What Does Writing for a Living Actually Look Like?
Beyond the memes and into reality
It sounds so glamorous when someone asks what you do for a living and you respond with, “Well, I’m a writer.” People envision intellectual conversations or fabulous, eclectic parties. They also assume that you have plenty of free time because it can’t be that hard, can it?
The reality is a little different (as you can tell from the above photo) because we are constantly writing, even when it’s inconvenient. In this profession, it isn’t just about the writing, much as we’d like it to be. It’s about the business of being a writer. What do I mean by the “business of being a writer”? I mean figuring how to get readers and keep them interested. I’ve got a few tips on how you work on your business below.
“I firmly believe that writers must take full accountability for their careers. It’s a business, and part of business is marketing. You wouldn’t slap an OPEN sign on the window of your new barber shop, go home, and wait for the money to start rolling in.” — Alastair Cross
You have to learn how to promote yourself. That encompasses several different tasks:
