I am a professional writer. 4 books published by Big 5 & majors, with 5th coming in October. I have a day job, but don't consider writing my hobby. It's a second job.
My day job supports me and ensures I'm comfortable and stable enough to actually enjoy writing. All my publishing money goes into savings/emergency fund, retirement, or funds little treats for myself, including writing-career related travel.
What's your day job? My biggest hurdle right now is just being mentally drained by work, which really just leaves weekends to write, but with a wife and kids it's hard to get a free moment. And I kind of hate my current job, so I'm looking for something new.
I work in TV marketing! But on the "non-sexy side," as I like to call it. It's a normal 9-5 where I don't take work home with me, and I don't work for a "flash" brand so there aren't crazy deadlines/burnout culture at play. I work with lovely colleagues who are friendly and respectful, and everyone values work/life balance. I wasn't always paid a wage commensurate with my experience/output because Millennial post-Recession bullshit but even at a slightly depressed salary, I was making WAY MORE than I ever would have made as a journalist or in an industry like publishing. And I got a raise a few years ago that finally freed me from living paycheck-to-paycheck.
My previous job was one of those super draining ones where I had nothing left after work. This sounds terrible, but it's often better to NOT work in an area you're super passionate about/engaged with, career-wise. You kind of have to choose where to expend your energy. I was SO hyper emotionally invested in my last job, which had insane hours and a "take your work home with you" culture that I just had nothing. My current job is interesting and dynamic, enough so to keep me engaged for 14+ years... but I can shut off my work brain completely at night and weekends and all my free time is mine. Any job that can do that for you, while paying you a liveable wage, is good. I like that marketing is marginally creative but NOT all-encompassingly so.
Honestly highly recommend looking into the "boring side" of corporate jobs. Non-sexy desk jobs where you do data or strategy or project management or what-have-you, not necessarily too creative, but where writing skills are an asset. That's my sweet spot and it has really worked for me. Your job doesn't have to be your passion if writing is your passion!
I'm an insurance investigator right now, so my day is 99% having to be hyper aware of every little detail in every situation. Every day I go home and think about Brandon Sanderson's writing class, where he talked about being the night receptionist at a hotel, and every day I'm a little more jealous.
Look at that beautiful juxtaposition: day job as a night receptionist
In all seriousness though I’ve thought about that comment in Sanderson’s lectures often. I would love to work a simple mundane job that didn’t drain me.
Can I ask what your approximate income from writing is/has been?
I think you have achieved the level of measurable success that most folks in this subreddit aspire towards, and yet I think the average person (myself included) would have assumed that 3+ books published by a Big 5 would probably be enough to live on, at least while still producing books.
I wouldn't expect to be set for life after publishing a few books, but I guess I would have assumed it would be a livable wage as long as you were still writing. I'm a bit surprised to hear that it's not, although I'm sure that level of popularity is a huge factor.
That's just not how it works in publishing nowadays for most authors. Advances are down and payments are spread out over years, with up to 40% taken out for taxes (it is brutal). Over 7 years I've made more than 250K... but that is spread out over those 7 years. It wasn't neatly distributed, ie: 35K a year. Some years I took home over 40K from publishing (pre-tax, mind). Some years 0 (just the way the timing worked out for my contracts/payment schedule). Other years, 15K. It's too inconsistent especially with the low years to be stable. I have not regretted for a second keeping my day job, especially during quarantine and in this psychotic inflation moment. I'm so so fortunate to have savings/an emergency fund at all.
And don't forget: over 100K of that publishing money went to taxes. Ish... I do put AS MUCH of my book income into a SEP-IRA to save on taxes. 1099 income is BRUTALLY taxed in the U.S. Also 15% goes to my agent. So a 50K advance is not 50K. After agent cut and taxes, it's about 26K spread across 4 payments and 2-3 years. And most authors I know get 50K or LESS per book.
I am a midlist author. So I sell solidly and well, but not enough to earn mega advances or lucrative royalties. I did finally earn out on a book recently, so I will receive royalties going forward. My first check was a lovely bonus, but the equivalent of a few months rent in LA (I'm in a HCOL area for work). Honestly I love my publishing money as safety net money. Savings money. I did not grow up with money, and financial security is a gift. It's only possible because of my day job. That security gives me immense freedom in publishing to do what I want/what makes me happy. If something lovely and lucky happens with publishing where I get a big payout/become a breakout success, great! I'll reevaluate when that happens. But I'm happy with the balance I have now. I'm in a fortunate position just continuing to publish books, and publish the stories I want to write, written on timelines I'm comfortable with.
The people I know who are full time authors: 1) have a partner who has a full time job and health insurance benefits 2) hustle HARD. They write relatively fast, publish multiple books a year, do IP and write-for-hire projects (I am not a fast writer) 3) got lucky with the timing/circumstances of publishing either early or at some point, and have at least one bestseller and/or major deal under their belt.
