Make a Living as a Writer – Part 1

will write for foodI’m going to make this very simple: The secret to making a living wage as a writer lies in two words: volume and variety. Today let’s talk about the first one.

Volume

The biggest mistake writers make with respect to their “publishing dreams” is hoping for one big break that’s going to change their lives, allow them to quit their job, and propel them into the life of the full-time writer.

Making money in this business, for the vast majority of writers, isn’t about having one huge hit. Or even two huge hits. Instead, it’s about building a career, book by book, and building an audience that wants more of your books.

Writers begin to see a “living wage” when they have a stack of books out there in the marketplace. Each book needs to be bringing in royalties regularly. Even if each book is not selling a huge number of copies individually—if you have a whole bunch of books out there, each selling some copies, it starts to add up.

It’s all about building a foundation, building a reputation, so that each book you release builds on the last and each one expands your audience so that your new readers are always wanting to go back and find your older books, too.

You’re not ready to “quit your day job” until those royalty checks coming in regularly are adding up to the amount you need to support yourself. Hopefully this is in addition to any advances you’re getting.

This is difficult because you’re only one person. You have limited time, and you can only write so much. That’s why it’s important to take the long view. You’ve got to methodically and strategically build your career. The writers who are doing it full time are able to do it because they have a large volume of product out there, and they’re having enough success that their audience keeps growing.

Long tailThis is true for people who are in traditional publishing as well as self-publishing. In fact, publishers have always built their business on this model, known today as “the long tail,”  which refers to a situation in which a few products sell huge numbers (the “blockbusters”) and a great many more products sell fewer units each, but there are so many of them that they add up to far more revenue than the blockbusters. (Hence: volume.)

Publishers make a great deal of their revenue on backlist, and always have, so even though the term “the long tail” is relatively new, the concept has been around a long time. Companies like Amazon make most of their money on the long tail — the thousands of books that only sell a few copies each, rather than the few books that sell thousands of copies.

So this is why people always say “don’t quit your day job” to newer writers who only have a book or two being published. Even though it can be tempting to look at your advances and calculate whether you can get by without the steady income of the regular job, we always recommend you don’t take that leap until you’ve got somewhat of a “long tail” built up — a large volume of work that’s available for sale and making money on a regular basis.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the second component in How to Make a Living as a Writer: Variety.

Have you dreamed of quitting your job and supporting yourself as a writer? Have you thought about what it would take to be able to do that? Does the concept of needing a large volume of work available for sale resonate with you?

 

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Rachelle Gardner

Literary agent at Gardner Literary. Coffee & wine enthusiast (not at the same time) and dark chocolate connoisseur. I've worked in publishing since 1995 and I love talking about books!

67 Comments

  1. Taxes and Writers - Rachelle Gardner on April 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

    […] back I blogged about making a living as a writer (Part 1 and Part 2), so today we’re going to talk about the unfortunate side effect of getting paid […]



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    […] See How to Make a Living as a Writer […]



  3. […] Chuck Wendig – When Self-Publishing Is Just Screaming Into The Void Rachelle Gardner – Making a Living as a Writer – Part One Rachelle Gardner – Making a Living as a Writer – Part […]



  4. Madison Johns on March 28, 2013 at 4:21 PM

    I’m a self published author and Rachelle is absolutely right. I wrote a senior sleuth last May and only published the second in the series this month. I think that hurts you as a writer. Readers don’t want to wait especially if they love the series. Unfortunately doing it all alone has drawbacks, but I consistently pull in sales. Maybe one day I will make enough to quit my day job, but if not I’m quite content to continue writing.



  5. Paula Cappa on March 27, 2013 at 5:36 PM

    If I may disagree on one aspect. Producing “volume” doesn’t always mean producing good writing. And good writing is the goal, absolutely.

