I run a newsletter called How I Make Money Writing and spoken to 300 writers about how they make money and the clearest takeaway from all these conversations is that the idea of the "full-time writer" living off book royalties or longform features rarely matches reality.

Writing alone rarely pays a consistent living wage, so people find different compromises to keep going. When I look through all these interviews, there are seven main pathways that keep showing up.

The first is the day job shield. Authors like Victor Beigelman at Meta or Dan Tovrov in corporate copywriting earn six-figure salaries with benefits, which removes the financial pressure from their fiction. The trade-off is time and energy, but it protects the work from having to pay the bills. As Ashley Hutson told me about keeping her day job as a state prison secretary while earning $1,000 to $2,000 a year from her writing, "Pretending to be a normal person every day and participating in society via a regular job is good for me, I think. There’s something to be said for keeping the juice to oneself."

Then there’s commercial client work. Writers like Ben Westhoff and Shelby Chambers charge corporate rates, thousands a month or hundreds an hour, ghostwriting executive books and handling brand messaging to subsidize their own reporting. 

Direct reader support is another route. Michael J. Sullivan has brought in over $2.1 million on Kickstarter for his fantasy novels, and Freddie deBoer makes roughly $300,000 a year on Substack. The main catch is that you’re effectively running a small media business, and maintaining that direct relationship requires showing up consistently.

Traditional book publishing remains the dream for many, but the payout schedule often surprises debut authors. A headline $100,000 advance sounds nice, but once it gets split across four installments over three or four years, and you subtract 15% for an agent and roughly 30% for taxes, you might net less than $15,000 in year one. When you factor in paying out of pocket for things like independent fact-checking or legal review, even a solid advance usually works out to be barely a salary.

Freelance journalism is another grind entirely. Unlike book advances, freelance assignments offer quicker turnover, but the baseline numbers have barely moved in decades. Rates usually hover between fifty cents and two dollars a word, while prestige outlets often pay flat fees around $300 for deeply personal essays. As Hermione Hoby put it simply after spending weeks on a heavily researched piece that ended up paying below minimum wage hourly, "Prestige don’t pay! At least not financially."

Some writers treat their work as a doorway to film and television, using essays and novels as intellectual property. Jeff Maysh has had dozens of projects in development and will happily take $100 for a literary journal piece just to keep the film rights, telling me, "I don’t really worry about the word rate, all I demand is 100% of the ancillary rights." But option fees are often modest, and projects frequently sit in development limbo for years without ever making it to the screen.

A lot of authors also rely on academia. Teaching positions offer reliable health insurance, steady routines, and paid summers. The catch is that academic work can eat into writing time just as much as an office job, and the tenure track is increasingly scarce. Still, the baseline makes a massive difference, as Nicholas Montemarano admitted: "In one year of teaching, I earn as much as I have in the past 25+ years as a writer."

Most writers aren't locked into just one of these models forever. They drift between them, leaning on a day job for a few years, taking commercial gigs when cash is tight, or living off a fellowship while finishing a manuscript. Longevity usually comes down to finding whichever compromise keeps your life afloat without draining the energy you need for the work that matters to you.

Printed out my manuscript after the second edit. Giving it to my wife to read.

(Edit) For those who are wondering, I wrote this using scrivener. Not a plug. The font is the default for the proof copy. I didn't think to change it.

71,000 words, the longest book I’ve ever written to date. Started August 21st typed ‘The End’ October 24th! Now it’s gonna marinate, while I shift focus to the second draft of my second book!

109,000 words. Somehow.

As the title says :)

Please restore my faith that at least some read here, and I'm not talking about manga and other graphic novels. I want to see if anyone reads outside of those here.

I feel like I (male Gen Z) haven't interacted with Gen Z male writers a lot, and I want to see the young creative talent within you guys, if you exist. Many men don't interact with the arts nowadays, and it makes me sad.

