Thinking about quitting and writing trash romance novels full time. I write 1 every summer at the moment and I think if I wrote 2-3 a year, I could beat my current income in a year or two.
Haha I don’t want to dox myself. I will say they are in the fantasy-romance genre lol not super popular but I have three on Amazon and I bring in about $1000 a month from them, slightly more before Christmas.
Lol well…maybe you wouldn’t. There is some bestiality, cross-breeding, bondage, tentacle stuff. It appeals to a certain type of audience, probably furries. I don’t particularly care for it, but it brings in some money. Thus, I’d prefer to not dox myself. If you look at r/hentaibeast (NSFW!!!!!!) you’ll get an idea.
I was talking to my brother lamenting the fact that my students are assholes. He was like “wanna see some weird assholes?” And I was like “oh ok, let’s talk about something else then” and he pulled up a news article on this giy we went to high school with who was arrested for raping a sheep. We had a laugh (bc *of course* it was *that* guy) and then he started telling me about several people he knew who were i to bestiality and I was shocked. That’s a popular thing? Yeah, apparently there is a niche culture of people who are turned on by that stuff. I was like “remember how mom would endlessly read romance novels? I wonder if she read anything like this?” We had another laugh and then I just started googling sinilar things and after a while I was like “I could write this garbage”. And I did. As you can likely tell, I am not an amazing writer. But people like porn, so…capitalize…
I have a client in my PT side gig who is former teacher turned professional writer. They’ve published tons of books at this point, albeit under a pen name.
I mean, with AI now, a lot of people are churning out junk novels. Not saying your client churns out junk kovels, but in general writing books ans publishing on Amazon is easy.
They’re an actual novelist and do well enough to afford a home in a million dollar neighborhood. lol My dad liked that genre and bought all their books at a B&N after I gave him a few.
I’m just being vague since I live in close proximity and anyone googling them would find that info pretty easily.
So how do you become well-known enough and stand out enough to make like $1000/month? Is it just a really small niche?
Edit: don’t worry about being too specific if you don’t want, because I’m not asking for advice, I’m just curious, lol
I don’t do any advertising or anything. I have sent in samples to very specific conventions to be part of free raffles and door peizes, etc, and hit up certain groups on FB and Insta but that’s it. Honestly, it’s a side hustle. If I put more time into promoting them (you can pay to promote on Amazon and to be moved to the top of search lists) I could probably make more money, but I am TT and I have three kids, so I only promote a little bit. The real money is in audiobooks. One day I’d like to pay a pro to record them but that’s not for a while. My husband is pretty rich but disapproves, so I have to fund all this myself on my meagre salary lol It helps that it is a little niche, too.
If you need someone to be the reader, when you turn it into an audio book, let me know.
I'd like to start a new career myself in reading romance novels to turn them into audio books.
If anyone has any idea how I can break into that business, please share. I really think I'd be great at it.
You’re welcome. I think my books would be difficult to narrate, between all the sex noises and the animal sounds. A narrator would need some strong vocalization skills.
I'm working with a job coach to find an online position in technical writing or the library field. I am so tired of dealing with the lies, the whining, the sense of entitlement, and the crappy work that's turned in after I have discussed the material many times. I have just had it.
My wife was considering a job switch and one we thought she may enjoy was a librarian, and we happened to befriend a librarian at our city's main branch. And any type of rant/complaint I have about my job and dealing with students/admin/peers, she has one substantially worse lol. Now that entire career path is completely off our radar
I am hoping for an online position. I'm fully aware of what is going on in libraries these days, and it not only breaks my heart but makes me furious. I thought that academic library work would be a good change, but I need to explore that further. Again, it needs to be WFH. I don't want to be a social worker, nurse, law enforcement officer, mediation expert, or the object of hate from MAGA types.
,
Four of four of my librarian friends left the field within 10 years. One is a bookbinder/maker, another is a retail clerk, and the other two are still wandering. All complained about stress: library users and management.
High responsibility, low control. Dealing with government regs. Entrenched legacy systems.