    If volume is your goal, you may write a lot of crap and get nowhere. I know plenty of self-published authors who have several books out there but are struggling for sales. They pump out some very sorry books every year just because some industry expert told them to “publish a book a year to build an author presence.” This is a sales tactic not a way to build a career as a fine author.

    I’ve got one book out, a second ready to launch and lots of short stories published in literary journals and ezines; I do a weekly short story blog on 19th century authors, which I really enjoy, and tweet about it.

    We writers need to follow our hearts honestly and keep writing, keep motivated, keep polishing our craft; get a good editor, and keep putting our work books out there as we build our careers.



  6. […] Make a Living as a Writer – Part 1 – Rachelle Gardner. […]



  7. Jen Smith on March 26, 2013 at 10:07 AM

    Okay I won’t quit my day job just yet.



  8. Caitlind Alexander on March 25, 2013 at 3:08 PM

    Great advice! I finally got a chance to quit my day job this past year and am loving it.

    However, some aspects have proven harder than I expected. I thought I would be great at just writing every day and having lots of time for more exercise, time with friends, etc. What I found out is…writing is just a regular job that I do at home instead of an office!

    I write children’s books, so they only sell for 99 cents. Since Amazon takes 64 cents of that, it takes a lot of sales to make a living wage. I have over 200 books up (that’s sounds like a lot but they are children’s books and are shorter; I’ve also been writing for 10 years). Even with that many books up, I’m barely making a living wage. I still need more volume, and more best sellers.

    It’s not going to come easy, folks, especially when Amazon wants such a big piece of the pie. It is possible, though, and IT’S GREAT!!!

    Caitlind Alexander
    Over 200 e-books for kids.



  9. The Two Vs | HUNTING MONSTERS on March 25, 2013 at 4:56 AM

    […] concerning the where’s and how’s of making a living as a writer over at her site. The first concerns volume and the second, variety. The two Vs, in other […]



  10. Magpie Monday | Robert E. Stutts on March 25, 2013 at 2:30 AM

    […] or making a living as writer: Rachelle Gardner has two posts about making a living as a writer, part 1 and part 2. My former mentor James Patrick Kelly lays out SF Economics 101 (definitely read this […]



  11. Beatrice Harrison on March 23, 2013 at 12:47 PM

    Author; Beatrice Harrison

    Yes, I have read about everyone comments about trying to make a living writing books and I agree it’s really hard and considering the fact there are so many books out there. I have wrote 13 thirteen Christians books I made a little of bit royalties, but I could say I was happy that I made a few sales than none at all; even though I’m not going to rely on writing books to supply my living. But, I enjoy writing books it’s relaxing after all. I also written my first novel as well called: “Her Dark Desire: Deadly Passions and Consequences: A Romantic Suspense Novel it’s available on http://www.amazon.com.
    But for all the authors that dream of making that bestseller keep dreaming and think big. But don’t quit your day job.
    Just enjoy writing your books and hope and pray that somebody would find interest in reading your books.



  12. Working on Three Books at Once | Writing4Life on March 22, 2013 at 10:49 PM

    […] at once. My current work in progress is in revision stages and after reading Rachel Gardner’s Make a Living as a Writer-Part 1, my hunch is confirmed. I do not see myself as a “one hit wonder,” but as an author […]



  13. Sterling Editing » Written on the internet on March 22, 2013 at 6:35 AM

    […] Rachelle Gardner talks about making a living as a […]



  14. […] In my last post, we discussed “volume” as a key to being able to support yourself as a writer. Today we’ll talk about the second key: Variety. […]



  15. CK Edwards on March 21, 2013 at 9:58 PM

    Very interesting. Volume certainly makes sense. I will be curious to see what you say about variety. That is certainly the approach I am taking. I don’t like the idea of writing the same thing over and over again, but do readers cross over and read different genres consistently, even when the book is from the same author?