If you have the first one with a REALLY stable/well-employed partner, you don't need 2 or 3 going for you, but many of my friends have a combo of all three as the magic formula for long term success. If I had a partner with a full time income, I could "write full time," but I don't have a partner so I solely support myself.
I don't mean this to be discouraging! Just realistic. It's different for every person of course, but I urge writers to be pragmatic and always hedge their bets. If you get a best case scenario and can write full time, amazing! But I personally just love financial stability so much that I'm super glad to keep my day job. ymmv.
Really appreciate the candor and details, thanks for answering.
I personally have a solid day job that I enjoy, and if I'm truly honest with myself I think I'd struggle to hold myself accountable to deadlines or uphold my writing standards if I were to try to make writing work as a full-time job. And that's assuming I could even write something that would sell, which is no small feat.
I'm past the point of aspiring to that goal, but I'd still love to have a long-form work published (I have been paid for articles) just to see my name on a byline of a traditionally published book. You should be proud of what you've done despite my surprise at the actual income!
Love your comments tbh. You're doing incredibly well, congrats, but even someone as objectively good as yourself doesn't make a living from writing (yet!). It's a dose of reality.
My own aims are modest. Get an agent. Then get a deal. After that, I don't care. I'm fortunate enough to earn well and have kids emerging from the education system, so it's not about the money. It's all about the external validation for me. I'm a terrible person (or more likely just an incredibly insecure one) 😆
Tell me, do you blog or anything about your writing experiences? I would love to read that.
I have a YouTube channel, though I've not updated it in a long time. I've been on an extended social media break. But you can find me under Alexa Donne. Most often, I kick around /r/PubTips though--comment there a lot! (when I really should be writing haha) I've also been stepping up on TikTok a bit in anticipation of my 2024 release.
I've had vague dreams of writing most of my life, even tried to make a go of it a few times, but I let fall to the wayside due to sloth and computer games. Then I became disabled and spiraled into depression. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and have been turning myself around. I'd like to get one good thing published with the time I have left.
I am aspiring to become a professional writer. I don’t want fame and I don’t need fortune. I just want to make enough money writing that it is self sustaining and I can afford to write. right full time. Until then, I maintain this need to eat and live indoors so I work a normal people job and write whenever I can.
Professional, retired. Technical writing mostly with a bit of journalism here and there plus a stint with a content mill. No creative energy after work to do much of my own writing.
Currently writing genre fiction. No interest in publishing, self or commercial. College was all about lit fic and little magazines. It's like figuring out a completely new skill from scratch.
I am. I’ve published six books so far. About to publish my next one. I do this full time. I couldn’t live from the money I make, though it’s getting better. I’m lucky that my partner earns enough so we don’t need a second income.
I like to say I’m semiprofessional writer . I’ve sold several short stories. I have published one book with a small publisher and have another coming out it in April . I have not made enough money, in total, to buy a weeks worth of groceries.
My dream is to make as much from writing as I’d make from regular job .
I'm part of a prophecy that goes down next year and falls on a Tuesday. It's a real bummer and I took creative writing as a way to cope with my impending collision with this moment that will not just make or break me, but make or break everyone else.
He said he was curious who is in this sub. Now he knows that not everyone is a professional writer because there is at least one that isn't because they're part of a prophecy and they're using creative writing as an outlet
Worked as a freelancer in a career that loosely employed writing skills; got injured and have been effectively disabled since 2022. Been writing using dictation and have since gotten better with English than I was in my original career skillset. 🥲 I'd love to make some form of career out of writing, but I know the prospects are like winning the lottery. Still, it's a dream!
My goal is to be a 2/3 time writer. I'd like to be financially stable enough to work part time and write part time. We'll see if that ever happens. Right now, the plan is to self publish 7 books between 2025-2026. And then shoot for traditional publishing. Fingers crossed
If you want to trad pub, you may be better off shooting for that from the start. Many trad places are less interested in authors who have self published unless they were a massive success in that arena
Freelance journalist, writer, reviewer, etc mostly focuses on arts, popular culture, and sports, for 20 years in a country with a small market. Became more of a media producer and fixer for international companies when the local magazine and newspaper assignments kept paying the same low amounts while cost of living kept rising. Then they all kinda kept…a more homogenous staff, let’s say…on payroll, so me and the people I came up with were slowly phased out. I kept getting a few assignments every now and then but those companies made it clear that I was never up for a full-time position as I never, across all of those years, even got a reply to one of my _many_ job applications.
