Earnings by authors. Articles like this one that came across my feed today make me angry.
You know the routine: a writers organisation reports on a survey of writers. It concludes that authors make [insert absurdly low income] per year and they couldn’t be expected to live off that amount.
Why does it make me angry?
Two things: journalistic incompetence (from writers, no less) and the utter stench of entitlement dripping off articles like this.
Let’s deal with those issues.
What is a writer?
Someone who writes. You can join your genre or national organisation no questions asked.
What is a musician?
Someone who plays music. You can join non-performing music-related organisations no questions asked.
We would all recognise that there are those who are professional musicians, those who go to the conservatorium and either play professionally in ensembles or who teach music, and the vast body of the rest, the noodlers. They didn’t go to the con. They simply enjoy music. Some might be very successful and maybe they can become professionals, especially if they enjoy teaching primary school kids.
Writers: anyone can do it. Everyone is an expert. Everyone deserves to be read. We worked hard at our craft so we deserve better.
Honestly, that is all I’m hearing in articles like this and it does not reflect the reality. It just completely negates the fact that not everyone wants to be a professional writer. That some people write a book as a spinoff from another activity. That if you study creative writing, no one ever talked about job opportunities or career development because there is no clear path. And it inserts this cloying sense that the only writer worth their salt are those who make a living at it. And that if you can’t make a living off it, clearly there should be more writers’ grants. Because someone should confirm our genius.
I am so sick of this crap.
People study writing for all kinds of reasons, most of them for fun or self-development. When you start writing, no one owes you a living.
Let me repeat that: no one owes you a fucking living.
If you do want to make a living, you have to go where the market is. Write something that people are prepared to pay to read, or that others are prepared to pay you to write.
That’s it.
If you’re not prepared to do that, then don’t complain about it.
I play music. Over the years, I’ve spent thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on it. If I wanted to make money doing it, I would learn another instrument or two and teach young kids. I have a friend who does just that. But tbh I rather watch paint dry, and I have no ambition whatsoever to be a paid musician.
The woe-is-me narrative of musicians is strangely absent from the press. Musicians know it’s hard to make a living. There is a clear dichotomy between professional musicians and the rest (even if some of the rest are very good players). No entitlement or whiny articles.
If you’re super good at it and you’re willing to go where the market is, you might be able to make a living. Emphasis on might. It’s a hard life and it’s always been thus.
Please, writers’ associations, can the entitlement.