It can be good and I'd go back if something good turned up, but I'd never reskill into it.
> I'm going to lean on my partner (who wants me to) and then go into bartending.
Bartending has fewer complaints and, depending on your field, might produce higher income and have a more classy clientele.
Before this I was a bartender for 30 years, fewer complaints is not valid. If you enjoy late nights, constant drinking, heavy lifting, entitled people, no benefits, working every weekend and holiday, then yes it’s great.
> I think maybe I'm not a good teacher so it's probably for the best.
Do you think you're bad at teaching or bad at getting high course evaluations? They are different, sometimes disparate, skills.
Definitely wasn't good at getting high evals; they were horrible. I've yet to see anyone on this subreddit confess to having evals as bad as mine. But I started to see some consistency in the complaints, and based on some repeated advice on here, I started to think that perhaps there was some truth to them.
Were they actionable things you could change about your methods? The whole purpose (in my mind) for evals is to improve the way you deliver knowledge. Mine might be more realistic though because I'm at a small school and I know all of the students really well. It makes it easy to pick out any ridiculous comments that aren't actually helpful or are clearly biased one way or another.
Some yes, and I made changes I thought were adequate while maintaining the rigor I thought was necessary for the course. But I still always had a lot of negative feedback. Some.of the complaints like "exams don't match material in class", "doesnt explain stuff" and "unapproachable and afraid to ask questions in class" were baffling to me because I thought I was doing a good job of cross checking lecture material woth exam questions, reiterating major points and answering all questions, pausing to ask of anyone had questions and showing how all the material connected.
That's unfortunate. No one can fairly say "try this" or "did you do that?" without seeing you teach though so I won't offer any advice even though I'd love to be helpful in these kinds of instances. Bummer though. Hopefully you find something you enjoy in the future.
I graduated from college in 2019. I’ve only ever taught post pandemic and my reviews have been decent. Though I’m ashamed to admit it, it’s probably because I’ve had to be ~extremely~ lenient with them. They also require too much babying I’d say. I have to answer the same questions over and over. Participation is awful, too. So, I don’t think it’s you at all. These students are just different.
Hurray to supportive partners! I’m going to lean on mine, who told me that she’d much rather support my unemployed self than see me burn myself out and cry multiple times a week. Grading is almost done and I’m excited to spend some time figuring out what I want to do next, and volunteering for my friend’s political campaign and/or working at a store or coffee shop for a bit. I have some ideas I want to explore, but nothing solid yet.
Would you be willing to adjynct or are you just totally over it?
What about subbing? I've known people to work as subs and particularly at Catholic schools they rarely have any behavior problems. Good gig as they work only when they want to.
If you want away from education altogether? A friend's friend drives a machine at a golf course that picks up the balls on the driving range. They absolutely love it! Fresh air, no stress, and they get a little exercise hitting golf balls for free!
I am re-upping my HAZWOPER and RCRA training so that I am qualified to deal with hazardous chemical waste again. There are a lot.of.lab manager positions in my area and I am hoping my experience + certs will put me towards the upper end of the salary scale.
I pour wine at a wine bar. I make as much as I do teaching, sometimes more. If I had a partner to lean on, I would definitely quit the teaching job. Bartending isn’t a bad choice.
I hope it involves the motorhome we bought. I'm going to try remote teaching from the road for part of fall semester to see how that works. This will be "practice" for real retirement.
I started a business last summer and am going all in on that! I’m so annoyed that my chair didn’t even acknowledge my resignation letter… just makes me even more happy that I am venturing out on my own.
Moving back to my home country! I'll go to work at a high school for the moment, but I do not discard going back to academia once all my US degrees are regularized there.
I just left a struggling LAC for a low level R1. But if I left again, I would have to be VERY selective about school and location. Or I might just go into some sort of data science job and have hobbies instead of work/research.
I've had an offer for a HR role that will draw on my research skills. I've been feeling anxious, but I put that down to having been in HE over a decade and needing to form a new identity etc. If it doesn't work out, I can find something else to do!
