Making A Living As A Writer is A Waiting Game

Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time has likely noticed I talk a lot about how authors need to get paid. I've mentioned sites like InfoBarrel that pay authors based on their traffic, I've talked about what a lifesaver Patreon is, and I've even put out a list of 5 questions you should ask every freelance client before you agree to take on a project.

Today, though, I'd like to talk about time. Because time is the reason almost every freelance writer I know is broke as shit.

The check's in the mail. What do you mean PayPal only takes a few minutes?

Let me put something into perspective for you, just to clear the air a bit. If every client who owes me money paid up right now, I would have nearly $2,000 in my hand. Some of those projects have been done for a few days. Some of them have been done for months. But the point is, I have a lot of clients who owe me money.

And you know what? Most of them are going to keep owing me money for the foreseeable future. That's not a flaw of the system as it stands... that's how it's supposed to work.

Just Because You're Done, Doesn't Mean You Get Paid

Under normal circumstances, being a freelancer is pretty simple. You show up, do the job, and the client pays you. Whether you're cutting their grass, repairing a roof, building a website, or drawing up a piece of art, once you turn in the project the client hands you a check.

Sometimes that's how it works when you're a writer. If you're really lucky, you can even get a portion of your fee up-front as a kind of deposit. But most of the time you don't get paid until your work is actually published by the client. Sometimes you don't get paid until a month or more after your work is finally printed.

Does that mean what it sounds like it means?

Yep. It means that sometimes when I complete a piece of work for a client, and it goes onto the pile, I get paid right away. More often than not it takes a 1-3 months for a client to cut me the check they owe me. Sometimes it can take 6-8 months before the work I did transforms into money in my pocket.

Problem is, I need to eat, and I've got a landlord that expects a check by the 5th.

Why Don't You Just Negotiate A Better Contract?

This is probably the most common question I get asked, and the query always comes from people who don't work as freelancers, and who have never worked as writers. So, let me turn the question around on you. Why don't you walk into your boss's office and say, "Hey Greg, got a spot of bad news. This job you want me to do? Yeah, I'm going to need you to up my wages if you want it done faster. Also, I expect to be paid at the end of this week, not two weeks from now."

Now, if you're really good at your job, and your boss values you, he might be willing to play ball. If you've worked for him a long time, and he knows you would be hard to replace, he might be willing to meet you in the middle on some things. But if there are thousands of people waiting outside who'd be happy to do the job you've got problems with, then Greg will tell you to clean out your desk so someone who doesn't complain as much can take over.

The button on the boss's desk is black, with flaming red letters.

If you're a freelancer, you have pretty much no power. So yes, if you want to be paid on acceptance, rather than publication, you can ask that your clients do that. If the client says, "no, we're not doing that," then you either have to take the job anyway, or wait for a unicorn to come walking by.

I don't know a single writer out there who wouldn't love to have a unicorn of their very own. But most of us have never found one, so we take the work we get, and hope that the due date on our bills happens to match up with when our checks finally clear.

You Can Take It Into Your Own Hands... If You Have Time

A lot of people also ask why I spend all this time and effort working for clients when I could just write for myself. Cut out the middle man, and release my work directly to the masses. After all, self-publishing is a huge thing now, and it can make mad returns.

It can. However, you know what self-publishing also takes? Time.

Me Again!

I have a novel manuscript sitting on my computer right now. I could format it, put together a cover, and release it by the beginning of next week. I could launch a promotional campaign for it over the next few months, complete with free samples and giveaways. But you know what that would likely gain me, if I went by both previous experience and numbers for the genre? Maybe $50 or so by the end of the year. $100 if I manage to intrigue more folks than usual. That's not much for a season worth of work, and that's not even including the year and a half it took to write and edit the novel in the first place.

The same is true for blogs, or for stand-alone articles; you need time to build a following, and an archive. You can't just sit down one day to self-publish a new blog, or a YouTube channel, or an article, and expect to make bank by the end of the month. Building those endeavors up can take a year, or longer, depending on your audience, niche, release schedule, etc.

And if you're some nobody who doesn't even show up in a Google search? Then you're running a race against time while wearing lead boots.

Are You Damned If You Do, And Damned If You Don't?

Yes and no. One of the supreme ironies of this trade is that the longer you work at it, and the more contacts you make, the less often you have to deal with long waiting periods, and uncertain pay dates. If you develop a close relationship with your stable of clients, then they will make sure you have the funds you need, and that you have them promptly, because they value your work. They've come to know you, and your reputation, and they don't want to take the energy or the risk of getting someone else to do your job.

Again, though, that takes time. Years of time, barring some extremely good fortune.

