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

I started writing for fun, then started writing for money, and it stopped being quite as much fun, but, you know, there was money!

I don't know if I could reverse the process. Like, if my books stopped selling, could I go back to writing just for fun?

I don't think I could, really. My expectations for myself, my standards, I guess, have changed - that's what turned writing into more work than fun. But I don't think I could give up on those higher expectations and go back to just slapping words down willy-nilly and enjoying the ride.

Such an interesting question (and a perennial one). I honestly have no idea where I fit.

Clearly, right now, I write, and am not making money off of it. And I do it because I do love stories, and I find them compelling. But at the same time, I don't feel like I'm one of those people who can say, "The stories, they force me!" Honestly, it requires a good amount of hard work and discipline to keep myself on track and writing, even though I think I enjoy doing it. So why do I keep writing? Is it because I want to make money eventually?

That idea isn't distasteful, of course, but it doesn't ring true, either. I guess I want to know that I could be capable of writing a well-structured, beautiful novel. I do worry that I have quite a long way to go, though.

My ultimate dream, the one I strive to succeed is to write full time as an author. People ask me all the time if that's what I want to do- of course! But I don't make enough or may never will to live off my royalties.
I work full time and spend every spare moment thinking about or writing my books. My brain doesn't stop. If my husband and I were more financially stable I would spend more money on marketing and promoting my brand.
I write because I love it, I live and breathe for it. To make money is a bonus and I'm happy my books are making money. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford to quit my job and write full time.

endearing said:

Such an interesting question (and a perennial one). I honestly have no idea where I fit.

Clearly, right now, I write, and am not making money off of it. And I do it because I do love stories, and I find them compelling. But at the same time, I don't feel like I'm one of those people who can say, "The stories, they force me!" Honestly, it requires a good amount of hard work and discipline to keep myself on track and writing, even though I think I enjoy doing it. So why do I keep writing? Is it because I want to make money eventually?

That idea isn't distasteful, of course, but it doesn't ring true, either. I guess I want to know that I could be capable of writing a well-structured, beautiful novel. I do worry that I have quite a long way to go, though.

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That's pretty much how I feel. I do feel like stories come to me and I'm drawn to explore them. I have to push the story a little, though, to get it to the point where it's complete and polished enough to be presentable. The thought of publishing motivates me to do so, and it's probably good practice even if I'm not successful.

RedWombat said:

I write because it's a job and pays the bills--it just happens to be a job that I love!

If I were wealthy, I'd still write, but slower. Y'know. In between lazing around a beach in Bali sipping froofy cocktails and watching birds.

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... crows by any chance?!

Just be cautious with them. Wonderful bird, but they like shiny objects and may make off with your riches!

When I was a kid, someone told me anyone who writes or acts for money is a fool and should do something, anything else. It stuck. I always planned to have a day job and write on the side, so I didn't bother with writing courses or learning about the market.

I'm sorry about that now. My secure, lucrative tenured day job never came to pass (I have a different one), and I waited decades to research the market and learn to write a novel someone might actually want to read. Sometimes I wish I'd gotten an MFA and said, "This is my freaking career" and just gone for it. Maybe I'd be writing fulltime now.

But that's OK. I've never stopped loving writing fiction for its own sake. I got a day job that allows me to do fun nonfiction writing. And recently I got my first advance check for a novel, which means more to me than I can express. I do write with the market in mind now, which I have mixed feelings about, but it hasn't ruined writing for me. Yet, anyway.

My biggest problem so far is that, as writing becomes another sort-of-job with deadlines and commitments, I have no time to enjoy the money I earn. Yet if I quit my day job, I'd be terrified by the insecurity of writing as a profession.

I don't think you need a writing degree in order to write, or even write well. Writing is one of those things that is best learned through experience. And as long as you don't need a license for it, why spend that money for a "formal" education that you can get through experience?

Well -- I spent ten years writing four novels and two memoirs and one non-fiction book without making a cent. Yet still I wrote.

Now I'm making money from those books, and it's nice!

Fuchsia Groan said:

Yet if I quit my day job, I'd be terrified by the insecurity of writing as a profession.

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There's this - writing full time is effectively being self employed. I'm not sure I'd ever dare give up the day job (unless I was making silly money) that pays my pension plan, my sick pay, my medical insurance, my paid holidays, my national insurance etc etc

I went into it for the filthy lucre, and now I'm a multi-tenaire!

Fuchsia Groan said:

When I was a kid, someone told me anyone who writes or acts for money is a fool and should do something, anything else. It stuck. I always planned to have a day job and write on the side, so I didn't bother with writing courses or learning about the market.