  16. […] keep at it because I like working. I like having a career. Even the thoughts of being able to make a living as a writer (which are really about the same as thoughts of winning the lottery), I have wanted to work. I like […]



  17. Stroppy Author on March 21, 2013 at 5:37 PM

    Well said. I’m a full-time writer, supporting my family on my income, and it’s essential to write volume. You can’t afford to be precious about only writing things you ‘truly believe in’. Obviously, you have to be committed to every book. But you have to write a lot, and some books are closer to your heart than others.



  18. […] Make a Living as a Writer – Part 1 – Rachelle Gardner. […]



  19. J. F. Smith on March 21, 2013 at 2:22 PM

    Right out of college, I went to get my Creative Writing MFA. I always wanted to be a professor, a dancer, and write something amazing.

    Got my MFA, became a professor at age 22 (which sounds WAY MORE PRETENTIOUS than I mean it to sound!), am still a dancer/instructor, and I work on writing every single day.

    One thing I noticed, even as a teen, is that writers are almost never famous with their first book.

    I attended a lecture last month — a forum of sorts. My insane self showed up 90 minutes early so I had a front row seat to John Irving in all his glory. One thing he said that really resonated with me is that he has never in his entire life had writer’s block.

    Now, with starting a blog, I’m finding that I need to be really cognizant of not taking too much time away from my hopefully future publications, while still paying myself back through branding.



  20. […] The ultimate question remains: Can writers really make a living these days? Chuck Wendig talks about the Kickstarter model, and agent Rachelle Gardner begins a two part series on how to make a living as a writer—the first part of the equation is volume. […]



  21. Doing what you want | M.H. Lee on March 21, 2013 at 11:12 AM

    […] On the theme of making money at this and how you do so, here’s another good post from Rachelle Gardner: Make a Living as  Writer – Part 1 […]



  22. Brenda on March 21, 2013 at 1:26 AM

    Im absolutely sold on the volume line. We need to prove ourselves to build that foundation first. I’ve started more social media, done a photo shoot to help set up website. Im officially retired from corporate America but when I started to write I went out and got a part time job. I need to take a computer class I see and perhaps a writing class also. Blogs like this help so much as well as Mike Hyatt, great info, I cant keep up with all media and this makes me feel like Im not doing enough and I get down on myself. I trully want my story told, I’m rewriting now from a review from a ghostwriter and playwrite. God help me as I go along this journey.



  23. Peter DeHaan on March 20, 2013 at 6:55 PM

    I realized the reality of making a living by writing when I met an award-winning author who’d cranked out nine books in five years — and he still needed a day job.



  24. Adam on March 20, 2013 at 6:22 PM

    Ha ha! I think I read this article about 2 months too late! But I love the advice and at the very least it gives me some direction for the future. I can’t wait to read the next part. God bless!



  25. KM Logan on March 20, 2013 at 3:25 PM

    A blogging friend recommended your post today. It’s hard for people to conceptualize what making an income looks like for “real writers” when the ones we see on the news are such HUGE successes. I constantly have to remind myself blogging/writing is crockpot not microwave cooking.



  26. Natasha Crain on March 20, 2013 at 3:16 PM

    Really interesting post, Rachelle. This is a bit tangential, but I think the “long tail” is one important reason writers need to have a strong website that draws organic search traffic. My blog draws about 1500 unique people each week from search traffic, from more than 4,000 keywords related to Christian parenting. I hope that, if I eventually have a book published, the constant flow of relevant traffic will support those “long tail” sales.



  27. Johnny Worthen on March 20, 2013 at 2:33 PM

    Adavances are becoming more rare. I’ve had publishers tell me flat out that they’re the meteor destroying the dinosaur of the old publishing paradigm. Or something like that.