I say all this not to try and make you feel sorry for me, dear readers, or to feel sorry for my fellow freelancers that we are poor, mistreated souls. I'm just trying to relay the reality of the industry we work in, and how frustrating it is when you have to pay for Ramen with the change from your piggy bank, even though you have thousands of dollars worth of work that will be hitting your account any day now.

Any day now...

If you'd like to help contribute to my financial stability, and ensure I keep this blog going, why not head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page? If you become a patron, and contribute at least $1 a month, I've got a whole pile of swag to send you as a thank you. That's all for my Business of Writing post this week, though, and if you want to keep up to date on my future posts you should follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Don't Wait Until You're "Good Enough" To Get Paid

Over the past several years, I've met a lot of people who wanted to build careers as entertainers. Sometimes they were going it alone, and other times they had collected a group of like-minded creatives who wanted to combine their efforts to build something bigger. Almost universally, though, these seemingly very serious people operated under a faulty belief.

That belief is that, in order to build an audience and a career, they had to provide completely free content with no attempts to make money for a certain period of time.

Because otherwise it's prostitution? Or something?

I'm going to repeat that, just to show that it won't make any more sense a second time through. There is a genuine belief among authors, video creators, bloggers, podcasters, and a whole bunch of others who legitimately want to turn their creativity into a career, that they have to operate for an arbitrary amount of time, or collect an arbitrary amount of followers, before they're allowed to make money. As if there's a magical point where you've proven yourself worthy of trying to earn money from your own efforts.

Let that sink in for a moment, and ask yourself if any other self-employed person would even consider embracing this logic. If someone painted houses, would he print up a bunch of flyers, business cards, and buy all of the necessary tools and equipment, then paint houses for free for a year just to prove he's good enough to be paid for it? Would someone running a landscaping business insist on building up a client list of 50 people before asking to be paid for all the work they were doing? No, because not only is that a great way to burn yourself out and dig yourself into a massive hole of debt, but it's stupid. No one would do that much work for no earning potential.

So why do creative professionals think they have to?

If You're Going to Get Paid, Then Get Paid

It's hard enough making money as an independent creative professional without forcing yourself to do it for nothing in the name of paying your dues, or perfecting your skills, or whatever excuse you're giving. If you're going to make a career out of your art, whatever that art happens to be, you need to be just as serious about your money as you are about the things you're creating.

Money isn't something you play around with. You won't have that much of it.

For starters, most of the ways that you get paid as a creative professional either cost your audience nothing, or are totally voluntary. If you put ads on your blog, or if you are included in the Youtube ad program, then that won't get in the way of most reader's experiences (provided, of course, you avoid tiresome pop-ups and ads that make loud noises). If you set up a Patreon page, then it's up to your readers whether or not they want to fund your efforts (incidentally, if you become a patron for The Literary Mercenary before 2016, there's two ebooks in it for you!). Heck, you can even put a tip jar on your blog (instructions here) so that people can toss you a little green when they feel you've done a good job.

Even if you do all of that, though, it's going to take years for you to build up a big enough following to start realizing a profit. Making a real living practically requires you to be struck by viral lightning.

But People Love Free Stuff!

That's true. However, it takes a colossal amount of work and effort to make people realize that art doesn't just grow on trees in the first place. Now try giving people free art for a year, getting them used to getting all that free art, and then asking to be paid. Some people will support you, either by pledging cash, putting up with your ads, or leaving you tips. Others will scoff at you, demanding to know what makes you think you're so special that you should make money doing this?

Chances are good, though, those people would have reacted the same way if you'd asked up-front.

You made it, and you deserve to be paid for it. You put in the time, and the effort, to create content that your audience is consuming. It has value, but giving it away without asking anything in return creates the illusion that there is no value. And it doesn't matter if you try to make money right off the bat, if you wait six months, or if you hold off until you have a thousand followers, the reactions won't be any different. If anything, they'll be worse, because suddenly you went from an artist who selflessly didn't make any money, to someone who now expects to be paid.

If you're going to try to make money later, start doing it now. Waiting does nothing but empty your stomach, and pour cool water on your fire.

All of that said, thanks for stopping by and listening to yet another of my hopefully helpful rants. If you'd like to get your two free ebooks, then become a Patreon patron today! All it takes is $1 a month to keep great content coming your way. Also, if you want to be sure you don't miss any of my updates, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter!

Where to Find Online Writing Jobs

Today I'd like to talk a little bit about making money as a freelance writer and some of the places I've discovered that won't hesitate to pay you for your work. The following guide is a nice starting place for working online, but is shouldn't be all of the searching you do. New sites are opening every day, and that means opportunity.

Up Front Payment

Authors and assassins always take their money up front.

When most people think of getting paid to write, this is what they think of. The writer creates a piece of content, the client pays a fee, and the job is over. This is pretty much how magazines and newspapers worked in the good old days of traditional mass media. For writers who like knowing what they're getting paid before they start banging away on the keys though, there are still several websites that can start fattening up your collective bank accounts.

