How Much Content Do You Need To Make A Living?

The Internet is full of seemingly contradictory advice regarding exactly how much stuff you need to write before you'll accumulate an archive large enough to make a living. So whether you're trying for that 20-books-to-easy-street, or you're trying to peg exactly how big your audience has to be in order for you to make a living, I want to take a moment to throw a particularly large bucket of water right in your face.

 

Because the answer is very simple... you have to make as much as it takes.

It is, unfortunately, the answer no one wants to hear.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

No Man Knows The Day (And Only Liars Say They Do)

There's a reference to the end of days in the Bible that tells readers no man knows when that time draws nigh. Anyone who claims they know is either a liar, or a charlatan. This is something all the folks panicking on rapture-tok should have kept in mind, but it's also worth remembering for when it comes to making a living as a writer, artist, or professional creator of any stripe.

 

Because there is no guarantee. Your success could come with your next release, or the one after that, or the one after that. It might not come until you've been rotting in the grave for 20 years, and people rediscover your work. It might never come at all. There's no way to know.

 

Buy from living authors. In case you had doubts for some reason.

Now, as I've said before on this blog, the more swings you take, the more likely you are to be successful. The more books you write, the more videos you make, the more articles you compose, the better and better your chances are of finding an audience. That is not what's in dispute here. What is in dispute, though, are people who claim they have a system, that they can tell you exactly what you need to do to be successful, and that they know exactly how much stuff you need to make in order for you to get paid.

 

And that's a lie for two reasons.

 

The first, and most obvious, is that not every author is going to create the same kind of work. Everyone is writing their own books in their own style, and just because one author managed to finally start cashing checks when they released their 5th, or 10th, or 20th book, that's no guarantee that someone else is going to achieve the same feat.

 

The second reason, though, is that the environment has likely shifted between when one author managed a particular feat, and them giving this advice. The world is constantly changing, and what worked yesterday isn't going to work today, and by tomorrow it will actively harm you. It's the same reason you can't use the same social media strategy today that you would have used 5 years ago, why email newsletters haven't been a viable strategy for a decade, and why you can't just write another book and trust your publisher to handle the rest... the world has moved on since then.

These promises have taken all sorts of forms over the years. When I started off this blog, it was that you needed 400 posts before you had enough regular traffic to generate ad revenue. And guess what? The entire ad structure of the Internet shifted so badly that making money from ads became impossible. I've seen folks swear by the 20 novels formula, saying that if you get 20 books out on the market that will give you enough penetration that you'll build a following. Alice Liddell, who runs the YouTube channel Alice The Author, has over 30 books on the market, and she's scraping by just as hard as I am, if not harder some months. There are people who swear that once you hit 10,000 followers on Instagram it's all easy street from there, or that if you can build your YouTube archive to 100 videos and 5,000 subscribers or more that you'll be able to start coasting.

 

We need to recognize all these promises for what they are... piss in the wind.

 

Just like how crash diets and bro science swear up and down that if you do this cleanse, or adopt that workout routine that you're guaranteed to hit your goals, you should be extremely suspicious of anyone promising that once you release a certain number of projects that you'll be able to kick up your feet and relax.

 

Because as of right now I have half a dozen books on the market. I have over 200 roleplaying game supplements, including the full RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. I've made over a hundred videos for YouTube over the past several years. I've put out over 300 articles in my Vocal.Media archive, and thousands of posts on my two blogs. It's a rather impressive amount of work, in my opinion, but when it comes to coin of the realm, it's all just barely enough to scrape by on rent in government housing. With a roommate.

If You Want Us To Succeed, We Need Your Help

I've said this a dozen times or more before, but it's worth repeating. You, as the creator, cannot force your own success. You can write dozens of books, produce massive series of stories, or put together several long-running podcasts... but if no one watches them, reads them, or buys them, then you won't earn anything for them.

The only thing that gets authors paid is audience effort and interaction. Period. Because if 10,000 people all went out today and bought my cat noir books Marked Territory and Painted Cats, that would give me a bigger payday than I've had in 15 years. I would be able to rest, relax, and slow down for the first time in a decade. And if 25,000 people all decided to go and check out The A.L.I.C.E. Files and watch the episodes we have up so far? That would monetize the channel with a finger snap, and get money rolling in to help with expansions.

 

If people decided to keep buying my books and RPG supplements, and watching my videos even if I stopped making things tomorrow, I would still get paid for that consumption. And if I keep making things at a fever pace until I drop dead, but no one reads it, watches it, or buys copies, then I'm never going to get paid.