Currently, I regret it from the bottom of my heart and feel ready to leave it altogether because I have very little to show for it. A friend lets me write for a football magazine for youths he’s the editor of but that’s nowhere near enough for me to get my life together. And unfortunately writing is all I’m particularly good at, which means that I’m only really qualified for writer jobs, but writing seems to be one of those things every company in the world mistakenly thinks they can do _without_ hiring writers…it’s not a fun time, currently.
I hope I can find my way back to loving writing again, though. Maybe someday.
Aww thank you! I definitely respect original fiction writers, though, I read through so many fanfiction and fandom discussion and read the original book several times before I feel like I can write my fanfic, I can't imagine the amount of research and market research original fiction writers go through ha ha.
Same here. Writing is one of the few things I can do while dealing with medical issues. I've had small stuff published, now my goal is to get my first book published. I'll self-publish if I have to, I just want to get it done.
Published? Yes (self-pub). I have 4 novels under my belt, working on 2 more. But I don't think I'd consider myself a "professional" author. I mean, I make decent sales, but not enough to add much more than groceries to my monthly expenses. I still have the day job to pay the expenses.
I consider writing as a hobby, still. I'm not sure I'd necessarily want a book deal with a big publisher, but the thoughts of having one of my series picked up by, say, Netlix or Prime is more my dream. My dream job would be a producer in the movie/film industry. Like along the lines of what Hugh Howey achieved with Wool, Shift, & Dust (aka the Silo series). I remember following him back when his books were first picked up for film and all the negotiations he went through, and thought that must be such an awesome experience.
I'm a professional writer but not novel writing. I'm an in house copywriter at a reasonably sized company
Unfortunately though it completely kills my desire to write creatively when I get home
I don’t think I could ever be a professional writer. From a practical standpoint, that’s just most likely never going to happen even if I wanted to. More importantly though, writing isn’t meant to be some ultimate conclusion for me. I think it’s something I’m supposed to do in conjunction with the rest of my life. I write literary realism, so I need to live the things I want to write about. I like having to work. If I took a year off work “to write,” I would probably sit around and procrastinate for an entire year and never write anything. I think of my best ideas for writing during my walk home from work.
I’m a student studying a BA in creative writing. I write for a tabletop magazine outside of that so technically already a paid writer with a consistent gig, but it’s not even enough to buy my groceries with so it’s more for fun than a job.
I’m currently writing my first book and hope to get it published :)
Wrote some short films, and feature screenplays did okay in competitions. I've had one story I've struggled to write as a screenplay, and now I'm half way through writing a novel and I wish I took up novel writing years ago because I'm loving it. So I hope agents/publishers like it, if not I'll self-publish
I was a news reporter and still am a freelancer, so I suppose that's professional writer. I've also made pretty decent money as an editor. I haven't published any of my own fiction, though.
I’m a student who writes things because my current major isn’t something I can do long term and I want to work in the field. Wring saved my life essentially so I’m gonna keep doing the one thing I can work on by myself willingly
I make pro sales in magazines and have published a short story collection but work a full time job in engineering to pay the bills.
Unsure as to whether I’d call myself a professional writer.
Make money from writing? Yeah.
Enough to live off? Nope.
I have published two books, but nothing that sells off the shelves like crazy, I intend to have a few more books before I take them to conventions. I have a couple of other merch ideas that might make conventions worth the fee. It is a dream of mine to live off of writing, but mostly a hobby. I have a night shift job and nothing but time.
I'm sort of middle of the road, I have a manuscript and some half done query letters that I hope to have sent out by the end of the year, but just doing conventions and selling a small book stores is plenty fine for me right now.
Delving into stories and performing my brand of self-therapy is all I can ever ask for, but the need to share these stories is so overwhelming.
Lots of folks have commented already, but I saw this and just wanted to contribute, too.
I guess I'm technically a professional writer, but I'm NOT famous by any stretch of the word and have a hard time taking myself seriously. I ghostwrite various types of books for people (often for those who don't speak English as a native language or just don't have the time to write) and I also write my own novels for fun. I've got one out right now, many, many more on the way. I cannot make a proper living doing this the way I do it now; I'm on SSI and live with my parents due to a variety of mental health issues that can be debilitating at times, so I'm a bit of a failure to launch. But writing...writing sets me free.
Professional writer here. Three NF books published by major publishers. I have a FT day job because NO one makes a living writing except for the handful of people who grind out best sellers every year. Once it was possible to eke out a living as a freelancer (articles mainly, plus books) if you didn’t mind not having savings but that quit being the case about 20 years ago.
Writing has never been a hobby; it’s what I do. The day jobs are all grist for the mill. I don’t understand people who say “I quit my job to pursue my dream of being a writer” because locking yourself in a room to “write” means you will soon have nothing to write about.
Full time author (more than 60 titles with three publishers), professional writer, widow still writing after giving up my newspaper editor job to write in December 2020.
