It is another day of introductions and we’re almost through. Even though I’ve been blogging for a little over a year, 2023 is the year for re-defining and re-vamping Actually Writing. If you want the story leading up to the grand redefining read this post. Before I publish new content I am introducing the three new main themes of the blog. The Art of Being a Writer, The Business of Being a Writer, and The Writer ( me )
Last week I introduced The Art of Being a Writer and this week I’m introducing the Business of Being a Writer. And that is what this post is about. All that’s left to re-introduce is me, The Writer. But that introduction is for next week.
The Hustling Writer
The publishing industry is the official business side of literary art. After writers finish their work, the publishing industry distributes that work, making it available almost everywhere. Agents help writers score a deal with a publishing house, and publishing houses pay writers to have the rights to publish their work.
And with self-publishing, there is no agent or publishing house to go through. The book/work gets sold straight to the consumer through various selling mediums.
But before that, before finding an agent and before completing a piece of work a writer hustles toward literary success.
Because getting to the point of having a finished work ready to submit to the scrutiny of agents, editors, and readers requires artistic and business skills. From the artistic perspective, it takes a lot of writing, planning, editing, and researching; From a business perspective, it takes pitching to agents, networking to get a better chance at a deal, researching publishing houses, cold calls, and so on.
Writers are like a one-person business. A writer produces the product ( literary pieces), envisions the future, researches the market ( keeping up-to-date with the literary and publishing world), invests in the ‘business’, improves the quality of the product, manages the PR, social accounts, and career beneficial relationships. If they are public about building their career, similar to the way I am with this blog, then there’s a whole lot more having to do with content creation and management.
Before writers get their publishing deal they have to sell it ( pitch it ) to tons of agents before some of the work can be done for them. But even before that, before the literary pieces are near being ready, writers are a one-man band.
Christa
From last week’s post
To get a publishing deal a writer hustles. But even before that, before having a story/work ready enough for querying, the hustling writer is working to live comfortably while their work is in progress.
It can take years to complete a single piece of work. So to keep alive and well, many writers have second jobs or use their writing skills to make money in the same or other writing fields ( like ghostwriting, blog writing, and other freelance writing job types).
For Literary Success
To any sane person being a writer seems a little risky.
The time it takes to complete a book is one thing, but the time it takes to get a deal could also take years. Though after publishing one successful book it does get easier.
All that work is done in hope of reaching literary success: Hoping to make money from ( live off ) the art that you love practicing.
And with that hope, the concept of the hustling writer is taken to new heights as writers work to increase their chances of getting a publishing deal a bit sooner or a publishing deal that pays a little more.
( But I must say the best way the get a really good publishing deal is to write a really good book/story that agents can’t say no to)
The Business of Being a Writer
As I publish tons of posts under this theme, many of them will explore
- The business ventures writers take to support themselves before getting a publishing deal
- The business moves and processes of writers aiming to get a good publishing deal
Up Next…
You made it to the end!
Share what you like and comment on what you feel. This weekend a Writing This Week ( WTW) will be published and next week the intro to The Writer will be published. Subscribe to know the moment a post goes up and don’t forget to come back next week.
I usually would say something about my newsletter but that is still being re-vamped.
Don’t just be a good writer, be a great one!
Until my next words (on here that is),
Christa