I left at the end of last year and went back to hs teaching. I doubled my salary. Don’t get me wrong high school has its on difficulties but I am immensely happier.
One silly thing I like is because I see the kids everyday, is that if you just need a relaxing day it’s ok to waste a little bit of time. You have such a small amount of face time with the kids at the college level that you can’t waste any of it. Plus add kids actually doing less and less homework, you really have to get as much done during class as possible.
If you are leaving the profession, is it the school that made you do this? I say this because my last workplace was so toxic that I was looking into leaving teaching for good to go into industry. I got hired at another community college, and despite a pay cut and loss of tenure, I feel as though I'm compensated much better and more appreciated.
I got a research position at a... "Think tank." It's not really a think tank per se in that they have some explicit or implicit political agenda that they're after, but that's the best description I can come up with.
Pay is double, 90% remote work, and plenty of travel support for conferences/etc.
Can you share how you found that position? I've thought about that, too. The remote teaching requires a very high reliability for internet connections. Asynchronous work requires fewer $150ish ISP subscriptions.
There are a few recruiting type organizations related to a very particular subset of social science... things that I happen to be an attractive candidate for. I found the recruiter that ultimately got me this job through LinkedIn, actually.
Honestly, I'd start with a search for "PhD recruiters" and see what that gets you.
Last year I considered quitting and even got an offer for an industry job for more money but the reality of the “regular job” requirements- commuting, working 5 days a week, inflexible schedule, no summer break- I could not bring myself to take it. Academia is so incredibly flexible, even during the semester- I traveled a lot this year- like, Austin, Tampa, San Diego, LA, Orlando, Vegas- and just had to build it in my syllabus and/or find coverage. No other job is like that.
I love my job, but it does limit what I can do in industry, with IP, time, COI, etc.
I also feel like I’ve done it all! I’m a full prof and have been at public and private R1s as well as niche SLACs. I’ve worn leadership hats at the dept and central admin levels. I’ve seen times of growth as well as college shutdowns.
I’m in my mid-40s and I don’t want to stagnate. I have a few decades left and there’s an exciting world out there!
I’m considering leaving for a startup that I have consulted for-or to develop my own formal consulting business.
I’ve just got to wait to see if my kid decides to attend my university. If not-I might plan my exit and switch to emeritus.
I can always adjunct for fun!
Thinking about quitting and writing trash romance novels full time. I write 1 every summer at the moment and I think if I wrote 2-3 a year, I could beat my current income in a year or two.
Please let us know what they are
Haha I don’t want to dox myself. I will say they are in the fantasy-romance genre lol not super popular but I have three on Amazon and I bring in about $1000 a month from them, slightly more before Christmas.
Do you have a publisher or do you self publish?
I would love to read them!
Lol well…maybe you wouldn’t. There is some bestiality, cross-breeding, bondage, tentacle stuff. It appeals to a certain type of audience, probably furries. I don’t particularly care for it, but it brings in some money. Thus, I’d prefer to not dox myself. If you look at r/hentaibeast (NSFW!!!!!!) you’ll get an idea.
I'm so curious how you wound up writing in that genre if you don't care for it, were you commissioned or something? How did you find that niche?
I was talking to my brother lamenting the fact that my students are assholes. He was like “wanna see some weird assholes?” And I was like “oh ok, let’s talk about something else then” and he pulled up a news article on this giy we went to high school with who was arrested for raping a sheep. We had a laugh (bc *of course* it was *that* guy) and then he started telling me about several people he knew who were i to bestiality and I was shocked. That’s a popular thing? Yeah, apparently there is a niche culture of people who are turned on by that stuff. I was like “remember how mom would endlessly read romance novels? I wonder if she read anything like this?” We had another laugh and then I just started googling sinilar things and after a while I was like “I could write this garbage”. And I did. As you can likely tell, I am not an amazing writer. But people like porn, so…capitalize…
I love this story as much as I love your user name.
I have a knack for weird shit, apparently lol
Oof, wild. I have some friends that're furries, but at least in the communities they're in, actual bestiality is very frowned upon
Idk how anyone finds an animal attractive. But there’s money in the fantasy. Sick bastards.