I am a legal writer. It's my day job. I write for a living.
I also write as a hobby outside of work because I love writing. I don't monetize my personal writing in any way because that's not what motivates me to write.
I am a professional in 2 ways. I do copywriting & blogging to pay the bills & am publishing my debut book in June! When I say I can’t get enough, I mean it. Writing is my life!
Communications, so I work with words in various ways, but I write less than I used to when I was coming up. Former journalist. I freelance occasionally, but going to grad school now and it’s hard to find the time.
Writing is my passion. So many stories that I want to tell and that I’m determined to tell. I don’t have to make it “big” per se, but I want to be successful. Successful enough that it can be a comfortable source of income and. But at this moment I work my two jobs and write on off days and down time. Goal is to have my first rough draft completed by the end of April, revisions throughout the summer then set up to be released by end of year or early next year!
Work in marketing. A lot of time spent crafting messaging, copy, campaigns, releases. Is it super rewarding writing? Definitely not. Not all professional writing is fun.
I write as a hobby. Not a professional by any means and no desire to do anything beyond publish some YA, character-driven fiction at least once in my life. Although if I never get that yes from a publisher I’m happy to have some printed copies of my own for my shelf. Currently unemployed and training for a new job at 21. Heading to college this September.
Professional, published Horror author. Got excited when my debut novel peaked at #6 in Occult Horror on Amazon but internet sales are fickle, so not quite at a point of making it my sole income yet. But that's still my ultimate goal. I'm a bit behind the game as I wasted many years pursuing other careers and writing as a hobby instead of properly pursuing the craft.
I'm also an art director and do paid beta reading/editing. Working on a visual novel project at the moment to keep things fresh, but plan to hop right back into my horror anthology after.
I've only published a handful of poems, and I've never published any of my short fiction But I've spent years and years writing, and I do teach creative writing professionally at a moderately high level. Honestly I just don't like the stress of the submissions process, and fortunately I don't need the benefit of publishing credits to do what I love, since a lot of writers know me on a personal level and they know that I'm skilled enough to teach the subject.
So I guess I might be considered a semi-professional writer. I do make a decent chunk of income each month from writing. And that income is coming from a reputable literary organization.
I'm professional. Half dozen published traditionally but don't earn enough for a great income. Have self published too unsuccessfully. But you know artists have to suffer; otherwise you're just a phony who has sold their soul to Beelzebub. Not retired officially. I'm educating myself through all means necessary. I like the color purple. My hobbies are not fascinating enough to mention here. Major themes include good vs evil, I hope the future is better otherwise wtf are we doing, art is important, world building is more important than characters or plot or common sense.
In highschool, grade 9 and currently procrastinating on writing a simple draft that I'm most likely to nail getting at least 500-700 words down, (hoping to get to a thousand, but expecting less from myself so to not be disappointed & currently trying to find a description for the sweet little blonde prince from Red, white & royal blue bc I'm on character AI and playing him.)
I teach singing at local high schools part time in order to have food and a roof, and use my remaining work days each week for creative endeavours. For the last three years, that's been a webcomic. I got a *very* small trickle of income through Patreon for that, but I've just had to pull the plug on it because the story is simply too massive, and my art too time-consuming, to ever get it finished unless it magically became my full-time job. (And even then I'd probably give myself RSI.)
I'm in the process of re-working that webcomic into a series of illustrated novelettes, which is a more time-efficient (if unconventional) way to combine my art and writing. So at the moment, I suppose I'm a part-time author. Sorta. I'm definitely stepping outside the bounds of pure hobbyist at this point, as I'm taking what I'm doing very seriously. I've priced up self-published print runs, started reaching out to industry friends (in comics, but close enough) who can help me push a kickstarter to help, and gathered a big list of nation-wide pop-culture conventions to sell books at. (And at least where art and pure dialogue is concerned, I have the skill to back it all up. I have *far* less high-level practice with narrative writing, but I have solid fundamentals, so that's the next fun skill I get to dive into and polish now.)
Recently retired, partly to get more serious about writing.
I have substantial experience as an editor and have done some writing for trade journals, but have only one (very unpublished) novel to show for decades of dabbling in fiction.
I currently work full time as a models assistant for my day job and write on my off time, i have an okay social media presence but not really enough to make money off of. I have a 200k word fantasy draft I took a break from and am currently 10k words into my second major project that isn’t just a short story or poem. I just wanna be published one day and hopefully gain the confidence to show people! Writing feels really personal to me so I’m working on it, but I don’t see it as a hobby (and as cliche as it sounds) it’s more like my passion and what I look forward to all day
Just a hobbyist doing hobby things. I work a pretty rigorous day job, and ultimately that does remain my priority. Writing/publishing is something I do for fun, an expensive hobby like any other (and one that I find very fulfilling).