  28. Reba on March 20, 2013 at 1:37 PM

    Thank you for the post, it was very encouraging to be reminded that my way of dong this is not wrong.
    I am working at building my career,and growing my circle of readers/buyers book by book.
    Praise the Lord, I am on my 4th book through self-publishing. My first book;’Storms’ is now on Kendal.
    It is hard work to get a career like wiring off the ground, and hard work to keep it growing.
    Looking forward to part 2. ;0)



  29. J. M. Tompkins on March 20, 2013 at 12:02 PM

    Have you dreamed of quitting your job and supporting yourself as a writer? Have you thought about what it would take to be able to do that? Does the concept of needing a large volume of work available for sale resonate with you?

    Absolutely, though I fear I’m not producing enough volume. I still have so much to learn and sometimes I feel that I’m just treading water.



  30. Jillian Kent on March 20, 2013 at 11:51 AM

    Volume is a hard one for me too. I’ve got three books out there but I’m not getting any younger. It’s difficult to see the best course to take when you have the full time job, which in my case I love, and want to write full time as well but not burn out trying to do so. I’m thinking one qualtiy book a year is the best I can hope for, but is that enough these days for that long tail. Ideally I think it’s combination of traditional publishing and e-book self-pubbing possibliy in a different genre or even non-fiction. Then again the time element comes in to play. I’m envious of those who can balance things so efficiently. I’m investigating ways to get better at this. Looking forward to the post on variety too, Rachelle.

    Jill



    • Jeanne T on March 20, 2013 at 3:50 PM

      Balance? Uh, what’s that? 😉 Seriously, though, I struggle with that too. I don’t even have an outside job. It seems like a lesson I’ll be learning throughout my life. 🙂



  31. […] rachellegardner […]



  32. Meghan Carver on March 20, 2013 at 10:36 AM

    I’m a SAHM, so my work hours are 24/7 and there’s no way I’m quitting my day job! Time is always an issue, but I have an incredibly supportive husband who is willing to take over many of the household tasks to allow me time to build that volume. Thanks, Rachelle, for your time and effort spent in sharing your knowledge.



  33. Shannon LC Cate on March 20, 2013 at 10:31 AM

    This is the thing that gets me about the whole Amazon self-publishing thing. All these writers are hoping to make some money for themselves, but most of them are simply providing Amazon with free widgets to sell, providing AMAZON’s “long tail.” If a million writers put their work up there and only sell two books each, Amazon makes a million dollars (at least).

    I kinda resent that.



  34. lisa on March 20, 2013 at 10:25 AM

    I even ghost write. Any time I can sharpen my writing skills and learn something new, I try to go for it, as I can fit it in.



  35. Dina Santorelli on March 20, 2013 at 10:24 AM

    This is an excellent post!



  36. Connie Almony on March 20, 2013 at 10:11 AM

    I’m not really worried about my day job. With electronic billing, my salary has been dwindling anyway. As far as volume–got volumes of stories in my head. Just need to get them on paper. Then refine, polish, refine, polish … a thousand times till they’re right.



  37. Jeanne T on March 20, 2013 at 10:01 AM

    Your thoughts make perfect sense. As a SAHM, I don’t bring in an income now, but I do dream of one day having published books that supplement our family’s income. Yes, I know that is years down the road, especially as I consider the long tail you describe. 🙂

    Loved these thoughts today.



  38. Dan Erickson on March 20, 2013 at 9:59 AM

    This is a great post with excellent advice.

    I wrote my first book as an online experiment. Once I realized, “I can do this,” I made a plan. My plan is simple: self-publish three to four books before I even seek a publishing deal. I know most authors don’t make it into the industry with their first book. Or at least they don’t make a living wage. My second strategy is to also start writing a variety if short e-books in the future. My longer books are fiction. The e-books will be more self-help/non-fiction: variety.



  39. Susan Bernhardt on March 20, 2013 at 9:57 AM

    Yes, this makes sense. Thank you, Rachelle for the realistic look at building a writing career. Looking forward to part two.



  40. SJ Hailey on March 20, 2013 at 9:56 AM

    Great article, spooky timing.
    I was just thinking about this yesterday and changed a release date.
    My concern was compromising quality for volume. I have 4 books that have draft 1 done, but require rewrites to get them publishable.
    If I rush things with my limited time, I am concerned quality will suffer.

