Sitemap
Business of Writing

Every writer should treat their writing as a business. We may not be multinational conglomerates, but we are interacting with other writing businesses (publishers, agents, magazines). There’s more to writing, than writing!

Member-only story

Writing Hobby or Writing Business?

--

This article first appeared in print in the February 2025 issue of Writing Magazine

Writing Magazine February 2025 © Simon Whaley

Have you ever wondered when our writing hobby becomes a writing business? Is it when we win a small writing competition and bank the £25 cheque? Is it when we have a letter published in our favourite magazine and win a small prize? Or is it when we sign a publishing contract with one of the top five traditional publishing houses?

My writing began as a hobby. I first dabbled with writing stage plays and scripts during my teen years, after school and at weekends. When I started work, having done a full nine-to-five (and often longer) day in the office, I would come home and write in the evenings.

Then I sold my first piece. It was a word search puzzle, for which I received a £3.50 postal order. Already, I could sense HMRC rubbing their hands with the excited anticipation of taking their slice.

Hobby Hours

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a hobby is “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.” Well, that summed up my writing. But had something changed now I’d sold some of my work?

--

--

Business of Writing
Business of Writing

Published in Business of Writing

Every writer should treat their writing as a business. We may not be multinational conglomerates, but we are interacting with other writing businesses (publishers, agents, magazines). There’s more to writing, than writing!

Simon Whaley - Author | Writer | Photographer
Simon Whaley - Author | Writer | Photographer

Written by Simon Whaley - Author | Writer | Photographer

Bestselling Author | Writer |Photographer Editorial Consultant, Proofreader, and Author Mentor. Writing Magazine columnist. Mortiforde Mysteries series author.

No responses yet