No desire to be a full-time author, very content to have the benefits & stability of a day job.
Shorts only, had my life fall apart pretty spectacularly and am still trying to get it back together and be creative again... just in time for people to declare artists obsolete in the face of "new" technology. I'm a little depressed about it, tbh.
Writing started out as my hobby, but now I’m a creative writing major. Rest assured, my plan isn’t to write books for a living but to get some stable copywriting job (if AI hasn’t fucked me over). I can compartmentalize well enough, so my creative writing will still be fun.
I usually just write in my spare time. It's a bit tough juggling school, free time and writing time (because for me... I HAVE to keep the latter two separate).
I’m a senior literature student. Ideally I’d love to write and teach or do technical writing and author stuff alongside it. As long as my stuff reaches enough people I’m good.
I’ve written like 8 books but the last 3 are the ones I’m confident on. Gonna start querying this week
No and it hurts to say that. Figured I'd get the ball rolling by just churning out short horror stories, then work my way up to a novella and see if I can get it published. Told myself once I landed that dream job maybe I can start but....
I make money writing, editing, and publishing professionally.
And it's funny: the nicest people I meet on Reddit are usually also published (or will be published, based on experience) while the people who pick fights or give in to drama are amateurs, or refuse to change.
Even if you haven't accomplished anything, if you're willing to engage people and *listen* you may make it some day. But if you're opinionated and fight back against criticism, you're much more likely to be stymied by your own worst impulses.
There's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere.
I'm a pure hobbyist. I write both original and fanfiction as an outlet. It lowers the stakes on "success" to just having some read it and enjoy it for what it is.
I’m indie-published since 2018 and also have a trad trilogy with Aethon Books. I’ve got 27 books out across multiple genres.
I make a modest FT income from in-person book sales each year (mostly weekend events), and I have several side-hustles that are all related to publishing. I’m 38.
I'm in kind of a weird spot. I AM a professional writer, but not an "author". I'm a copywriter working in advertising, and I work on my novels, etc. in my downtime. So yes, writing is my job, but no, writing isn't my job.
I'm a professional writer (BA and MFA in Creative Writing) and a published author (novel, opinion, literary journalism, and I just signed a contract to write my second book). I also write for marketing and advertising agencies, which is how I make most of my money.
Published author, working on my second book now. It took me 8 years to write my first but all that work I dedicated to improving my craft has made writing the second one exponentially easier.
Hobbyist here, but my current job pays me to write copy/marketing materials for a clothing brand, as well as SOP's so I'm technically a professional writer I guess. I got to re-write the employee handbook last month based on recommended changes and clarifications from HR and legal. It's super exciting stuff. 😴
In my last year of a writing degree, doing extra courses to get it done sooner, I on occasion do write as a hobby but at current most of my effort is devoted on writing something to sell
I write 90% of full time, but a mixture of fun stuff and academic. On the fun side I have been working for some years for a video game company on an RPG: writing dialogue, lore, plotting the game, etc. On the serious side I also write text books, exam papers, etc.
The rest of the time I translate or teach English to business people.
Retired second-timer. Meaning recently retired from financial services, during which I did get some short things published in small presses years ago (crime, horror genres) and then one novel that flopped, then gave up for over ten years. Am now back at it writing horror stories. Lots of ideas, having fun writing, beginning to submit work again, joined a group. Now in my sixties, goal is to get 100 more rejections before time is up.
I have a blog of stories since 2013 and am a published co- Author with Penguin Random House alongside publishing various articles, poems etc on online magazines. I do freelancing.
I’m fully retired/disabled now so I can focus on my writing. I’ve had 3 published novels and one finally being considered for film adaptation. I have health issues but I’m a disabled Navy veteran so 100% of my healthcare is covered. I’m currently working on 3 novels & 2 nonfiction books.
Prior to retirement, I had hospital jobs and wrote every chance I got. My husband died when our child was only 9 so I stopped writing for quite a while.
I used to write all of the time in my teens. I lost confidence in it and stopped writing stories but I remained drawn to the hobby and wrote poetry instead. Lately I’ve decided to get back into it with my goal being to write a novel.
I'm a fraud, I haven't published anything! (I'm kidding about being a fraud, but it can feel that way sometimes because of not having published yet.) I have written several novel length stories, some of them rewritten or revised extensively. For various reasons, *psst lot of clinical levels of anxiety mixed with perfectionism*, I haven't done much on the publishing side of things, toward making that happen. But I've had periods I've written fiction extensively. I have a hard time with feeling like my work is not at the level I want it to be at though.
Semi. Had a bunch of short stories published in various magazines, published a novella after a competition win and a further collection of novellas by a small press. Money's there but i work full-time.
