Are you in writing to make money? Do you think you will make a lot?

Shadow_Ferret said:

No, rejections take the joy out. Being published increases the joy ten fold.

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Not for everyone.

ETA: I actually don't know if anyone was speaking in generalities. Nvm

Shadow_Ferret said:

No, rejections take the joy out. Being published increases the joy ten fold.

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Getting published only alters the nature of the rejection. Instead of form rejections to queries, it's Barnes and Noble refusing to carry your book or your publisher turning down a sequel. I don't see the tenfold joy in that.

I don't write for money. It's an amusement I have. I'm an amateur and I would rather not be published.

I've only had short stories published so I can't address those issues. All I know is that one acceptance erases all the rejections and gives me an emotional kick start to keep going.

What I'd like to do is suddenly get given lots of money so I could only do things I wanted to do. Then there'd be no pressure and I could write things as I feel like writing them. But in the real world, getting a day job hasn't worked out, so writing is the only income I have. It's currently a terrible income, and I couldn't survive on it without others helping me out, but I don't have a lot of other options. So yes, I'm hoping one day I can earn more.

Partly, yes.

Getting money is nice, but I'm doing it because it's fun. Also, it's something that will (hopefully) live on after I am dead. I have no children, so books and art are my way of contributing to the universe. It may be a poor contribution, but it's still a contribution (and some kids are brats)

I long ago learned that you don't need to get all your income from one source. I work full time as an accountant. On the side I do the following:
Prepare tax returns for about 60 clients
Make beaded jewelry which I sell at art shows
Take photos which I sell at art shows
Paint in Photoshop with a mouse which I sell at art shows
Write travel books (which I have begun to make a couple hundred a quarter at)
Write historical novels - I've written four in the last year, but none are published yet.

I do all the above because it's fun and interesting!

I looked at your avatar and was like "wait a minute...that looks familiar."

I don't currently get paid for my writing, but I hope to someday. It's definitely not an easy way to make money. It's just nice to get paid money for something about which you are already passionate.

Polenth said:

So yes, I'm hoping one day I can earn more.

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If that short is anything to go by, you will. I am certain of it.

Atlantis said:

Great. There's nothing wrong with that. I just think it's wrong to tell others that writing is a quick and simple way to make a lot of money. Most do not make a living wage.

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I agree with you. Well, "wrong" in the sense of "incorrect".

When I lost my last job several of my friends pushed me to write something and sell it (you know, self-publish a book, yay) as a way to make money fast.

Ha.

More recently, my own sister sent me some kind of online blog/success story about someone who had made a lot of money with a self-published book of essays, and said to me "you could do this!"

It's sad because these people in my example are all well-meaning and intend to be supportive and they have no clue at all about the realities of publishing as a business and as a livelihood.

For those who have a good business sense, and are not working down to their last dime as I was, I imagine it is possible to bootstrap into something more or less sustainable, and I know many have made a success out of it. It sure wasn't the road for me, though, as I have about as much business sense as a soap bubble.

I made money writing today, I'll make money writing tomorrow. There's a check on its way from Amazon. I'm not making a ton of money, and 95% of what I do make comes from writing copy for various clients rather than fiction.

Having said that, all of my income does come from writing, so I guess I must be doing something right.

Whatever your goals I want to take this opportunity to wish you all luck in achieving them in addition to enjoying the process itself. Writing is a fine thing and I admire you all just for participating !

greendragon said:

I long ago learned that you don't need to get all your income from one source. I work full time as an accountant. On the side I do the following:
Prepare tax returns for about 60 clients
Make beaded jewelry which I sell at art shows
Take photos which I sell at art shows
Paint in Photoshop with a mouse which I sell at art shows
Write travel books (which I have begun to make a couple hundred a quarter at)
Write historical novels - I've written four in the last year, but none are published yet.

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You sound like me! Art is my bread and butter, but I make money in any little way I can. Like giving horse riding lessons. Flipping gold and silver. Designing websites. Fixing websites. And I'm hoping for my writing to become a serious part of my income this year (largely so I'll get to do it more often, as I explained in my initial post in this thread).

I will be published, sell the movie rights and market, market market! Yes. It will be good.

I don't know. Right now, I haven't made a dime, which does disappoint me a little. But at the same time, I can't seem to stop. There's something in me that needs to write. If someday I get published and wind up JK Rowling-level rich, you damn well better believe I won't object to it, but at this point, I think even if I never make a red cent, I'll still look back and feel it was time well-spent.