Demand Media Studios

You've likely been to a Demand Media Studios site. They run eHow.com, they run LiveStrong.com, and they run dozens of other websites in addition to partnering with even more. As far as fees and work go, Demand Media Studios is one of the higher-paying markets out there for writers who want guaranteed, up-front payment for writing articles. I myself have completed a great deal of work for them, such as this article, this article, and this article too.

The application process is simple. Simply go to the homepage at www.demandstudios.com and apply. A word to the wise though; this is not a content farm. If you don't have a college degree, or several years of experience in a professional field, this might not be the place for you. In addition to writing jobs though, Demand Studios also has room for editors looking for a way to earn extra income.

Textbroker

There are a lot of negative things written about this website, but there are only two questions you need to ask as a writer; do they offer work at a price I'm willing to take, and do they pay on time? In that area at least Textbroker is simple and straightforward. I've completed thousands of articles there myself, and it is possible to get enough work from this site to pay one's bills. Possible, but not easy. A tip for those who plan on becoming www.TextBroker.com contributors; impress your customers, get a high rating, and get added to as many teams as you can. Team assignments always have higher pay, and there's less competition over them. This shouldn't be your only place of employ, but it is a solid option.

Content Current

Yet another website which has earned a lot of shaken fists, www.ContentCurrent.com is not a website you can just go to, write a few hundred words a day and retire. However, when work gets scarce and budgets get tight, this site often has assignments that can make the difference between paying your bills and not. Assignments tend to run scarce at Content Current, but it also has the option of editing along with writing. This can be a life saver for writers who aren't afraid to wield the power of the red pen.

Royalties

It always feels like free money, for some reason.

There are few things guaranteed to perk a writer's imagination more than the notion of royalties. The idea of writing a single story, a single book, or even a single article and being paid for it over and over again is extremely appealing. There's a hitch with royalties though; they pay you nothing unless they get popular. So if no one reads your articles, or no one clicks the ads on your page then you, as the writer, have spent a great deal of time and effort in creating a piece of content for nothing. On the other hand if your content gets truly and wildly popular you could see checks for hundreds of dollars, or more, showing up in your bank for months to come. Years, in some cases.

Infobarrel & Xomba

Infobarrel.com and Xomba.com are both websites that can provide a lot of earning potential as long as someone has a Google AdSense account. Both websites allow users to write articles, and they will split the AdSense revenue with the content creator. While Infobarrel is more popular for articles (my account for that is located here), Xomba has the advantage in that users can create bookmarks (which is the sort of content I recommend creating. It worked great for me, as evidenced by this). Xomba doesn't let you create content that links to something you wrote, though. On the other hand, if you have a friend that creates great content then you can build a bookmark library for that other person. That person might, in turn, feel obligated to build some backlinks for your content as well.

Update: Infobarrel no longer requires you to have an AdSense account of your own! If you'd like to take advantage of the ability to earn ad revenue without having to get let into Google's secret club house, then you can sign up right here!

BlogSpot and Others

Anyone who can entertain users can run a blog. If you want to make money blogging (I already covered this topic here in greater depth), all you need is an AdSense account (or an alternative adsense provider), and an audience that is willing to click your ads on occasion. Fortunately there's no rule that says you can only have a single blog. Any activity that you're knowledgeable enough about to create content for, you can do it. For instance, in addition to the Literary Mercenary I also run a blog for tabletop gaming titled Improved Initiative. This allows you to cover a number of subjects, and to market yourself and your work simultaneously to a bigger overall population. It also requires double the work of creation and promotion, and there's no guarantee of earnings if no one reads what you wrote.

Hit Lists: Finding New Jobs

Can't be afraid of a little red work.

Not all writers work for a single, stable employer. Some writers simply make their way from one want ad to another, building up a stable of steady paymasters until they have access to more work than they have time, effort, or desire for. Even writers who do have steady work might check the boards on occasion to try and fill in the cracks, and save a little bit on the side. While I can't vouch for every job at these locations, I can vouch that they collect more than enough jobs to keep you busy applying for days.

Online Writing Jobs

There's never been a website with a simpler name and purpose. Simply go to www.Online-Writing-Jobs.com and tool around until you find something that strikes your fancy. This site combs through a dozen online want ads, bringing all of the writing jobs one could want to a single place every, single day.

ODesk

Though I'm a relatively recent convert to www.ODesk.com, I can vouch that there's plenty of work available on the site. Not all of the work is meant for an American audience, which means that sometimes the prices being paid are much lower than a first world writer would be willing to accept. That said, with enough looking it's a relatively simple matter to match a writer with an employer.

Is That All?