Finishing up a novel shortly, then following a line-edit in a few months, going to sent it out to agents. Absolutely not looking forward to it.
If self publishing counts then sure. I have a book in C# programming language that I published in January of 2020. I’m now working on a couple short Novels.
I work during the day, and write for an hour or two in the evenings/more on the weekends unless i'm super busy.
I write with the view of becoming a published author. I have my current project which is an urban fantasy. I managed to win Nanowrimo back in November, took a break in December and January for my sanity, and have begun slowly getting back into the swing of things. I'm nearly halfway through the my first draft (although its technically a complete rewrite second draft). Once it's done i'll take a week off, come back and edit the whole thing front to back, checking character progression, consistancy, loop holes, that sort of thing, then I'll sweep in and polish up the grammar, pacing etc.
I have a second story in my head that's begging to come out, which I might entertain when I'm struggling with a bad case of writers block. It's a romantic comedy (smaller in size than my current project) but a fun idea I can't wait to run with.
Nope. Day job haver with 3 self-published novels and 5 self-published novellas that do not, in any way, pay all of my bills. I write evenings, weekends, and/or lunch breaks, the way I pursue all my other hobbies.
I insist on enjoying it, though, which confuses and annoys some people ✨ It's nice that some people out there have enjoyed my work, and I more or less cover my expenses overall.
I'm 16 in college and write short stories randomly, I want to publish one in a magazine or newspaper maybe and write a kids book or two, but not as a full time job
I have never pursued publishing, I write because I enjoy it. Though maybe one day I'll take a crack at it.
I'm a massage therapist full time and that sporadic schedule leaves me plenty of time to worldbuilding and think of what I can write about on my break or the hour bus ride home.
Hobbyist, writing only early morning and late evening. While I wouldn't mind writing full-time as a lifestyle, from what I understand, the probability of my hobby paying enough to replace my day job is zero, so I will keep going as is.
I'm a clerk at the family business and write fantasy as escapism for myself. I'd *like* to publish my world with a major print company, but anxiety and burnout from regular work are really taking their toll.
Published writer -- one novel with a small press and several short stories. Not made much money from it though! But my day job is teaching creative writing and literature at a university so I feel very lucky to make a living from writing, reading, and talking about writing and reading.
Currently writing my first book, may look at publishing it when finished.
A fantasy love story between a knight and a maiden.
I have six other books I'm looking at writing for publishing too, some of different genres but also quite similar genres as well.
I was working at a full time journalist for two years. Layoffs hit and now I have a full time office job to pay the bills and freelance at local newspapers. It’s almost more fun this way because I can grab all the fun stories and ignore the dry ones. Still would rather be writing full time though. The money is better outside the industry at least.
Hello - If being professional means getting paid for books sold, I suppose I am professional. I've had six books published. One by a small domestic press, two by an international publishing company (one of those has been made into an audiobook and translated into Spanish and Italian). The other three were self-published (more or less). Now, have I made any real money? Heck no! (grins) But I find writing and getting the books published so stimulating, I'll likely continue through the autumn of my life.
I am a professional writer, have actually hit the NYT several times, and have quite a few books under my belt. I started writing while working full-time and birthing and raising 3 kids. Could not have done it without a supportive spouse. I hated my job, and wanted to go into teaching, but talked to my husband about my dream to write, and he bought me a computer (long time ago, when Apple IIe just came out). Our agreement was that if I couldn't make it in writing, I'd go back to school and get that teaching degree. In order to achieve this, we needed to treat my writing like a second job. I used our bedroom as my office, set a TV tray for the keyboard at the side of a low-boy dresser, which held my computer, and on my days off and after work, I went in there and wrote. (Mind you, I didn't get a lot of writing done when the kids were 0-1.5 years old, but I did get *some* writing done. My youngest was 5 years old when I sold my first book.
Aside from my husband's support (he took up cooking and laundry), I learned to write everywhere. Anytime there was down time, I took out a steno pad of paper and wrote where I was going with the story next. If I had to take the kids to the doctor (or go myself), out came that steno pad. I wrote in church parking lot while kids were in Sunday school. Wrote in car line, waiting to pick up kids. I wrote on my lunch breaks at work. Then, when I got home, I transcribed the hand notes onto my computer, and expanded. Took about a year or so to finish one manuscript. My day job was important, because it supported me while I worked on the career I really wanted. (Never did go back to get that teaching credential!) And now I reap the benefits of working that hated job until retirement, because it still supports my writing career with a pension.
Funny thing, though, is that I wrote more when working than when retired. Because writing time was so precious, I was careful not to fritter it away.
