"Integrity" Is Expensive When You're a Writer

I've lost track of the number of times I've seen someone turn up their nose at a project, or even at another writer, and said they would never do that. "I have integrity," they often say, as if that explains everything.

Ugh, you got paid to do a job? No thanks.

The longer I've seen this sort of behavior go on, the more it sounds like those people who look down on garbage men or sex workers. Their jobs are necessary, but for some reason the person looking in from the outside feels they're somehow above that kind of work.

As a writer, I can tell you that you are under no obligation to accept a job that comes across your desk. But I can tell you that if you're super picky about your jobs you either need to have a safety net you're already relying on, or you need to be a damn master of the things you are willing to write. Because it is unicorn-level rare for a writer to pick the one thing they're willing to write, and then achieve success in that one field without ever budging from the path they've set. And as I said in If You're An Author You Can't Afford To Put All Your Eggs in One Basket, there's always the chance the bottom drops out of that one thing you've set your sights on, leaving you in the lurch.

I've Done My Share of Dirty Jobs

For those who haven't read my archive, I've done my share of jobs I didn't particularly care for in the past as a writer. I've written ad copy, I've been a journalist, I've ghostwritten stories, and I've published novels. In that time, I've gotten some absolute stinkers on my desk.

Some examples include:

- Editing poorly written slash fiction where the author refused to make any meaningful alterations, or to hear any criticism before self-publishing the work.
- Writing ad copy for what I'm quite certain was a mail-order-bride website.
- Writing for a gaming client who was veering dangerously close to the intellectual property of an existing game whose lawyers ate raw meat like him for breakfast.
- Covering topics for a "men's magazine" that catered to the worst stereotypes of the alpha-male-frat segment.
- Ghostwriting fill-in-the-blank romance for a mass-production house.

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Find me at a con sometime, and I'll tell you a few horror stories.

In addition to those bad jobs, though, I've been a part of projects that were honestly a lot of fun, but which people have looked down on me for. I've written scripts for adult comics, for example, and I was a regular contributor to a romance company that specialized in "happy endings" in every sense of that term. I've reviewed schlock horror, and I've worked on all sorts of low-brow productions over the years.

When I set out to be a writer, I wanted to write books. That is still, to some extent, my goal. It's why I finally put out my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife not too long ago, and why I released my latest short story collection The Rejects this year. However, I've got bills to pay in the meantime, and that means I need to supplement my income with basically whatever I can get my hands on.

The Price of Saying "No"

With all of this said, it's important to understand your own limits, and to stay true to yourself as a creator. But at the same time, it's equally important to keep a realistic eye on the market, and on your own capabilities. Because it would be nice if every project you ever took on was creatively fulfilling, enjoyable to work on, and came with a living wage attached to it... but you're generally lucky if you can get one of those labels to apply to a project, much less all three.

Particularly in the straits a lot of us are working through these days, it's important to remember that at the end of the day, you need to make sure you're reaching your goals, and paying your bills. Because integrity is a lovely thing to have... but at the end of the day integrity buys you about as many groceries as exposure does.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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