The Next Big Thing
I would just like to say…
It’s not a crime to write and want to get paid as well as published.
Backing up a little…
Some older authors act like it’s a crime to write for anything other than the passion of it. I’m not accusing all experienced authors, but there are those out there who would raise their nose and roll their eyes if you said you were seeking a paying market for your work instead of saying you simply want to get published.
Yes, there is an art to writing and a passion you need to have to be a good writer, but it isn’t wrong to see if you can get financial compensation for your work. No longer are we in the days of royalty putting up money to sponser artists. You have to live and you have to eat. Perhaps you write best when you’re hungry and your rent is due tomorrow, but eventually you have to eat and you have to pay that rent.
I’m having a bit of a rant in this post, but every author I’ve ever spoken to has dreamed at one time of being the “next big thing” or, in the writing world, the next best-selling author. Seeking to be published is the same in a lot of ways to seeking getting paid for your work. True, a lot of contests don’t have financial rewards but actually getting published through a publishing company will bring you money.
However, while writing and exploring if you could possibly get paid for it is all fine and good, writing only for the money is a bad, bad idea. If you go about it like that, then it will come down to food money or rent money. Or, not and.
Write because you have a passion for writing, but don’t feel bad if you want to try to make a buck off it. Just don’t have a passion for money and try to do some writing for some.
November 1st, 2006 at 3:57 pm
This is so true. I have a friend who is a “working author.” She edits, writes things in less than a month, anything like this in order to be a full time writer. She’d love to have a year to write the great american novel, but in the meantime she like eating.
November 1st, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Thanks for commenting, Elisa. I wasn’t sure if this was going to earn me points with anyone or not, but it’s so true. The ideal that you’re supposed to write only for the passion may be dying down, but it’s still out there. Bah.
November 1st, 2006 at 6:09 pm
I couldn’t agree more. Ok it’s a nice idea to write purely for the love of the artform but there’s no reason why the two can’t go hand in hand. I would never let money decide my style of writing or content but it’d be nice to get a monetary reward for the time I dedicate to my craft.
November 2nd, 2006 at 3:18 am
You know exactly what I’m talking about.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to live on a passion?
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:29 am
I can’t imagine writing well without passion. I can’t imagine writing at all without food.
November 2nd, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Food is DEFINITELY a very important component. Hehe. I love having my favorite writing snacks at hand while I’m on a project.
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:05 pm
There is nothing wrong with wanting to get paid for your writing because it is hard work. And if others take enjoyment from it then payment should be rendered. But if a person writes for any reason other than because they can’t stop themselves than they are doomed to fail. I think you have to write for the love of writing and then hope the money comes.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Writing is definitely harder work than I think a lot of people realize. So mix a passion for a specific type of hard work.. It’s natural to hope to get paid.
November 5th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
I agree with you. Writers have to eat; they can’t keep writing if they’ve starved to death. There’s nothing wrong with trying to get paid for what you write. Yet if you write only to get money, you’re likely to make more as a garbage collector, (and you’d at least be ridding the world of dreck, not creating it).
Having said that, I hope you won’t mind if I also observe, at least in my case, I’d like to be paid, I may deserve to be paid (depending on how well I write, of course), but I’ll be writing whether or not I’m paid. I can’t help it; it’s like an addiction. I don’t disdain people who want to be paid, but if they don’t feel the same drive to write, I do wonder if they’ll be able to weather the struggle of becoming a writer.
I’m not saying what you should do here, and perhaps I’m wrong. But the way I see it, there are easier ways to get money. If money is your strongest motivation, the writing life will wear you down and you’ll choose another route. Only if writing is your strongest motivation will you be able to put up with the struggle, the ridiculously low pay (and let’s be honest - even if you get paid, most writers don’t get paid as much as others do for less work), the criticisms that hurt, the long wait for real success…
November 5th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Awesome comments, Wandering Author, and certainly a lot to think about when it comes down to the discussion of love or money. Does it have to be “or”? Can it be love and money? Very interesting subject, I think.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I agree with most of what you said, JM, but in my experience, the older authors (like me) are the ones who were writing way before the Net got so popular. Many of us have been hurt by the proliferation of free information online and sites that don’t pay well for decent writing. For sure, online is a great place to promote books and such, but I’d think tha younger writers are more used to the “free content” business model.
bobbi c.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Oh, the net has hurt pre-net writers without doubt, but it has helped them to if they’ve taken advantage of it. Unfortunately, the free content has made a lot of people think they are writers by copying, pasting, and adding little (if any) if their own content.