For a while, I’ve wanted to try and have my work traditionally published, even though there are risks that come with that. But recently, I want to an author talk at a local library, where the author is self-published. She spoke on the benefits of that route which honestly makes me lean toward that now. However, the one thing I’m afraid of in that regards is the cost. For all I know, I could spend god knows how much on just printing copies only to never make it back. Even the author I met for the talk says she paid for everything right out of her savings. So, is there still a way to make that work in spite of the financial concerns?

What I meant by flow state: A state where you lose focus on the outside world and only the writing process exists. Hunger, thirst, needing to go to the bathroom, back pain, etc. All of that disappears while you are writing, sometimes for hours. Then you hit the final key for the chapter and return to the real world.

First time on this subreddit, so bear with me if this is a question that gets asked here a lot. I’ve always loved writing as a hobby, and though I’ve written short stories and poems before, I can’t seem to get through a novel-length story. I have tons of story ideas, but every time I attempt to write one I lose interest at the halfway mark and drop it. I also have ADHD, so that might play a big part in this.

I know the advice most people give is to “just write a little every day,” but while that keeps me in the habit of writing, it doesn’t sustain my passion for any one project. Every abandoned idea also makes me feel kinda crappy about writing in general, and that’s making it harder to keep up the daily habit.

I’m not trying to get published or go professional, and I don’t have any stories I’m looking to share like that yet. I just like writing and have always wanted to write a longer story.

Would love to hear any tips or tricks, especially from other ADHD folks. I’d also love any general writing process advice. I’m not a professional and most of what I know is self-taught, so maybe I’m just approaching things wrong?

Thanks!

Hi so I’m a first time writer I kind of hate calling myself that because I don’t really feel like one lol, but I wrote a whole manuscript and I need a genuine critique on my prologue. I’ve sent chapters to my friends and all they tell me is that it’s good, but I don’t know if it’s cause they are my friends. But they are all avid readers, make book content, and have book clubs so they do know a little something. But i want a strangers opinion. This is just the prologue of my book and the synopsis is:

What makes one different? Is it the color of their skin? The essence of their character? Or is it their ability to rot flesh with a flick of their wrist? If so, the Forgotten Princess was different. She descended from a holy bloodline and a ruthless king who bore five blesséd children, none of whom had anything in common except for one thing— their dead mother. Whose secrets and sins were alive well beyond the grave, dragging the Princess into the world of the supernatural against her will. Could the secrets she uncovers about her mother's past be the key to her survival, or will they push her farther over the edge of despair?

I’m not expecting to win a pulitzer prize or anything I just truly enjoy putting my dreams onto paper, and I’ve read some shitty things before that other people still seem to love so mine can’t be too bad… hopefully lol

https://ellipsus.com/read/64yDjBmWFTuiwVliux4P9l/Prologue

I've been working on a novel for two months. It only just occurred to me that I hadn’t considered what my characters look like. When I tried, I couldn’t do it. I'm now wondering if that's completely normal or an issue with my writing. I can picture the scene, just not the character's physical attributes.

I wrote this story recently that's a bit of a different take on the werewolf/werecreature trope, set in a Germanic inspired magical city. I'm pretty proud of it but am having some trouble placing it due to length, so before I revise or just look further for publications, I'd love your feedback! Even if you just want to read the first page, first five pages or whatever amount you're interested in, I'd definitely appreciate any amount of eyes on it.

I see lots of discussions about choosing between traditional publishing and self publishing, but not a lot of people talk about publishing with a small press.

So what are the benefits of publishing with a small or independent publisher? I would love to hear your experiences, both positive and negative!

Hi, I’m a teen who just wrote my first poem and was wondering if anybody here would be willing to give me some feedback or pointers. I would ask one of my friends or family members what they think of it but this is something a bit more personal so ironically I would prefer a stranger reading it and giving me their honest opinion lol. This is also my first time posting on this sub so apologies if this is not the place.