I'm sorry about that now. My secure, lucrative tenured day job never came to pass (I have a different one), and I waited decades to research the market and learn to write a novel someone might actually want to read. Sometimes I wish I'd gotten an MFA and said, "This is my freaking career" and just gone for it. Maybe I'd be writing fulltime now.

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Same here. I was planning on getting a job in industry, but I've been getting increasingly disillusioned with my career plan.

I've decided when I'm done with my PhD, I'm doing something for myself, and applying to MFA programs so I can focus on writing for a couple years.

Not sure what I'll do after that, and that's kind of an exciting feeling.

[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Writing isn't generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we're doing something that we genuinely love. There's no other reason to work this hard, except that love.
Melissa Scott

[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]Jules Renard[/SIZE][/FONT]



[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]I never had any doubts about my abilities. I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this.
Cormac McCarthy[/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]link [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times][SIZE=+1]
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I always wanted to earn a dollar from my writing. Never expected to make a lot, don't expect to make a lot, but I'm still looking for that dollar.

I am "in writing" to make money. Sort of.

I don't count on it. I'm not expecting that anything should happen.

But right now, it is my open window.

I've gone down a few corridors, opening and closing doors to myself, my future. I've chosen a room. I've re-enrolled in school, new program, new degree, new career. I have a mentor, who will train me for absolutely no reward other than knowing she helped me get there, once I've gotten there. So I damn well better get there. This is my room.

I feel like the door is locked behind me.

This is my job now; what I'm doing. It is not a bad job, certainly, it's just the idea of living in one room scares me, makes me kind of depressed...I just don't know how to do anything else.

But there's an open window. Writing is the window. I will probably not be stupid successful, but there's always a chance; no one including myself can say there isn't one as long as I keep doing it. And if I made money, I wouldn't be tethered to a job or a place or other people; I'd be free.

Cuz traveling is what I *really* want to do. (And every so often I can briefly defenestrate myself, but it's short and temporary, and I always have to crawl back in... )

I realize how unrealistic this is. So I keep at what I'm doing. But I can look out the window. As long as I can look out the window, I can stay sane. Mostly.

Not saying it will always be this way, or that it *should* be this way; it just is what it is, right now.

It also serves a purpose in giving me something to do that engages my brain. This is important to me. There are other things that could fill that function, yeah, but I tend not to stick with them. Writing is changeable enough, challenging enough, and yet still doable enough that I've kept doing it. And I've met a lot of wonderful people in the process.

I don't know if I enjoy it or not, but I don't think it is a waste of time, in any case. (At least when the Happy Gremlin is ruling my brain instead of Bosch Bird Gremlin...)

I like to travel too. I consider that if I were a bestselling author, I would have money to travel, be able to do my job from anywhere, and have a justification for traveling (research). But there are probably easier careers to get it to with opportunities for travel. I'm in it to get my words heard, but money and travel would be nice perks.

chompers said:

I don't think you need a writing degree in order to write, or even write well. Writing is one of those things that is best learned through experience. And as long as you don't need a license for it, why spend that money for a "formal" education that you can get through experience?

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Agreed, for writing in almost all genres. In YA, I've never experienced the lack of an MFA as a problem. But if you want to publish literary fiction, the right MFA program can offer contacts and open a few doors. It's no guarantee, of course, but what is? I've heard that certain journal editors only consider submissions from MFAs or graduates of Bread Loaf and the like — which may or may not be true, but it's something to consider if you go the hard-core literary route.

I already spent eight years getting a PhD I don't use, though, and years teaching after that, so I'm done with classrooms. On-the-job training from now on!

I also use writing as a "window," buzhidao. Not so much a window of opportunity as a window onto another world that distracts me from my daily routine, whether that's my imaginary world or the world of NYC publishing. Which is nice and all, but I'd like to find time to step through the window and use my writing as the pretext for some travel.

I gave up on writers' workshops and conferences and research trips a long time ago when my job became really demanding. Now I can't find my way out of that bind.

chompers said:

I don't think you need a writing degree in order to write, or even write well. Writing is one of those things that is best learned through experience. And as long as you don't need a license for it, why spend that money for a "formal" education that you can get through experience?

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Definitely not. But the cool thing about an MFA is you can get other people to pay for it.

I want to do an MFA for the time and community. I don't really care about the degree.

You can write to make money, but it takes work to do it like everything. Whether your going Trade or Self-publishing. Now in Self-publishing there is the advantage of higher royalties, but you also have to wear many hats if you don't want to pay an editor or cover designer.

Each side has it's advantages and disadvantages.