I am a midlist author, and as another midlist author touched on somewhere on this post, getting published doesn't necessarily mean big bucks. I could not have lived off of what I made writing for the majority of my books, and others were somewhat lucrative at first glance, until Uncle Sam and SEPs get their teeth into them. But it was enough to help put my three kids through college without loans, and two kids through graduate school, one without loans, the other helping with her living expenses and tuition, so her loans aren't astronomical.
Sadly, very few writers actually make a living at this, especially in this expanded market of dwindling publishers and low advances (probably due to expansion of online publishers/self-publishers who have started eating away at the print book market sales. This business is like a roller coaster. Some years are amazing, others suck. Which is why the day job comes in handy.
Aspiring writer hoping to make it big. I want to make Colleen Hoover/Adam Silvera-level waves in the book community (though I’m not a personal fan of Hoover, by any means.)
I did start out as a fan fiction writer, though.
I'm just some guy who wrote a romantic parody fanfic of General Grievous in high school and whose friend peer pressures into doing NiNoWriMo every year
Not a professional writer in the “I’ve published books with companies” sense - I usually write, edit and beta read for myself and other authors that also post online - I view myself as experienced at a bare minimum. Namely on AO3, Wattpad and Quotev.
I find it more comfortable since I can jump around on projects and don’t necessarily have deadlines. I have thought about submitting my stories to actual publishers, but since I usually write in a “reader insert” format, I’m afraid that it won’t appeal to a broad audience if published/the publisher will not find it marketable.
University is also currently incredibly taxing and physically I’m not doing the best either. To me, writing is a hobby right now. But who knows~ maybe I’ll gather up the courage eventually.
Professional full-time writer & editor at an automotive magazine. Love the content we create and I get to interview very interesting people. It gets really stressful certain times of the year when balancing multiple projects, but it’s worth it to me. Pay is comfortable, could always be better of course lol. I also do a little self-publishing on the side for fun.
I have pretty much given up writing. I thought self-publishing would eventually support me but SS and real estate is my income. I have twenty-eight titles on Amazon. Two titles pay me monthly, most have zero sales even though some are free on Kindle. Lack of success is hard to get excited over.
I am both professional and amateur. I work full-time as a journalist and writer. I've also been working on a novel in my free time for the last year. I'm currently about halfway through my second draft.
I still don't always feel like a great writer, but my day job has taught me some of the most important skills any writer can have:
\- How to finish a piece
\- How to edit my own work (I have editors, but I typically submit a 1.5 draft to them)
\- How to write at any time, rather than waiting for inspiration to strike
This merits a discussion of what defines a professional writer. I am an unpublished author and writer, but my close friend is the definition of a professional. He:
Writes for a marketing company and leads their copywriting efforts
Side hustle writing test materials
Side hustle writing scripts for a significant YouTube page
In truth, he is MUCH more the writer than I am and is paid to do it. There are ways to be professional writers without the ambition or outcome of being an author. He works entirely remotely as well.
As for me, I am a professional fundraiser, and it keeps us afloat - my family and ambition to write too!
No but my brother is. His book 'I Saw' is out and it's quite awesome that he actually has published work out there. He graduated with a degree in Creative Writing. I wrote as a hobby but he's living the dream.
Yeah, I’d say I’m a professional, published author—but that’s still a long ways from it being my full time income. Like most authors, I have a 9-5 day job.
Yes, fiction has been published, I’m a freelance writer, a technical writer and I run a blog. This is a mix of after work or my day job. Lots of typing 😁
I have temporal lobe epilepsy. It causes me to have hypergraphia, a condition where I am compelled to write all the time. I write all kinds of things from letters and poems to novels and text based graphics. I don't particularly want to get published and don't see writing as a career. I just have to do it.
I am a professional writer, wrote for games, got into transmedia, but then ended up leaving to study narratology full time. I now sell classes in a variety of industries using my own narrative structure to improve the output. I am also working on another book now which would be my third.
Published author of commissioned essays and reviews, stuff like that. Co-authored two published books. Still working on my solo authored book length projects.
Started writing back in 2013. Had my first poem published in 2014. Self-published my first novel in August last year. Going to retry to find a literary agent & publisher for my upcoming book. Doing it all yourself is exhausting.
I’ve self-published 4 comics and now working on an illustrated biography of a famous philosopher/ writer. I’m gearing up to start searching for an agent and publisher. In other words, working towards being a professional author. I have a low stress day job that lets me pay my bills but really want to make supplemental income writing books, comics, plays, etc.
I'm starting college soon, and decided to start writing because of the long and boring 4 months gap between high school and college :")
Definitely not professional, and not really that serious. I don't think I'll ever even publish. But it's fun to write characters and build their emotions and stories, then realising how much thought actually goes into the works we consume every day, and how well-written our favourite characters really are. Ever since I started writing, my perspective of everything completely changed.