    Would you advise novellas over novels?
    Currently I am working on novels only in different genres.
    Would you suggest, if I am comfortable, mixing it up a bit.



  41. Daniel on March 20, 2013 at 9:55 AM

    I think you can take a few more risks and “quit your day job” if you’re young and don’t have many commitments. I started writing when I was 18 and instead of getting a “proper job” with my uni degree when I was 23 I decided to work full-time on my novel. I’m 24 now and because I don’t have a family to support I can get by even though I don’t make anything from my writing yet. I think I have what it takes to make it, but if I haven’t done well by the time I’m 27 or 28 and thinking of settling down then I know I’ll have to fall back on my degree and get a proper day job. Until then though I’m all in.

    Thanks for the post, Rachelle.
    Good luck guys!



  42. Matthew MacNish on March 20, 2013 at 9:51 AM

    I’ll be really interested to see what you have to say about variety, because I’ve always been told once your readers expect one type of story (or genre) you need to keep giving it to them. Obviously it isn’t that simple, so I’ll be back!



  43. Margaret Piton on March 20, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    I did make my living as a freelance writer for many years, doing newspaper and magazine articles and corporate work. The one book I had published didn’t earn a lot.
    Today, though, when most people expect you to write for free, it’s a lot harder to live by writing alone.



  44. Anna Moore on March 20, 2013 at 9:24 AM

    I am in the same boat as Jackie Layton – writing everyday, waiting for my first novel to be published.

    I am still working my day job, too. For now. However, as opposed to other writers who say they don’t do it for the money – I would one day like to make enough money so that I can write full time and not have to worry if my car is going to make it to work the following day or have to hope that when payday comes I’m going to have enough money to replace the broken plastic laundry basket my four-year-old thought looked like a trampoline.

    To me “not doing it for the money” means doing a hell of a lot of work and not getting paid for it, but one day . . . one day it will pay off. It’s not going to be my first novel, or my second. But those are my building blocks, my stepping stones.

    The only regret I would have is if I did not trying to write that bestseller, that blockbuster. If I look at this blog post and say “I give up. This industry is too hard for me,” then I am not the person I want to be.



  45. ed cyzewski on March 20, 2013 at 9:04 AM

    The main challenge I hear from a lot of authors these days is even earning back their advances with so many cuts in the marketing departments at publishers. I’ve added a nice little bit of income by self-publishing short ebooks on the side, but even with three books coming out in the next 1-2 years, I don’t think it would be enough for our family to live on without taking on freelance projects. That’s speaking within the Christian nonfiction world by the way.



    • lisa on March 20, 2013 at 10:24 AM

      I follow your newsletter, you are a great example of a writer who has diversified and been successful.



  46. Kathryn Elliott on March 20, 2013 at 8:51 AM

    Twenty years post college, Statistics 101 still makes me cry. However, in this case the practical applications make perfect sense.



    • lisa on March 20, 2013 at 10:23 AM

      I almost failed statistics… 🙂



  47. Casi on March 20, 2013 at 8:44 AM

    Thanks for the reminder. My contract with my current school ends in one month, and then I’ll be getting married.

    Due to the situation I intend to try to write full time.

    Thank you for the reminder that I may not be able to do this yet.



  48. Jackie Layton on March 20, 2013 at 8:21 AM

    I write every day and long for the day I get my first book published.

    I don’t want to rush the process, so I continue to study, learn, write, and go to my day job.

    Thanks for this reality check.



  49. Lisa Jordan on March 20, 2013 at 7:48 AM

    I dream of writing full time almost daily, but I know it’s not time for me to do so yet. Juggling two demanding careers is a challenge, but it’s necessary for this season of my life right now.



  50. Chris Schumerth on March 20, 2013 at 7:08 AM

    This post makes me think of a question: what role can and should online writing play as a compliment to book publishing?



