Is Your Writing a Career or a Hobby?

 

 I remember when I started writing, I thought I could supplement our income with my writing income. I was, and still am, a stay at home mom/wife. My husband retired in 2008.

In addition to supplementing our income, my goal was to get my writing published. 

Early on, I got one of my short essays accepted into a Christmas anthology. Yeah! I even did what a writer is not supposed to do - after submitting it and waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I inquired about the status of my submission.

I got lucky. The lady putting the anthology together remembered my submission and said she thought it was 'too sad' of a story, so it was passed over. After speaking with me and giving it further thought, she said she would read it again. I later got another email from her saying it would be accepted into the anthology. She said that everyone's remembrances aren't happy, and sad times do exist and she thought it should be in the book. Yeah!

I am far from being able to make my writing a career, and I could in no way make a living from it. But I have had my work published, by a publisher and by me. (5 books, soon to be 6) Plus I wrote a children's column for a regional magazine for 8 years (non paying). And I also write the weekly column in our newspaper for the local Senior Center (non paying). The many comments from the readers of these columns makes it all worthwhile, even though I am not paid.

But I enjoy writing! You need to enjoy writing because a person can spend years writing a book and getting it the way they want it.

A lot of non-writers don't realize that the author of a book doesn't get all of the asking price of their book for themselves. Most of my books are selling for $10 on Amazon. Do I get that $10? 

No. 

The most I have ever made from a sale on Amazon is $2 or $3. If it was published by a publisher, my portion of the sale would be less. And you make even less on e-books. 

In my opinion, the secret to making a lot of money is selling a lot of books. Many authors also make extra money from speaking at schools and conducting writing workshops. 

 

Sharing my stories at the West Virginia Folk Festival a few years ago. The adults even enjoyed participating in a reading of one of my stories for children. This was a very fun day.

I am a fan of the Waltons TV show. On one show, John-Boy meets Dr. Porter on campus who inquires how he intends to support himself as a writer. The professor tells him that only about 6 authors would actually be able to support themselves as writers only, the rest have to support their writing endeavors in other ways. He says that if he can find a way to make money while writing full time then he’ll be the envy of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton. Dr. Porter says that there are 10,000 unemployed writers in America who are living on $95 per month from the WPA program.

John-Boy suggests that Margaret Mitchell who had recently published Gone With the Wind is an example of a successful writer, but Mr. Porter says that she is an exception and that greats like Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe were not so fortunate during their lifetime. He says that if John-Boy wants to write fiction full time then he’ll need to marry rich.

Of course, this leaves John-Boy downhearted, but just as we continue to write because it is in our blood, so does John Boy. 

Is your writing a career, hobby or something else?

Whichever it is, enjoy your writing!