 

It doesn't matter how much you make... it matters what people interact with. No audience, no money. But for most of us it's a lot easier to focus on writing X number of books, or making Y number of videos, than it is to actually try to expand our audience. But if you want money, you don't need more books; you need people to read the ones you've already written while you work on the sequels.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (an audio drama channel I launched with Alice Liddell)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

If We Don't Need To Know It, Don't Put It On The Page

In addition to being an author, I run a lot of tabletop roleplaying games. These games combine storytelling and math, allowing players to explore a realm through their characters, and to weave their own narrative as things progress. And whether they're playing knights and wizards, or vampires lurking in the shadows of the modern day, these kinds of games are great for really getting people immersed in a story.

 

However, when you're the Game Master (the person crafting the plot lines, making all the extra characters that inhabit the world, running the world itself, and so on), you generally acknowledge that the players are only going to see about 40% of what you put together. Maybe 70%, if they're really curious. And it is so tempting to find some way to shoehorn in all that lore you worked on that supports the world, the characters, and the plots... but you need to resist that urge.

 

If something isn't important to the narrative, don't let it eat up table time. And if you're an author, do not dedicate word count to things people do not need to know... all you're going to do is weigh down your story, and potentially bore your audience enough that they'll close the book and walk away.

 

There's so much to know... and a lot of it is for you, not the readers.

 

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

 

Backstory Is Necessary... For The Author

 

I've talked at length on this blog about the necessity of research, proper world building, and understanding character motivation, the law, and more. However, most of that is for you, the author. Because writing a book is like an ice berg... most of it remains out of sight, deep below the surface of the story. While it's important for holding up the framework, it isn't the sort of thing your readers need to know.

 

Until it is.

 

After all, didn't you wonder why they called it Skull Island?

Consider for a moment a private detective protagonist. You, as the author, know his full history. You know he was born in farm country, and that he signed up for the marines to get away from that tiny patch. You know he was dishonorably discharged for punching a superior when he was a military police officer, and that he couldn't get a job in civilian law enforcement after that. He was a prize fighter for a while, and then he hung out his shingle as a PI.

 

Now, you might want to find a way to shoehorn all of that into conversation through the book. You might also want to talk about his extended family, their lives, and even lay out the history and genealogy of his family tree and ancestors to show your readers that you did the work... but until that becomes somehow relevant to the story you're telling, you need to keep all of that stuff behind the curtain where it belongs.

 

And this is where an earlier post I made, Lore Drops Instead of Lore Dumps, becomes relevant.

 

Because the purpose of a lore drop is to give a small chunk of relevant information to the audience, either in a subtle way, or in a direct way, to help enhance your story without bogging it down with unnecessary details. For example, your PI might have a client come to him. He doesn't trust cops, but he knows a guy who recommended the detective. Harry White? Yeah, we did a tour of the sandbox together. Client relaxes, knowing that he's talking to a fellow jarhead who's here to help him out. Alternatively, our PI is expecting a call from a contact, but instead his brother calls from back home. He's gossiping about the kids, his wife, the current crop, and can't get to the point, and our detective can feel his old accent trying to claw its way back up his throat. Then he has to cut the call off when another number dials him. This gives us a glimpse into the detective's life, and can provide a kind of tension breaker before we get back into the case.

 

Before you bring a piece of backstory onto the page, whether it's a historical event that happened in the setting, where your protagonist learned to shoot, or the details of a holiday celebration where everyone wears leather masks made from the preserved, peeled faces of their elders who have passed on, ask yourself if this adds to your story, and serves a purpose in the narrative. Because if this information isn't necessary to provide context to your readers, and it won't reveal something important, then you probably need to leave it under the water.

 

And that can hurt trying to hold yourself back from explaining everything that you spent all this time working on. But if the audience doesn't need to know, all you're doing is gumming up the works. And if your audience does need to know, you need to find a way to convey that knowledge as smoothly as possible. For more on how to do that, though, check out my older posts How To Avoid The Dreaded Exposition Dump, as well as 3 Ways To Avoid Info Dumping In Your Story.

 

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Killing The Myth: Making Good Art Does Not Automatically Mean Monetary Success

There is a pervasive myth in the world. The myth is that if you are an artist, be it a writer, a videographer, a graphic artist, or anything else, and if you work hard, develop your skill, and create good art that you will be successful. An overwhelming majority of people out there believe that there is some cosmic force that ensures hard work will be rewarded, and that quality art will be found by an audience who loves it. These people also believe that if your work has not found an audience, or if you are still on the struggle as a creator, that the fault must be yours. You aren't working hard enough, or maybe you aren't making good art, and that's why you haven't been rewarded yet.