    • Rachelle Gardner on March 21, 2013 at 3:21 PM

      Chris, that is part of the second key to making a living as a writer: variety. I’ll cover it in Friday’s post, but the bottom line is, if you can get paid for online writing, do it.



      • Chris Schumerth on March 21, 2013 at 6:03 PM

        Makes sense. I’m trying, slowly but surely. Thanks for the reply!



  51. Ernie Zelinski on March 20, 2013 at 6:34 AM

    I actually started writing when I had no job and my net worth was minus $30,000 (due to student loans). I hoped that my first book would give me enough credibility to become a professional speaker. It helped somewhat, getting me several paid speaking engagments, and also selling about 5,000 copies in its first two years.

    Then I self-published my second book (“The Joy of Not Working”) and it sold 10,000 copies a year for the first 5 years, giving me an income of around $60,000 a year for those 5 years. With the success I had with the second book, I gave up wanting to make a living as a professional speaker. Instead, I wanted to hit another home run with another bestseller, even a grand slam with a “New York Times” bestseller.

    I have now written over 15 books that have been either self-published or published by traditional publishers. The large majority are out of print now.

    But “The Joy of Not Working” still makes me around $12,000 a year in its print edition over 21 years after it was first published. And my “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” makes me a great income nine years after it was self-published.

    Now that I am getting into publishing ebooks, I have way too many projects, and am even giving five of my new almost completed projects to a friend to pursue. He needs the extra money much more so than me.

    I am far from having a “New York Times” bestseller but I have had three books that to me are home runs (each with at least 100,000 copies sold).

    In short, it is possible to end up making a good living as a writer, even starting out when one is totally broke and without a regular job.

    Volume is important to a certain extent but it helps a lot to have two or three books that turn out to be home runs.

    One must always keep this in mind about the book business:

    Content Is King – But Promotion Is the Supreme Ruler!

    Ernie J. Zelinski
    “Helping Adventurous Souls Live Prosperous and Free”
    Author of the Bestseller “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free”
    (Over 175,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
    and the International Bestseller “The Joy of Not Working’
    (Over 250,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)



    • J. F. Smith on March 21, 2013 at 2:16 PM

      Hi Ernie,
      This post was really interesting. What is it, do you think, about the “bestsellers” (on your list) that made them more popular than your other titles?



      • Ernie Zelinski on March 21, 2013 at 7:48 PM

        That’s a very good question. Two traditional publishers that published two of my books thought that the respective books would be bestsellers – and they weren’t.

        In the case of my two international bestsellers ( “The Joy of Not Working” and “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free”), there is a lot of intense competition. But it comes down to writing a really good book that stands out among the competition. Then it takes some great promotion for at least two or three years so that there are enough copies either sold or given away to create word-of-mouth advertising.

        In short, word-of-mouth advertising is still the best from of promotion. Once you get a lot of word-of-mouth advertising happening, all sorts of neat things happen. For example, type “retirement” into Amazon’s Search Box and you will see that out of around 38,000 items, “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” comes in the #1 position and “The Joy of Not Working” comes in the #2 position. Similar things have not happened for my other books. But I was able to sell the foreign rights to my “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Success” to 11 foreign publishers. Although the book only sold around 8,000 copies in the U.S. and Canada, it has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.

        Perhaps I have raised the bar too high. I consider a bestseller one that has sold over 100,000 copies. Book Guru Dan Poynter says that a bestseller is one that has sold over 40,000 copies. If I use his definition of a bestseller, then I can add another two of my books to my list of bestsellers, one that has sold over 80,000 copies and another that has sold over 50,000 copies.

        As some people may know, I love quotations and often use them to make my point. So here are a few to about making a book a success.