I don't make any money yet, but I aim to. I guess I'm really lucky because I also really like my day job and have time outside of work to write heaps.

It's fine to aspire, to fantasize, about making money on your writing, but if you got into writing IN ORDER to make money, I recommend you switch fields. Go into investment banking, or drug dealing. Much higher likelihood of financial success. Hell, become a really skilled plumber or auto mechanic.

Chances are good that anything produced by a "writer" who got into the field solely in order to make a lot of money is not something I'm likely to read.

caw

I made three whole dollars from my writing last year! I'm hoping to double my profits this year

morngnstar said:

Really? If you think what you have is any good, wouldn't you want to give people the chance to read it? I don't want fame, but I do want people to enjoy my stories as much as I do.

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I could let other people enjoy it by giving away the stories for free online (there are websites devoted to this, and some of the stuff on them is surprisingly good). That's what I would do if I won the lottery. No need to go through the massive hassle of publishing to let people read a story these days.

Chasing the Horizon said:

I could let other people enjoy it by giving away the stories for free online (there are websites devoted to this, and some of the stuff on them is surprisingly good). That's what I would do if I won the lottery. No need to go through the massive hassle of publishing to let people read a story these days.

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Honestly, yes you do. If you post a story for free on a website, maybe on a good day 100,000 people will read it. If you want everybody and their mother to read your book, you need to get it on big box bookshelves. You need to get an ad on everybody's web browser three times a day. Now if you were independently wealthy, maybe you could bankroll all that, but I wouldn't bother unless the book was good enough anyway to convince a major publisher to make the same investment.

Okay maybe I want fame a little.

Atlantis said:

I had an interesting conversation with a person on the internet today who thinks that

1)self-publishing on Amazon is easy

and


2)you can make a "fuckton of money" from it.


...

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ok

1) (part 1) your friend is absolutely right about

2) he or she is a bit more full of shit on. Yes, one "can" make that fuck-ton....they could in designer shoes or crystal meth as well. A lot depends on if this was a truly open-ended "if" (I doubt it was) or the implication "being rich is fucking easy...." which is far less certain than the vague assertion that riches remain within the grasp of possibility.

If you're having a "serious argument," and they can construct a coherent sentence, you might ask why THEY aren't, yanno, writing a story or two, buying an Escalade, writing two more, accepting their O-fucking-Henry, and then, for kicks, writing two more, so over like 5-10 years they could just buy their own island. retire, and be unanimously ignored.....oddly, most of the folks claiming writing is "easy money" continue with their sporadic rants, vague proclamations, and shitty jobs instead. Almost, oddly, like there IS no formula and they CAN'T just fucking cash in....but who knows; maybe this is serendipity?

Bottom line: Writing is hard. How hard depends upon the person, but it is hard. Especially at a "commercial" level. And very few of the folks who talk about it and make money, and god knows how few fewer of the armchair quarterbacks, has a fucking clue how hard it truly is......so ignore your friend. Write for yourself, an audience, or both. But they clearly know about as much about lit as my mom, who offered to help me get a new job as a PhD biologist, by "talking to your second cousin who has a podiatry clinic......"



I always find it amusing how many folks just know there is this black and white formula to riches, and yet refuse to pursue it themselves....maybe they're the folks people like McConnel and Boehner talk about who refuse to try because of the graduated tax code????????

No and no.

I write because I enjoy it, and focusing too much on making a job out of it ruins it for me (as I know from experience). I also know that I could never write full-time or write efficiently and quickly enough to do what it would take to have a successful writing career. The only way I could ever "make it big" is if I managed to luck out and end up writing one book/series that becomes a phenomenal hit, like J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books. And I'm not waiting around for that to happen.

I have started trying my hand at self-publishing, and am open to submitting some of my original fiction. Mainly because I like being read, and if I can make a little extra money, then all the better. I'm hoping I can build a small audience through self-publishing and earn enough to give me a little extra disposable income (if I can make enough to go out to eat occasionally or justify buying some video games I've been wanting, I'll be happy). But really, I'm more concerned about having my stuff read, period.

I don't think I'll make much money at all on my stories. I mostly want just to get things out there that people actually enjoy reading. It's therapeutic for me, and when someone gives a compliment it makes everything worth it.

They say you should have something that makes you money, something that keeps you healthy, and something that keeps you creative. If you can mix the creativity and the money that is great, but I don't think very many of us have those aspirations.