How to be a successful writer
January 22, 2009 By: almostgotit Category: how to be a writer, how to sell what you write, humor, writer's market, writing
Creative Commons photo by BabyDinosaur
Someone recently asked me how they could get into the writing field. Here’s my answer, and I’ve also asked some of my professional- writer friends to add their own two bits (see comment section, below!)
Writers write. End of sentence. There’s no more to the definition of “writer” than that.
I suspect that “getting into the writing field” means something else, however. As in: making money, or getting attention of some sort for one’s writing. Oh dear. “Don’t give up your day job” is about all I have to say about the money part, and “start a blog” is all I have to say for the second.
All sorts of people get paid for their writing who don’t think of themselves as “writers.” People write reports, letters, reviews, and even email every day in their jobs. Why is this sort of writing always discounted? Writers write. Writers who want to make money with their writing most likely are already doing it.
That’s not what you meant, I know: you want to wear a beret and write in coffee houses, and to earn $100,000 advances just for being brilliantly-articulate YOU.
Go ahead and do the coffee house thing on your day off: there’s nothing to stop you. And get that $100,000 the same way other people do it, by researching and writing up a great idea for the boss you already have.
If, however, you still refuse to give up the whole, romantic, “follow your dreams!” stuff, go buy yourself the latest edition of Writer’s Market. That’s what my cousin-who-writes-articles-and-stuff-for-a-living told ME to do.
Plus also? I got my current writing job because of connections, not personal brilliance. Sound familiar? Sound just like any other kind of job? BINGO.
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Cross-posted at Blogher.com
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
As E said, it depends on what you mean by “break into writing.” If you mean, “Make enough at it so that I can quit my day job,” guess what? If it’s what supports you, it’s still a job a LOT of the time.
There are two real, true, honest-to-doG secrets to making money as a writer (assuming basic technical competence, which isn’t such a given as one might think). The first is:
Write what someone with money wants to buy.
That means you’ve got to decide who that someone is. Are you going to self-publish? Try to sell to a NY editor? Are you pitching an agent?
For all of these, but especially the last two, here’s the second big secret:
Exactly the same as the last thing they bought. But completely different.
On these two secrets hang all the laws and the prophets. All else is commentary.
It really is that simple.
I have a lot of articles up on BAMwriters.com about making it as a writer, as well as a few ebooks. Stop by and browse.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Thanks so much for your input, Cyn. Check out BAMwriters, all… it’s the real deal!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I had a writing friend once who didn’t think she could call herself a writer until she had sold her book. I said, “You’re a writer because you write.” She could never see this, never sold her book, and has quit writing.
Most writers write because they have to. By which I mean–when they try to NOT write they become very unhappy and anxious and even anguished. The only thing that makes them feel better is to write.
This is not at all related to breaking into the “writing biz,” which is an entirely different matter. Then you have to, as Cyn so brilliantly said, write something that someone wants to buy. I know, How crass! But it’s terribly true. Yes, we read about the obscure genius who is discovered and then nurtured to brilliance and success, but when you look closely you always find out that the obscure genius had an uncle in publishing or an influential professor or something like that.
Which brings us to “connections.” Almostgotit is also brilliantly correct, in that connections are how you get to the point where someone gives you money for your writing. Fortunately, connections are something you can create for yourself. Even writers, notoriously antisocial, can do this.
So, write. A lot. Hang out with other writers. Strive to perfect your craft (a lifelong task). Work to integrate what you do with the larger world. If you keep at it, you will discover what it is you have to contribute, that unique angle that is different from all the other unique angles. And maybe someone will pay you for it.
Maybe not. Either way, you’re still a writer.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Amen and preach it, Working Girl! And have I already mentioned that WG’s BOOK is coming out soon? (Click here!)
Plus also that it is currently available for pre-order on Amazon? (Click HERE!)
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 am
Hmm, I guess I’m technically a “professional” writer since I’ve gotten paid for books and stories in the past. I can’t really add anything to what Cyn and W.G. said. Just keep writing, stop tweaking what you write once it’s finished, don’t be afraid to submit, learn to accept rejection, and don’t quit your day job. If you can arrange to be Stephen King’s kid or something like that, it will help. And if all else fails, you can always start writing amusing stories about your dog. You probably won’t get paid for it, but it still counts as writing.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 am
The other way to make money writing–and it’s as old as written language–is to have a patron. If you want to write day in and day out, there really are very interesting jobs that pay you to do it, and reward you pretty well. Ministers, rabbis, professors, lawyers, politicians, all these–if they want to be good at what they do–need exceptional writing skills, and will be writing every day. And there are institutions–churches, colleges, etc.–that “patronize” them to do it. Not infrequently, by the way, some of these writers do earn royalties. You could do worse.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 am
@James: me and Stephen are filling out the adoption papers even as I speak. Sorry that this particular WordPress theme doesn’t show comment links very well… those AMUSING DOG STORIES can be found here:
http://dennisthevizsla.wordpress.com/
@Mr. Budd: exactly! And some of the most interesting and well-written books come from from ministers, rabbis, professors, lawyers, politicians and the like… (”write what you know,” and all that.)
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 am
Published writer Emily Anderson has also written a guest post on this subject for Almostgotit.com: Click Here to read it.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 am
[...] words and access to a pen or keyboard can be a writer, and anyone who is a writer will write. If by ‘break into writing,’ however, you mean ‘write and get paid for it,’ you’ll also need an [...]
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
“…lawyers, politicians, clergy, etc…” It occurred to me last night that something I might look into is the writing of grant proposals. People get paid for it and it’s highly rewarding in terms of upholding one’s personal values, which is particularly important for INFPs like me. Coming up next: “How to Breat Into the Non-Profit Sector.”
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
@Lavenderbay: You definitely have the writing chops to make money writing, if that’s the kind of “writer” you want to be.
Which is only one of many criteria of course, however… (!!!)
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Ack! INFP, I know you well. When I was in graduate sch, there was a person on faculty who was an expert in how the Myers-Briggs plays into the writing process (my grad studies are in rhetoric and composition). So, everybody in the department had taken the MB and probably 90 percent were IN’s. Everytime I took it I was a strong INFP.
We have to force ourselves to deal with people, but I’ve found that dealing with people in small chunks is very productive for me. Ideally, I stay home and write two or three days a week and work in an off two or three days a week. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anyone to pay me for this routine.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
It’s so funny to read this post the day after I write this!