        “No amount of money or marketing can overcome a book that doesn’t deliver. So your first challenge is to write a book that your networks assure you is as good
        as you want it to be. The content of your books will determine how you sell them to publishers and promote them to book buyers. Content precedes commerce.”
        — Rick Frishman

        “Writing a novel is like blowing up the Goodyear blimp by mouth — anyone can do it.”
        — Kurt Vonnegut, author

        “Book writing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Anyone who decides to write a book must expect to invest a lot of time and effort without any guarantee of success. Books do not write themselves and they do not sell themselves. Authors write and promote their books.”
        — Dan Poynter

        Of course, there will always be the element of luck involved, but not near as much as some people think.

        Ernie J. Zelinski
        International Best-Selling Author
        “Helping Adventurous Souls Live Prosperous and Free”
        Author of the Bestseller “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free”
        (Over 175,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
        and the International Bestseller “The Joy of Not Working’
        (Over 250,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)



  52. Sheena-kay Graham on March 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM

    There is a saying ‘Don’t quit your day job.’ While it is great to wish you could write fulltime, it is wise to remember that not all writers make it big and if you decide to take the fulltime route then sacrifices have to be made along the way.



  53. Veronica Sicoe on March 20, 2013 at 3:59 AM

    Very sensible approach. *nods approvingly*



  54. Shari Lopatin on March 20, 2013 at 2:45 AM

    This couldn’t be more timely for me, personally, right now. I’m literally two weeks away from my final day at my full-time job, due to a mass lay-off situation. And I’ve decided to use this change to launch my writing career.

    I plan to support myself via copywriting for some local companies and hospitals, as well as writing for a few magazines (I’m a former newspaper reporter). And to just build myself up as a writer, in general.

    Thanks for this great advice, Rachelle. I really look forward to reading Part 2. This is invaluable information and I’ll keep it in mind after I sell my first book!



    • Lisa M. Airey on March 20, 2013 at 10:53 AM

      Shari,

      I wrote my first novel during the free time I had between jobs. Having such a solid chunk of time to write was a godsend (even though I felt the squeeze with regard to landing another paid position). Use your time well. Find a job, yes. But crank out a book too!



  55. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser on March 20, 2013 at 1:53 AM

    I’d like to support myself writing, but I don’t want to quit my day job – it provides a mental and spiritual dichotomy that I find refreshing. The balance of work (typically, a daily total of 14 hours, 7 days a week) will change in favor of writing, but the welding/sheet metal will always have a place.

    I’m working on ‘volume’. Aside from the practical necessity, there’s another reason to do it. My first book is already bringing calls and emails – “when’s the next one coming out?”

    It’s a kick!

    I never thought I’d be a writer (and my high school English teacher is now in therapy for shock), but I’m sure enjoying it.



    • ed cyzewski on March 20, 2013 at 9:00 AM

      Andrew, this is a bit out of the blue, but if you work with welding and sheet metal, I have a writing connection for you that may help your welding business. I promise you, it’s random. Drop me an email: edcyzewski@gmail.com.



    • Jeanne T on March 20, 2013 at 9:58 AM

      Congrats, Andrew, on getting such great feedback! You’re in a great situation to see how your job and your writing complement who you are.



  56. Jan Cline on March 20, 2013 at 1:38 AM

    Yes, this makes total sense and I’m beginning to see how we build our reputation and credibility brick by brick – with articles, devotions, short stories, contests, and a host of other building blocks. It’s also the successes in these things that motivates me to keep moving forward with my bigger projects.



  57. Jan Thompson on March 20, 2013 at 1:00 AM

    “Does the concept of needing a large volume of work available for sale resonate with you?”

    Yes. This makes total sense to me. I can see why bestselling authors publish one book a year on average for many years. Long tail.

    My problem is not volume but time. Like other unpublished writers, I have tons of stories in my head. But like you said, don’t quit your day job, and I wouldn’t dream of it, but a part-time writer has exponentially less time to write than a full-time writer, and yet both want to be published and remain published for years to come.

    Thanks again for another good post. I learn something about publishing/writing/editing every time I read your blog.