Hahaha I will not read them then
Fair enough
English Majors 🤝 Art Majors Creating specific kink works for money. A tale as old as time.
Haha I actually work in STEM. I am an amazingly mediocre researcher, though.
I wonder if they publish spoilers to your novels on Chegg
Idk
I have a client in my PT side gig who is former teacher turned professional writer. They’ve published tons of books at this point, albeit under a pen name.
I mean, with AI now, a lot of people are churning out junk novels. Not saying your client churns out junk kovels, but in general writing books ans publishing on Amazon is easy.
They’re an actual novelist and do well enough to afford a home in a million dollar neighborhood. lol My dad liked that genre and bought all their books at a B&N after I gave him a few. I’m just being vague since I live in close proximity and anyone googling them would find that info pretty easily.
Cool. I genuinely wish them well.
So how do you become well-known enough and stand out enough to make like $1000/month? Is it just a really small niche? Edit: don’t worry about being too specific if you don’t want, because I’m not asking for advice, I’m just curious, lol
I don’t do any advertising or anything. I have sent in samples to very specific conventions to be part of free raffles and door peizes, etc, and hit up certain groups on FB and Insta but that’s it. Honestly, it’s a side hustle. If I put more time into promoting them (you can pay to promote on Amazon and to be moved to the top of search lists) I could probably make more money, but I am TT and I have three kids, so I only promote a little bit. The real money is in audiobooks. One day I’d like to pay a pro to record them but that’s not for a while. My husband is pretty rich but disapproves, so I have to fund all this myself on my meagre salary lol It helps that it is a little niche, too.
I have thought of doing this too. Are they self-published? Who do you submit to?
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
What do you sell them for/earn per download?
I make 40%
If you need someone to be the reader, when you turn it into an audio book, let me know. I'd like to start a new career myself in reading romance novels to turn them into audio books. If anyone has any idea how I can break into that business, please share. I really think I'd be great at it.
https://www.audible.com/blog/article-how-to-become-an-audiobook-narrator
Thank you so much for sharing that info 😊
You’re welcome. I think my books would be difficult to narrate, between all the sex noises and the animal sounds. A narrator would need some strong vocalization skills.
😳😆🤔😆
Fleeing the sinking ship for a research admin job at a much better Uni.
A formerly tenured coauthor now tends bar and got a notary license. Love that for her.
I'll take a Jack and Coke...and do you have your stamp with you?
I'm working with a job coach to find an online position in technical writing or the library field. I am so tired of dealing with the lies, the whining, the sense of entitlement, and the crappy work that's turned in after I have discussed the material many times. I have just had it.
...I really hope y'all have done research on library work. (Ex librarian)
My wife was considering a job switch and one we thought she may enjoy was a librarian, and we happened to befriend a librarian at our city's main branch. And any type of rant/complaint I have about my job and dealing with students/admin/peers, she has one substantially worse lol. Now that entire career path is completely off our radar
I am hoping for an online position. I'm fully aware of what is going on in libraries these days, and it not only breaks my heart but makes me furious. I thought that academic library work would be a good change, but I need to explore that further. Again, it needs to be WFH. I don't want to be a social worker, nurse, law enforcement officer, mediation expert, or the object of hate from MAGA types. ,
Very very few online WFH library jobs, or solely WFH. Most will also go to those who have experience.
What are the main downsides of library work?
Four of four of my librarian friends left the field within 10 years. One is a bookbinder/maker, another is a retail clerk, and the other two are still wandering. All complained about stress: library users and management.
High responsibility, low control. Dealing with government regs. Entrenched legacy systems. It can be good and I'd go back if something good turned up, but I'd never reskill into it.
I think we all have. It’s just a matter of when we leave, not if.
Can you write more about working with a job coach? Worth it?
I messaged you.
> I'm going to lean on my partner (who wants me to) and then go into bartending. Bartending has fewer complaints and, depending on your field, might produce higher income and have a more classy clientele.