Of course not. I could run an entire blog devoted to nothing more than writing jobs and where to get them. As of this particular moment, though, these are the locations I can personally vouch for, and which I feel comfortable recommending to my fellow writers who are looking to make their ends meet. There might be further installments of this topic as I broaden my reach, or if readers decide to leave comments regarding places they've worked for that aren't mentioned here. Seriously though, do that.

Writers always have to look at the assignment and ask themselves if it's worth the time and the effort. If a writer doesn't want to work as a cashier, a security guard, or any of a dozen other low-rent jobs, these are some good places to start building up a writing job history. It also helps to start expanding your contact circle, and to get you into the professional mindset. If you're going to write, then do it, and don't look back.


As always, thanks for tuning in to the Literary Mercenary. If you want more updates then follow me on Facebook, or main line me on Tumblr. If you want to see a particular topic covered, or if you have information to enrich this particular post, then please leave a comment or drop me an email. It's your patronage and support that makes this blog possible.

Professional Rule Number One: Never Work For Free

It was Sir Walter Scott who first coined the term freelance, taking the two obvious words and cementing them together to form a new term. When it was put together, ostensibly for Ivanhoe in the 1820s, the term was meant to refer to a Middle Ages mercenary. It wasn't until the 1860s that the term was used to refer to writers, and specifically to journalists who wrote on a piece-by-piece basis rather than being on staff for a given paper.

Freelancers, much like their military counterparts, haven't always had the best reputations among the populace. They work cheap, they're often used in place of regular professionals, and they tend to have at least a few different paymasters at a time. They don't always belong to professional organizations, they don't always do the best work, and many times they're downright unscrupulous. But here's something you can all learn from the brothers and sisters of the gilded lance... we get paid.

I want one that says "Shakespeare Gotta Get Paid, Son."

 

There's this strange delusion among the professional world that artists are some second-class group of pseudo-professionals that act a lot like indentured servants who will work for the privilege of working. What's worse is that this delusion is catching, and that many creative persons are willing to accept the lie that they should be flattered just to have their blood, sweat, and tears featured in an ad campaign at all.

 

The Golden Rule

 

The first and foremost rule of being a creative professional of any stripe is that you have to be professional. Professionals get paid, period. This isn't just good advice either; it's a mantra, a code, and a creed. If you don't believe your work is worth something, then what does that say about you? Chances are that it doesn't say anything good.

 

Barter, Trade, and Goodwill

 

Before at least a few folks reading this start getting up-in-arms about the quality of art being measured with the yardstick of commerce, let me be the first to say that there's more forms of payment than just money. There's the credit that comes with having a story or novel published by a major company, for instance. There's the connections to be made by working with certain editors, and the goodwill that comes from offering a piece of work as a last-minute help to someone that needs a pitch-hitter. There's even the satisfaction of knowing something you wrote went to help out a good cause for those who write, paint, or illustrate for a charity. There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's only when someone hands over days, weeks, and months of effort in the form of a completed work, and then feels grateful when someone else makes money off of it that something is wrong.

 

But What About Exposure?

 

I will be the first to say that few things bring me closer to doing serious bodily harm to another human being than someone saying I will be paid in exposure. "Exposure" often translates to "you're getting nothing slacker, just be glad we're giving you page space or throwing your print on the cover". That attitude has become so common that many people just breaking into the creative field accept it as paying their dues, and will go for years allowing themselves to be exploited before turning a profit.

 

With that said, exposure is an acceptable payment if the publication in question is likely to get exposed. In my experience most places that offer exposure as payment are small presses which can't actually afford to pay their authors an up-front cost for stories, or they're events that are looking for a way to cut costs while still getting all the creative bells and whistles on signs, banners, etc. It all comes down to what you, as the creative professional, are all right with.

 

Look at the project from a marketing perspective. If you were asked to design a mascot for a local gaming convention which wasn't likely to get more than a few hundred attendees, that's a few hundred people who will see your art. Maybe they'll want to buy some, or maybe they won't. Maybe you get a free badge to go to the convention, or you make allies of the organizers who need you to create something to suck in the public. For some artists, particularly those who are new to the game and who don't have much of a list of achievements, that might be a worthwhile endeavor. For someone who has been a professional artist for several years, or decades, who has a long list of clients that are willing to offer more benefit for time well-spent, a free project like that isn't an effective use of time or resources.

 

Is This What I'm Worth?

 

Not all that glitters is gold, which is something creative types know better than most. However, for those who aren't creative professionals the work that we do is often seen as one part magic and two parts frivolity. The common perceptions that art is a luxury rather than a necessity, and worse that art is easy, leads many people to expect gratitude and thanks just for handing out praise. We can all agree that performing surgery on a heart is no small feat, but why is creating something that makes that heart skip a beat considered so much easier?

 

 

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