OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
Many writers dream of making a fulltime living from their books. The life of the career author is surely a whirl of book festivals, interviews and closeted months in French literary haunts penning marvellous literature. Who wouldn’t want that!
But the reality is that very few authors make a fulltime living from their books. It has been said anecdotally that the average Australian author makes AU$3000 per year (less than US$2000). An American author who sold over 75,000 copies and made the Times Bestseller list shows a net income of $0 from her books.
Most writers make money from other jobs – freelance writing, teaching or a day job completely unrelated to their writing.
Here are 5 reasons why having a day job helps your writing.
1. Provides (much-needed) income. Let’s face it, we need the money the day job brings! It may not be glamorous but the job is necessary to support ourselves and our families. It is also handy to have enough money to be able to buy the books we need, or to go to the writing conferences or events that help us in our work.
2. Gives you the urgency to write when you do have time. There is a myth of creativity that if you could only have 6 months off work and write fulltime, then you would write that award-winning novel. It’s not true! When you have all the time in the world, you do far less than if you are under a deadline. The day job squashes your writing time into the hours you can spare – lunch hours, commuting time, hours when you would have watched TV, after the kids have gone to bed. Don’t wait until you have all the time in the world as that time may never come. Take advantage of where you are now and get writing!
3. Provides material to incorporate into your writing. We all write about what is around us. If you write fiction, then your work can provide aspects of characters, snatches of conversation, scenarios, geographical realism. If you write non-fiction, then your work may turn into a book, or you may write to solve the problems of your workplace. Stephen King is a master of the ‘real’ character. His books are full of people that you would recognise at work. Where do you think he got his inspiration? The years of fulltime work to support his family whilst writing at night.
4. Keeps you grounded in the real world. Writing can be held up as an other-worldly experience. The creative genius works alone in the wooden attic, surrounded by books and little else. Again, this is a myth perpetuated perhaps by literati but is not the real world. Real authors have jobs, families and problems like everyone else. Being a writer doesn’t make you more important than other people. Having a job like everyone else keeps you grounded.
5. Enables you to write what you want to. If you have a day job that is not related to writing, then you have the freedom to write on your own agenda after your work is done. This creative freedom is liberating! You can write that poetry burning in your heart, or the sci-fi thriller, the business book, the erotica. You can write whatever you want to, so your creativity is focussed on your own writing goals.
The day may come when you are a fulltime author making millions from your words – until then, be grateful for the day job and make the most of the time you have now.
P.S. It may surprise you that I am a business consultant, specialising in implementing financial systems and processes into companies. I currently work 2 days per week and I am utterly grateful for my day job, even though I would love to escape it and be a fulltime author and internet entrepreneur! I am trying to make the transition to author-entrepreneur, but it will take some time!
View Comments (9)
Loved the second point - so definitely true. I write every day, but during the week I keep thinking, come the weekend I'll finish that. The weekend comes and I stuff around and then nothing gets written.
All of these are great points. Thanks.
It needed to be said, Joanna! Point 5 is particularly valuable. Once you're getting paid for it, the nature of what you write changes. Some people can roll with that. For me, writing for a living took a lot of the joy away. Since then, I always try to 'protect' my writing with another form of income. Thanks for a great post.
As a full-time freelance writer, I sometimes think I accomplished more when I worked in an office part-time! When you're tight on time, you're forced to write -- not tweet, catch up on Google Reader, or tweak your blog. Someone once said, "if you need something done, ask a busy person to do it."
But though I agree that a day job can be helpful to writers in many ways, I'm not looking to change my situation any time soon! :-)
Joanna,
I knew it wasn't crime to write. I love writing. I loved writing since the day my life changed into a whole new persona. All my writings come from what I experienced. I've published 2 books @ Lulu Publishers, as a self-publisher. Olliie is my new name, because I thought of changing my life and write a new novel about Olliie.
Thanks for the useful tips mentioned, Joanna :)
Im following you on Twitter already :)
Have a nice week.
Very sound advice. I can especially relate to the idea that having more time benefits the creative mind. Deadlines are great motivators. It's also good to be realistic about writing for a living. I guess that means, dream big but work smart.
Not having another source of income isn't even going to be an option until I write something that isn't outrageously noncommercial. My major work-in-progress at present is epic poetry, which has the commercial value of a three-armed t-shirt.
That writing is so bad as business is one of the reasons I haven't been writing commercial fiction and chasing publication with it.
Great post Joanna. I say write what you love and write because you truly love to. To become a mass sensation through the old channels of being noticed by the right publisher and your book taking off like a rocket is becoming increasingly unlikely. It is up to each individual to create their own success and use the endless tools now available. Like all writers, I have dreams, but even if I never make a lot of money, I will still write and work towards my dreams. You never know what will happen and I want to be in it just in case it does:)
It's so true about being busy makes you more productive. I can't write without the pressure. I had a paper due today, had the topic for over a week. I did a little fiddling around with it each day, but didn't really get do to it until Friday night. Why must we have that writing frenzy?? Great post!
I think it depends a lot on what your day job is. I write at my day job, and I write at home. It is so hard to get the creative juices flowing after a long day in front of the computer at the office.
I would love to have a job that didn't involve writing to give me the benefits without the creative brain drain.