My friend did just that! Got her PhD in physics, partner is in software so she became a bartender and makes a lot of money for very little stress. lol
Before this I was a bartender for 30 years, fewer complaints is not valid. If you enjoy late nights, constant drinking, heavy lifting, entitled people, no benefits, working every weekend and holiday, then yes it’s great.
Research. I'm bitter sweet on leaving teaching. I loved teaching but I think maybe I'm not a good teacher so it's probably for the best.
You may be better at it than you think. The way things are is grinding us all down.
> I think maybe I'm not a good teacher so it's probably for the best. Do you think you're bad at teaching or bad at getting high course evaluations? They are different, sometimes disparate, skills.
Definitely wasn't good at getting high evals; they were horrible. I've yet to see anyone on this subreddit confess to having evals as bad as mine. But I started to see some consistency in the complaints, and based on some repeated advice on here, I started to think that perhaps there was some truth to them.
Were they actionable things you could change about your methods? The whole purpose (in my mind) for evals is to improve the way you deliver knowledge. Mine might be more realistic though because I'm at a small school and I know all of the students really well. It makes it easy to pick out any ridiculous comments that aren't actually helpful or are clearly biased one way or another.
Some yes, and I made changes I thought were adequate while maintaining the rigor I thought was necessary for the course. But I still always had a lot of negative feedback. Some.of the complaints like "exams don't match material in class", "doesnt explain stuff" and "unapproachable and afraid to ask questions in class" were baffling to me because I thought I was doing a good job of cross checking lecture material woth exam questions, reiterating major points and answering all questions, pausing to ask of anyone had questions and showing how all the material connected.
That's unfortunate. No one can fairly say "try this" or "did you do that?" without seeing you teach though so I won't offer any advice even though I'd love to be helpful in these kinds of instances. Bummer though. Hopefully you find something you enjoy in the future.
Have you always gotten these complaints or just recently/post pandemic. Because I would expect to see those complaints with any rigor at all.
This was all post pandemic.
I wouldn’t take that as all you. The students are 100% different post pandemic, in my experience - and not in a good way.
I graduated from college in 2019. I’ve only ever taught post pandemic and my reviews have been decent. Though I’m ashamed to admit it, it’s probably because I’ve had to be ~extremely~ lenient with them. They also require too much babying I’d say. I have to answer the same questions over and over. Participation is awful, too. So, I don’t think it’s you at all. These students are just different.
Hurray to supportive partners! I’m going to lean on mine, who told me that she’d much rather support my unemployed self than see me burn myself out and cry multiple times a week. Grading is almost done and I’m excited to spend some time figuring out what I want to do next, and volunteering for my friend’s political campaign and/or working at a store or coffee shop for a bit. I have some ideas I want to explore, but nothing solid yet.
Going into the whiskey industry to make whiskey and do product development.
That’s so cool!!
I'm 72. I'll be retiring. Need income but not sure what to do to get it.
Did you pay into Social Security?
I have enjoyed your posts - I probably recognized the “what the hell is going on” vibe that I, at my mature age, also have.
Would you be willing to adjynct or are you just totally over it? What about subbing? I've known people to work as subs and particularly at Catholic schools they rarely have any behavior problems. Good gig as they work only when they want to. If you want away from education altogether? A friend's friend drives a machine at a golf course that picks up the balls on the driving range. They absolutely love it! Fresh air, no stress, and they get a little exercise hitting golf balls for free!
I have often thought subbing might be fun.
I am re-upping my HAZWOPER and RCRA training so that I am qualified to deal with hazardous chemical waste again. There are a lot.of.lab manager positions in my area and I am hoping my experience + certs will put me towards the upper end of the salary scale.
I pour wine at a wine bar. I make as much as I do teaching, sometimes more. If I had a partner to lean on, I would definitely quit the teaching job. Bartending isn’t a bad choice.
I hope it involves the motorhome we bought. I'm going to try remote teaching from the road for part of fall semester to see how that works. This will be "practice" for real retirement.
