The Realities Of Being A Professional Writer

I was talking to one of my authors last week about an opportunity she has this coming week. She will be speaking with a college creative writing class. As we talked, we started discussing some of the things we have seen with a lot of new authors, as well as many authors coming out of college creative writing programs and MFA programs. There is an unrealistic perception of what it is to be a writer in the professional world.  In fact, for so many of these writers, when they do hear what is expected of them that passion for writing disappears and all that they had fought for goes out the window. They simply quit. 

I do not want to see that happen. 

Instead, I just want all of you to think about what will be expected of you and to know that it IS possible to do because so many author out there ARE doing writing professionally daily, while at the same time, juggling their daily lives. 

Let's start first with what that world looks like in those creative writing classes, or even in those writing groups so many writers start out with in their local communities. You write and share your work. You "workshop" the latest pages you did. If it was for a class, yes there were grades and the deadline was just for the grade, but in the end, that was the only deadline you had to meet. Any pressure you had was self-imposed as you struggled with a tough phrase or a single scene. Instructors in the MFA programs, not wanting to read extensive amount of pages limited your writing to small page counts (remember, they had other classes, committee work and their own writing and researching commitments). Essentially, this writing life was pretty idyllic.

Now, let's switch gears a bit and look at that wonderful world of professional writing. We now have a little thing such as contract on the line. This is not simply about writing for pleasure and self-gratification, but now it is about selling a product. This is a business and your story is product. The reader is a consumer. Your career is based on sales and numbers. 

That's right! Thank you Jerry McGuire!

Here is what you will now be doing.

You still get to write what you want to, but within the guidelines of what is going to sell. You, your agent and your editor will figure out how to make that story something that is going to be marketable. I know that there are authors out there who will claim you lose your voice, but that is wrong. You do get a lot of say in your stories. Our job is just to shepherd it along the way. 

But now, you have a deadline. That story has to get done by a set day. You might be expected to have a proposal in earlier of a synopsis and first three chapters just to make sure it is going to be heading in the right direction. That deadline is crucial because the editors need to have their hands on it to developmentally edit it and get it back to you quickly to make those revisions. 

When you get those back, you will have about two weeks to fix those and the edits back. Hopefully with no more back and forth. Any delay here makes things difficult down the line. No one wants that. If those edits are not quite right, they get sent back to you for another round and you get to do more changes with likely less time to make those changes. Remember, the clock is still ticking.

And here is why...

When the developmental edits are done, the manuscript is then off to the copy editors and line editors and the marketing department and business departments and art departments.

Oh, and the book does come back to you again for one more round of edits known as AA's to check it again as final proof.

But wait, there is more. 

After you have sent that book out to the editor when you typed THE END, you are not just sitting by the pool have a mimosa. You are getting ready to go to work on the next book. You see, in the middle of writing that last book, you have likely had a book being outlined on the side. There will not be time to take 3 months AFTER you have gone though this entire process of that first book to contemplate the next book!

Now here is where it gets really fun!

At a certain point you will be Writing one, Editing Another, Outlining Another, and Marketing all of these books all at the same time. Each book having their own deadline. 

I do also want to warn you. If you are planning to being a self-published author, you get to add in finding a cover artist on your own, finding the editors on your own, finding the printer on your own and all of that other stuff. 

But please know, it is possible. 

I have an author who is a full time professor and moonlights 2 additional classes, serves on 3 committees at her college and is part of a local service group and still produces 4 books a year. Another author produces 3 books a year with a job and 2 kids who are 10 and 6. Another who is pursuing a Masters degree and is putting two kids through college and also does 3-4 books a year.

It can be done.

It is all about time management.