To reiterate, this is a myth, and it is bullshit. More than that, though, it allows people to abdicate their own power when it comes to helping artists whose work they like actually succeed. Because it isn't some mystical money fairy that decides who succeeds and who fails... it's you, the audience, who literally decides our fate.

People don't like hearing this, but it's imperative this myth dies.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Let's Talk About "Fear and Hunger"

I'm going to guess that most people reading this blog post have never heard of the video game Fear and Hunger. It's an indie horror game made using RPG Maker, and it is a bleak, punishing, horrific experience that draws on some of the grimmest and darkest fantasy stories to create something utterly unique. It has built a cult following, and while it isn't for everyone, it has broken containment and there are a lot of people who are aware of it now.

Just stick with me, I'm going somewhere with this.

The video linked above by Super Eyepatch Wolf is primarily about the second game in the series, however, in this video we see a chart that clearly highlights the first game's rise in popularity (or notoriety, if you prefer) around 2:09. As the host points out, the game languished in relative obscurity for nearly five years after its initial release. And then, thanks to word of mouth growing through a variety of gaming YouTubers, as well as regular people on forums discussing games, Fear and Hunger started getting attention. A lot of attention. It breached containment, growing a huge following for an indie game, and now it's reached the point that it's well known in general circles where people play survival horror video games.

And I bring this up to illustrate a point. Nothing fundamental changed about the game between its release, and its meteoric rise. It was the same piece of art that it was from then, until it got discovered. Literally the only thing that changed was people who had megaphones started talking about it, and bringing attention to the game.

This is the truth of being a creator in a nutshell.

Because this video game didn't change in the five years since it was released; people just found out about it, and they were finally able to experience this art they otherwise would never have found. And if those YouTubers didn't make videos about it? If there weren't reviewers out there talking about their experiences? Then the game would have remained undiscovered, and the creator might not have been able to make a second game, or the third game I'm hearing rumors about.

The book, the game, the video, the art does not matter if people don't find out about it, and interact with it. And something having the nebulous quality of good doesn't matter. If you paint an absolute masterpiece, that doesn't magically cause an art gallery to call you, or a rich collector to show up at your door like a TV psychic. Success isn't just waiting in the wings for a deserving artist to make something the cosmos deems good art. Not only that, but you can make good art for years, but for reasons utterly outside of your control no one will find out about it, it will never sell, and you won't make a single dollar off of the work you put in.

No magical force is coming to help us. We can't make a sacrifice to the gods of capitalism and pray we become the next money grab, hot trend, or big business scheme. The only thing that helps authors, YouTubers, podcasters, graphic artists, and people who make independent video games, is for people out there to interact with what we make, and do what they can to spread the word about us.

That's it. That's the super secret formula to becoming successful as a creative professional. Period.

Good, Bad, It Doesn't Matter

This whole idea that only good books are successful, and only deserving authors get rich, flies in the face of facts. There are plenty of books, series, movies, etc. that are absolute drek, yet they still keep getting made, and they still keep making money. What matters is there are people who are willing to show up and buy copies, buy tickets, watch/listen to episodes, buy merch, etc. to help keep those endeavors going.

No one is coming to save us. There is no great, cosmic force waiting to reward creators out there. So if there's someone who is doing something you like, or making something you want to see more of, do what you can to support them. If you're just a regular person, you can still follow the creator on social media, interact with their posts, consume the content that's free, and buy their books and merch when you can afford it. Leave reviews, and tell your friends about their work. Be that person who helps build a community around this thing you like.

Some people reading this might be able to do more than that. You might be a YouTuber, a podcaster, or a blogger, which means you have a platform to talk about other creators' work. Maybe you can arrange interviews, or even get someone invited as a guest of honor to an event you host. Hell, if you're someone in the same field who already has a fan following, just telling your audience, "Hey, this other creator is doing some pretty great stuff. You should all go check their work out!" can make a colossal difference.

Haven't you wondered why every Clive Barker book has that quote from Stephen King on the cover that calls him the future of horror?

And before we sign off today, I wanted to leave a plug for The A.L.I.C.E. Files. This project has been nearly impossible to get eyes on thanks to social media signal throttling, and YouTube's terrible algorithm. So if readers who made it this far could take a moment to watch the trailer, leave a comment, and subscribe to the channel, it would be greatly appreciated!

