The Economics of Being a Writer
(or, how does one make a living at this thing after all)
If an eighteen-year-old asked me whether they should study creative writing or engineering when they go to college, I would definitely steer them toward engineering.
This is not because I wish to be a dream killer, but I’m very aware of the economics of being a writer, and that the skills you need to succeed are more than being the best writer you can be.
A creative writing degree, unfortunately, does not give you those skills. Steering a young person towards a degree that will give them a secure economic future simply feels responsible to me.
But, if writing is truly, beyond anything else, what they really want to do, and they can’t imagine a future doing anything else, then I will tell them to embrace the career path of writer wholeheartedly. However, in that case, I would urge them to major in a subject that gives them a great deal of knowledge—such as history or a branch of the sciences—as well as business, while taking as many writing classes as they can to learn the craft of writing. In addition to learning the craft of writing, deep knowledge (that is, becoming a subject expert) in some subject combined with business skills and acument are a strong basis for launching a successful writing career.
Most of the time, however, I’m not talking to young people who are headed off to college. I’m usually talking to older people who are still honing the craft of writing, holding down a bill-paying job, and trying to figure out how to navigate the complex system of publishing just to get a book out there, much less how to actually make a living doing this thing.
They haven’t yet learned that after the book is published comes the bitter realization that it takes more than a great book to make money as a writer. They haven’t yet figured out that to succeed as a writer will require reinventing themselves to become a small business owner.
I both love and hate being a publisher.
I love it because I get to say yes and help starry-eyed writers get a book out into the world, often their first book.
I hate it because I said yes and then, some time later, I have to explain to the now frustrated writer why their book didn’t sell millions of copies, why the returns on books sold are so low, and why book sales alone are unlikely to sustain them financially.
Book sales aside, I speak as both a writer and a publisher when I say that it is truly an honor to usher books into the world. Books are the agents of change, more so than just about any other medium, because they can influence both the mind and the heart.
Music influences the heart, film influences the heart, but the medium of books does that and more.
I was texting with my friend David last night and he pointed out that, “Honestly, given how zoned out we are and fixated on the future or the past or our next meeting, every writer should be so honored by those readers—however few they are—that give them their attention for a full novel. It’s a gift. And I know that doesn’t pay the mortgage but it’s a very special thing to hold another’s conscious focus that long these days.”
He's right. Still, in today’s world, success is still usually measured in dollar signs. So how does a writer who wants to succeed financially make it in today’s world?
It's imperative for authors to take a good hard look at their writing career and personally define success for themselves. There is nothing wrong with success being defined as personal satisfaction, interacting with readers, winning awards, and receiving amazing reviews. But for those who want to do more, educating yourself as a small business owner is a fundamental requirement of financial success in the writing world. The publishing of a book or books is fundamental, and a starting point. But it is not the ending point.
Although there are books out there written on this topic, and I certainly recommend reading them, starting with Jane Friedman’s book The Business of Being an Author, none of these books offer an exact blueprint for a writer trying to figure out how to reach economic satisfaction, or simply how to pay the mortgage through writing and writing-related activities. Jane herself is transparent that only 1% of her income comes from book sales:
Like many other writers, she’s figured out that while the visibility and success of her books are important to her overall business, they are only a small component of her financial success as a writer.
Of course, Jane Friedman writes about publishing and writing. This area of expertise is uniquely suited in the publishing and writing worlds for her to offer workshops and classes, for people to subscribe to her paid newsletter, for people to pay her as a speaker. What do you do if you write fiction? Or books for kids? Or memoirs? You can’t necessarily go out and become an expert in something “new.” Rather, you can and should assess what YOU know and what YOU can bring to the table. You might be surprised, particularly if your book required you to do a great deal of research, as most books do.
First, I will say that book sales, awards, and reviews are important, even if they aren’t bringing in a lot of money. Why? Because they make you, as a writer, visible. And this can help you achieve financial success through ancillary activities. However, as I stated earlier, there is no exact blueprint that all writers can follow for success. When you’ve woken up to the fact that you’re not just an artist, but a business owner, and you’ve decided that you want to succeed as a small business owner, then you can begin to gather—from a variety of places—all the ideas that will help you earn money.
What are some of the skills or qualities needed to succeed as a writer today? Obviously, great writing is a must but here are some of the other skills and qualities that will come in handy, not an exhaustive list:
An ability to pivot
A willingness to experiment
Business acumen, including some sense of accounting
An ability to assess what other, non-writing businesses are doing that is successful in terms of selling their products, and applying that to book sales and other services you sell
An entrepreneurial spirit
Figuring out how to sell your writing in a variety of ways
Creative ways to sell your book(s) directly
Unique ways to sell other kinds of writing
Creativity to figure out other services that you can sell, as a writer or subject expert
Knowledge in a subject that gives you the ability to be seen as an expert (this does not have to be writing or publishing; this can be a subject matter that you alone uniquely possess. For example, and I am literally picking this topic at random, if you know more than most people about the organization and leadership of tribal societies in precolonial Africa, you may be able to speak authoritatively on leadership requirements and ethics, optimal organizational strategies, and teaching skills for small groups, small businesses, and classrooms. Be creative in how you apply the knowledge you have and who it might be useful for.)
People skills for networking, for teaching, for mentoring or coaching, for leading small groups
Speech writing and speech giving
Beyond ancillary activities, I will also say that writers with a strong desire to achieve a solid sales record can do a lot through direct sales via their website and at book fairs, school book fairs, holiday markets, farmer markets, and other places. No matter how you are published, direct sales offer a bigger bang for your buck, because you are able to sell at the retail price.
There is a LOT more to be said about this, and one short essay alone can’t break it all down. But In future posts, I’ll examine different strategies in greater depth.
One last note: if I could wave a magic wand and change creative writing programs across the U.S.A., I would. Creative Writing programs have a unique opportunity to offer not just the skills-based classes to improve students in the craft of writing (which they already do), but skills-based classes that help students begin to understand the business of writing and how they can leverage their skill in writing to make a living.
ICYMI: In an earlier post, I broke down the economics of publishing—the real truth behind book sales.
Of course, you may be wondering, after all of this talk about how book sales alone can’t sustain most writers, can it sustain publishers? The truth of the matter is that no, it cannot, not for most small, independent publishers. If a small publishing company has a breakout book that sells tens of thousands of copies, then it can make a difference. The not-so-secret truth of publishing is that breakout books that sell hundreds of thousands of copies subsidize the publication of other smaller books that never break even. For small, independent publishers, this is one reason we are pivoting our business models and finding creative ways to make it work for us: workshops and classes, crowdfunding, preorder campaigns, co-publishing or hybrid imprints, and of course grants (particularly for nonprofit presses) and donations that subsidize the publishing program.
Though some writers have responded with hostility to small presses implementing these new economic models (aside from grants and donations, which is a time-honored tradition), many writers recognize the realities of publishing’s economics and have jumped in wholeheartedly to partner with us. Thank you to all of you!
Recommended substack on the business of being a writer: The Author Stack with Russell Nohelty