Are You Getting Paid For Writing?

Writers need to make money.  If we didn’t then there would be a problem.

For some, the only way to continue to write is to make money with what you do.  Consider also how others view your success. It’s great to have a book published, and it’s great to have something to show off to your family and friends, but that doesn’t matter one bit at the end of the day.

Getting paid for your work means you have a dollar or two to your name.

Writers can argue that it isn’t about money, or that they have to love what they do, but the fact remains that if you have a day job, you have something to fall back on.  What happens if you didn’t have a day job and what you earned from your writing really mattered?  Would it be about doing what you love?  Would it mean you would finish writing that second book to make sure you have another book published by the year’s end?  It is about writing, and it is about getting paid.  Your writing success depends on both.

It also means taking a stand and working hard for what you want to do, even if this means that you have to mentally add how much a movie will cost you, before you go to one.  Friends and family may not like this, but writing is a way of life for many; it isn’t a hobby.

If writing was just a hobby to you, it wouldn’t matter that you were paid 10 cents to look over articles.  It wouldn’t matter you got a cheque for $10 for your published book.

But it’s not a hobby.

It wouldn’t matter that you have to cover the costs of editing, cover art or just about anything.  You would be happy to sell your book for nothing because after all, you love writing.

When does it mean getting paid this much?  When you want to have success and when you want to continue to write.  When what you write means as much to you as how much you are getting paid for it.  When spending hours each day writing something more means that you can work an hour or two less at the day job you don’t want, then it means something.

When pricing an e-book (like my own e-book) lower so that you can sell more copies means that you have more time to write or to spend with family is important to you, then payments are an issue just as much as setting aside time to write is an issue.

Writing is fun, challenging and hard.  It is something that you can work on as a hobby; it is something that at times you will hate to do and it can be something that you love.  Getting paid for your writing is great, but if you want to be writing for a living you will need to do so much more.