Of course, the show is really starting to pick up steam, so you might want to set aside some time to binge the stories we have out already... because there's quite a few more where this came from!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (an audio drama channel I launched with Alice Liddell)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

No One Thinks Of Themselves As The Bad Guys

From the billionaire CEO, to the war-mongering politician, to the supervillain in power armor, or the tyrannical stepmother, fiction is chock full of villains. However, with a notable few exceptions that prove the rule, no one sits around in their doom fortress tapping their fingers together and practicing their diabolical laughter, pleased with how truly evil they are.

While someone might be the villain of the story, people generally don't think of themselves as the villains in their own lives. And one of the important keys to a memorable antagonist is for the audience to see that villain's perspective. Because that perspective is going to be key to understanding the villain's motivations, and showing how (from where they're standing, at least) their actions make sense.

No one cared who I was until I put on the mask...

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

How Does The Villain See Themselves?

Villainy is often a matter of where you're standing. So take a moment and consider where your antagonist is, and how things look from their end of the field. Most importantly, though, ask how it is they see themselves, and how they protect the idea that they are a good person (or, at least, how they justify the things they've done).

Take a character who's a billionaire CEO. This guy is out-of-touch, he engages in unsavory business practices, and he exploits people and the planet alike. However, that's from the outside looking in, and it's easy to see from where we're standing. But take a moment to ask what his perspective is, and what he believes. For example, does he view the law (and particularly tax law) as a game to be played and won instead of something that should inform one's morals? Because paying an additional $200,000 in fines every year for ignoring restrictions, but making an additional million dollars as a result, is just the cost of doing business. Alternatively, is he so completely isolated from the struggles of the people he employs that the very idea he isn't providing enough for them never crosses his mind? Especially when he's surrounded by people who are constantly spending time in their vacation homes and on their yachts, so he never sees anyone actually struggle?

You can extrapolate this to all sorts of villains. Does the cruel stepfather legitimately think he's toughening up his stepchildren with his punishments? Does the scarred commander of the imperial army truly believe that crushing smaller nations is a necessity for peace? Or does he believe that following orders and doing his duty is more important than the morality of those orders? Does the cop truly believe that he's protecting society and his community, even though he's ruined lives with his laundry list of prejudices about who the "real" criminals are in society?

He shouldn't have been carrying a pink squirt gun. Anybody would have done what I did.

That's one half of the coin; asking what motivates your villain, and how they see themselves and their actions. However, villains often take actions that they know are wrong, and which cross ethical boundaries. Some things aren't just a matter of perspective... so how does your villain justify those actions so they can sleep at night?

Is this villain blinded by their own grievance, or a need for vengeance, which allows them to ignore the way they're hurting other people if it's in service to their own pain? Have they dehumanized a certain group of people, allowing them to harm or victimize them without feeling bad about it because "they deserve it" or "they'd do the same to me if our positions were reversed"? Have they gaslit themselves into believing a situation was different than it was, convincing themselves of a false narrative that allows them to feel justified? Is the villain so consumed by greed that they can't be bothered to think about other people because their fortune is worth any cost? Are they driven by fear so deep and visceral that they'll commit atrocities just to make it go away?

If You Can't See Where They're Coming From, Look Harder

To be clear, while some villains should be misunderstood or redeemable, that is not always the case. Just because you can understand someone's reasoning and rationale doesn't mean you should identify with them. However, to make a character feel believable, we need to ask ourselves how they can look at themselves in the mirror, and then go to bed after the things they've done.

And maybe they do struggle. Maybe their conscience bothers them. Maybe there are cracks in the facade... and if that's the case, you should show the audience those things too!

For instance, does that billionaire give a lot of money to a certain charity because it helps assuage his guilt, and he feels like he's somehow squared the harm he's done? Does the serial killer go to church to light candles and pray for their victims, using the ritual and the belief that a higher power has forgiven him to face the world again? Is the cold-blooded mob hitman doing his best to be a good father to his kids, and to give them the opportunities he didn't have so that this life isn't even something they consider taking up?

Humans (and human-related characters) are capable of astonishing feats of mental gymnastics when it comes to explaining why they aren't bad people, and in some cases why they're actually the victim in a situation rather than the villain. And even if we never get a comprehensive psychological evaluation on the page, knowing these things about your villains can help you write them in a way that feels more genuine, organic, and believable, instead of just having them twirling their mustache as they deliver a monologue to the audience about why they hate colors and want to outlaw sharing.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (a channel full of short stories, many of which are mine)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!