you currently making at your day job?
• What do expect to make from your writing work?
• What do you need to make to maintain the kind of lifestyle you want to lead?
• Do you need the benefits (health insurance, retirement accounts) that come with a day job?

Other things to consider:

• Budget your time, not just your dollars. Time you spend writing is time you take away from other activities.
• Parenting is also a job. Just because it doesn’t bring in money doesn’t mean it’s not work. If you’re raising kids, working a part- or full-time job, and trying to write, that’s three jobs, not two.

Do quit your day job: Go for broke (well, hopefully not)

Maybe you’re ready to pack up your stapler and walk out the door. The idea of being a full-time writer is romantic: we sit in our garrets, let the words flow from our hearts to our fingers, and people will line up to read (and pay us). Unless you are independently wealthy, though, the reality is pretty different, especially if you’re trying to make a living.

The full-time writer has a few different career options, and these are just some of them, but they’re a pretty broad sampling.

• Writing-adjacent work. This means that your income comes from sources that aren’t writing, per se, but are are related. Editing, proofreading, and sensitivity reading (if appropriate) all fall into this category. You might have an employer or work freelance, with clients.
• Writing for hire. There will always be a market for good writers, even if we’re not talking about the next Great American Novel here. Ghost writing, content creation, and social marketing campaigns are all valid ways to use your writing skills to bring in some cash.
• Freelance writing. Whether you write stories, poetry, essays, or articles, you can make a living writing for pay and pitching to publications, if you hustle hard and have a considerable amount of luck.
• Writing for yourself. Just go for it. Be a full-time author in whatever mode appeals to you, whether that’s chapbooks or novels. It might seem like putting your eggs all in one basket, but if that works for you and your budget allows it, why not go ahead and live the dream!

Funding streams

As we said earlier, you can’t eat exposure. Everybody needs to pay the bills. The typical ways writers make money are:

• An employer
  • You do know what that is, right?
  • Major benefits are, well, benefits. If you need healthcare or a steady paycheck, this is pretty much the way to go.
• Traditional publishing
  • Often comes with an advance, though the amounts vary from “live on this while you write” to “this will supplement your day job.”
  • Assuming the advance pays out (the publisher makes more on the work than the advance), the writer earns royalties. Your contract can and will vary, and you should have an expert look at it.
• Short stories/articles/poems
  • Payment varies, but is usually based on word count.
  • Requires a lot of research into submissions markets.
  • Inconsistent income; no guarantee of placement.
• Self-publishing
  • You retain full control of your work, from content to design. (You should probably hire someone for design, though, unless you’re a pro: the better your work looks, the more chance a casual reader has of picking it up.)
  • You also retain the full profit.
  • However: you are also responsible for all the costs of production, marketing, and promotion, which can (and will) affect how much you make.

That being said, part of the hustle is being creative with your funding sources. Here are some alternative ways you can bring in a few more bucks, with the caveat that these take work, too:

• Patreon. Are you able to produce bite-sized, consistent content? Patreon lets people fund you directly with monthly payments. In return, you provide your patrons with exclusive content, or early access to content for a broader release. Patreon is a great way to build (or maintain) a fan base because you can really start to develop relationships with your readers. Plus, it can be a (more or less) steady income stream.
• Crowdfunding. Do you have a big project like a novel or cookbook that you want to get off the ground, but you can’t quite shell out the starting cost? Maybe crowdfunding is the way to go. Just know that a) if you get funded, you’ve got to deliver, and b) don’t expect the money you bring in to be pure profit—you need to have a budget for professional marketing, editing, design, etc. Nothing will ruin your reputation faster than failing to produce what you’ve promised or delivering a sub-par product.
• Ko-fi. In the non-profit world, they say the biggest thing stopping people from giving is that they haven’t been asked. Ko-fi lets you put an ask right on your homepage, or your most popular stories or essays. It’s not likely to make you rich, but it’s another drop in the bucket.

A note about financial advantages

We have to be honest, here: it’s really hard to make a living wage as a full-time writer. We can’t all be Guy Gavriel Kay (whose parents supported his writing career until he sold enough books to make it on his own, and it didn’t exactly hurt that they were friends with the Tolkiens); Stephen King (whose spouse worked while he wrote; now she has a successful writing career of her own, but she might not have–it’s a gamble); or Annie Bellet* (makes a healthy living self-publishing fantasy books, after years of barely scraping by). Many (if not most) authors today, even successful ones, have day jobs.

Again, being a parent is a job. Even if you can afford to stay home, remember that if you’re the primary care provider for your kids, you’re already working full-time. Yes, lots of people work a day job and parent, and we take our hats off to you, because you’re working two jobs already. Don’t count on being able to squeeze in a third one: eventually something’s got to give, and you can only get by on three hours of sleep a night for so long. And kids can turn your writing life into time confetti, something we’ll get more into next month.

We cannot overstate how much of an advantage there is in having a spouse or family member who can support your writing career financially. It definitely gives you a leg up. If this is you, think about some of the ways you can help support writers without that advantage. Lift up other writers whenever you can (especially writers from marginalized communities). Use your voice to amplify theirs; share book releases, blog posts, and Patreon links. Support their Patreons and buy their books. Leave reviews. Spread the word about paid opportunities for marginalized writers and recognize that not all markets are for you. Oh, and in case we haven’t said it enough, don’t write content for publication for free just because you can afford to. Your vanity isn’t worth someone else’s rent payment.

* Seriously, though, if you want to see one way to make a successful self-publishing career, Annie Bellet is incredibly transparent about her experience. Go follow her on Twitter.

Which way to go?

Remember, there’s no single right way to be a writer. From competitions to full-time careers, you need to do what works for you and makes you feel fulfilled. If you’ve stuck with us this far, you’re already well on your way! 

Your homework for this month:

Think about what kind of writer you want to be—professional, hobbyist, casual, competition—and how that fits into your budget for the next 6 months. Consider competition fees, hypothetical job salary and benefits, how much time you’d have to hustle at your current rate of sales to make a living—or what your writing work does to supplement your life. See what you’d need to adjust to be where you want to be instead of where you are… but also, maybe you’re happy where you are! Just checking!

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