Finding Writing Money

 Writing often equals lonely and broke.  An author cannot enter this business realm without outside sources of income.  The 'paying your dues' aspect that one hears so much about rings as true as a finely tuned Steinway.  So I ask, "Where is the money?"

An author with two books published, another on the way, I find compensatory money difficult to find.  I understand money can be made in this business, but the ability to chase it down becomes more key than the actual writing.

I've heard everything from "fake it till you make it" to "product is king" to "social networking online is vital" to "read huge volumes of books on marketing".  All appear valuable in some manner, but the time factor involved tends to overwhelm.

I write.  I write well.  Am I Hemingway?  No.  But, dammit, I write well.  The ability to write well only carries an author so far - like maybe inches from where he began.  The ability to sniff out writing jobs, editing work, and other money work trumps the ability to write well.  'Tis a sad truth.

I was paid $600 for three four-hundred word articles for a magazine last year.  That money came to me in the form of two day's work.  I listened to three forty-five minute lectures on building construction, wrote an article - four-hundred words each - and my job was done.  I received the astonishing check a couple weeks later.

How did I get that assignment.  A writing friend  of one of my writing friends heard about it and passed the info along.  Nice gig.  There are many such gigs out there, but an author needs to be savvy and sniff them out.  Once something like that magazine assignment is announced, there is no lack of clamoring to grab one of the writing positions.

Online, entrepreneurs seduce us with "Work from home as a freelance writer!"  Sometimes, out of sheer desperation, we bite.  At least I do.  Ok, so I nibble.  I attempt to learn 'the catch'.  What are these people NOT telling me.  Most often they don't mention you'll be working for slave-labor wages.  People in sweatshops probably make more than writers are offered.

Oh!  But I have two books published.  Yes, and I may one day recoup the money and time I put into marketing and promoting said books.  I understand that aspect of this business.  A book guarantees you nothing - but a book can open doors.  Doors like speaking engagements and book-signings and panel discussions and recognition (which helps sell more books).

To find money in the writing business, YOU MUST NETWORK.  You must be in touch with writing friends who have writing friends who run across writing work.  To find money in the writing business you must be willing to speak publicly about your writing subject, writing in general, publishing, marketing or anything else that people want to know more about.  To find money in the writing business you must immerse yourself in the business itself.  You must keep up to speed with what's happening in social networking, publishing (e-publishing is another source of money if you can search out the fountains), marketing - basically you must scavenge for money morsels.

The writing business is highly competitive, yet you find many people who will help you along your trek.  Not many actually show you the money.  It's like the writing money tree is some elusive secret, a grail, and your job is to be Percival.  So what if I write well.  This means nothing if I don't find sources of income that pay my bills.

The writing life is very fluid.  If that is so, the money attached to the writing life is very windy.  It blows these days to e-publishing, speaking and slave-labor wages for the up and coming.  Money in the writing life swirls just around the corner, waiting mere moments for the bold to step in and revel in its temporary fulfillment.  Then the money vanishes to some other locale leaving the author dizzy and wondering what happened and how.

To make money (by that I mean at least eek out a financial existence that supports you and your family) an author must dive down the rabbit hole.  There can be no wishy-washy toe-in-the-water approach.  If you don't commit, you'll either be committed or give up (are those the one and the same?).  The learning curve is steep and you'll need friends.  Lots of them.

And when one of your writing friends comes off a well-paying job and you ask them to show YOU the money, don't condemn them for the distant, confused look in their eyes.  Your friend is just trying to figure out where it went, not where it's at.  Give them a few days.  They may trip across that wind again - and whisper its location in your hungry ear.