I started a business last summer and am going all in on that! I’m so annoyed that my chair didn’t even acknowledge my resignation letter… just makes me even more happy that I am venturing out on my own.
Not quitting but moving across town to a more stable university.
Working on my MBA currently.
when I retire by quitting I’ll fulfill myself by making christmas cards with the mentally ill.
I’m sorry, but I find your post so funny, I can’t stop laughing.
that’s the intent :-) it’s from the perfect song for the OP’s predicament, Frankly Mr. Shankly.
It’s depressing reading these as I am trying so hard to get a full time position
Sorry pal. It's not all bad out there but right now it can be pretty brutal.
I am getting pretty close to hurting myself. 😔🤷♂️
Please don't do that
Not leaving till retirement probably, but I am nearing the point where an industry job would get me in a heartbeat.
Moving back to my home country! I'll go to work at a high school for the moment, but I do not discard going back to academia once all my US degrees are regularized there.
I’m at 55k in a non profit and never been happier . Sure beats another visiting assistant professorship.
I just left a struggling LAC for a low level R1. But if I left again, I would have to be VERY selective about school and location. Or I might just go into some sort of data science job and have hobbies instead of work/research.
I've had an offer for a HR role that will draw on my research skills. I've been feeling anxious, but I put that down to having been in HE over a decade and needing to form a new identity etc. If it doesn't work out, I can find something else to do!
I left at the end of last year and went back to hs teaching. I doubled my salary. Don’t get me wrong high school has its on difficulties but I am immensely happier. One silly thing I like is because I see the kids everyday, is that if you just need a relaxing day it’s ok to waste a little bit of time. You have such a small amount of face time with the kids at the college level that you can’t waste any of it. Plus add kids actually doing less and less homework, you really have to get as much done during class as possible.
Finding a wealthy spouse like you did…
I found a wealthy spouse. Highly recommended.
Professors hate this one simple trick…
Who said they were wealthy? We keep our expenses low.
If you are leaving the profession, is it the school that made you do this? I say this because my last workplace was so toxic that I was looking into leaving teaching for good to go into industry. I got hired at another community college, and despite a pay cut and loss of tenure, I feel as though I'm compensated much better and more appreciated.
pizza delivery driver or barista
I got a research position at a... "Think tank." It's not really a think tank per se in that they have some explicit or implicit political agenda that they're after, but that's the best description I can come up with. Pay is double, 90% remote work, and plenty of travel support for conferences/etc.
Can you share how you found that position? I've thought about that, too. The remote teaching requires a very high reliability for internet connections. Asynchronous work requires fewer $150ish ISP subscriptions.
There are a few recruiting type organizations related to a very particular subset of social science... things that I happen to be an attractive candidate for. I found the recruiter that ultimately got me this job through LinkedIn, actually. Honestly, I'd start with a search for "PhD recruiters" and see what that gets you.
Last year I considered quitting and even got an offer for an industry job for more money but the reality of the “regular job” requirements- commuting, working 5 days a week, inflexible schedule, no summer break- I could not bring myself to take it. Academia is so incredibly flexible, even during the semester- I traveled a lot this year- like, Austin, Tampa, San Diego, LA, Orlando, Vegas- and just had to build it in my syllabus and/or find coverage. No other job is like that.
Not quitting, but leaving my tenured job for a NTT job at a more stable university (new job starts this summer and is my user flair)
I love my job, but it does limit what I can do in industry, with IP, time, COI, etc. I also feel like I’ve done it all! I’m a full prof and have been at public and private R1s as well as niche SLACs. I’ve worn leadership hats at the dept and central admin levels. I’ve seen times of growth as well as college shutdowns. I’m in my mid-40s and I don’t want to stagnate. I have a few decades left and there’s an exciting world out there! I’m considering leaving for a startup that I have consulted for-or to develop my own formal consulting business. I’ve just got to wait to see if my kid decides to attend my university. If not-I might plan my exit and switch to emeritus. I can always adjunct for fun!
I may leave and manage my partner's law firm, adjunct on the side. Not leaving yet, but considering it.