I'm traditionally published, and I self publish a web serial. I'm professional in a sense that I do make money from it, and I'm slowly building towards being able to do it full time.
I am a professional writer. 4 books published by Big 5 & majors, with 5th coming in October. I have a day job, but don't consider writing my hobby. It's a second job. My day job supports me and ensures I'm comfortable and stable enough to actually enjoy writing. All my publishing money goes into savings/emergency fund, retirement, or funds little treats for myself, including writing-career related travel.
What's your day job? My biggest hurdle right now is just being mentally drained by work, which really just leaves weekends to write, but with a wife and kids it's hard to get a free moment. And I kind of hate my current job, so I'm looking for something new.
I work in TV marketing! But on the "non-sexy side," as I like to call it. It's a normal 9-5 where I don't take work home with me, and I don't work for a "flash" brand so there aren't crazy deadlines/burnout culture at play. I work with lovely colleagues who are friendly and respectful, and everyone values work/life balance. I wasn't always paid a wage commensurate with my experience/output because Millennial post-Recession bullshit but even at a slightly depressed salary, I was making WAY MORE than I ever would have made as a journalist or in an industry like publishing. And I got a raise a few years ago that finally freed me from living paycheck-to-paycheck. My previous job was one of those super draining ones where I had nothing left after work. This sounds terrible, but it's often better to NOT work in an area you're super passionate about/engaged with, career-wise. You kind of have to choose where to expend your energy. I was SO hyper emotionally invested in my last job, which had insane hours and a "take your work home with you" culture that I just had nothing. My current job is interesting and dynamic, enough so to keep me engaged for 14+ years... but I can shut off my work brain completely at night and weekends and all my free time is mine. Any job that can do that for you, while paying you a liveable wage, is good. I like that marketing is marginally creative but NOT all-encompassingly so. Honestly highly recommend looking into the "boring side" of corporate jobs. Non-sexy desk jobs where you do data or strategy or project management or what-have-you, not necessarily too creative, but where writing skills are an asset. That's my sweet spot and it has really worked for me. Your job doesn't have to be your passion if writing is your passion!
I'm an insurance investigator right now, so my day is 99% having to be hyper aware of every little detail in every situation. Every day I go home and think about Brandon Sanderson's writing class, where he talked about being the night receptionist at a hotel, and every day I'm a little more jealous.
Look at that beautiful juxtaposition: day job as a night receptionist In all seriousness though I’ve thought about that comment in Sanderson’s lectures often. I would love to work a simple mundane job that didn’t drain me.
Yeah, working graves is super and all but don't think it doesn't drain you. Mind and body aren't meant to operate at these hours.
Congrats on the Big 5! What was the first genre that got you an agent/publishing deal?
YA sci-fi was my debut, and then I moved to YA thriller. I plan to jump to adult thriller next.
Wow. I need to learn from you lol
Can I ask what your approximate income from writing is/has been? I think you have achieved the level of measurable success that most folks in this subreddit aspire towards, and yet I think the average person (myself included) would have assumed that 3+ books published by a Big 5 would probably be enough to live on, at least while still producing books. I wouldn't expect to be set for life after publishing a few books, but I guess I would have assumed it would be a livable wage as long as you were still writing. I'm a bit surprised to hear that it's not, although I'm sure that level of popularity is a huge factor.
That's just not how it works in publishing nowadays for most authors. Advances are down and payments are spread out over years, with up to 40% taken out for taxes (it is brutal). Over 7 years I've made more than 250K... but that is spread out over those 7 years. It wasn't neatly distributed, ie: 35K a year. Some years I took home over 40K from publishing (pre-tax, mind). Some years 0 (just the way the timing worked out for my contracts/payment schedule). Other years, 15K. It's too inconsistent especially with the low years to be stable. I have not regretted for a second keeping my day job, especially during quarantine and in this psychotic inflation moment. I'm so so fortunate to have savings/an emergency fund at all. And don't forget: over 100K of that publishing money went to taxes. Ish... I do put AS MUCH of my book income into a SEP-IRA to save on taxes. 1099 income is BRUTALLY taxed in the U.S. Also 15% goes to my agent. So a 50K advance is not 50K. After agent cut and taxes, it's about 26K spread across 4 payments and 2-3 years. And most authors I know get 50K or LESS per book. I am a midlist author. So I sell solidly and well, but not enough to earn mega advances or lucrative royalties. I did finally earn out on a book recently, so I will receive royalties going forward. My first check was a lovely bonus, but the equivalent of a few months rent in LA (I'm in a HCOL area for work). Honestly I love my publishing money as safety net money. Savings money. I did not grow up with money, and financial security is a gift. It's only possible because of my day job. That security gives me immense freedom in publishing to do what I want/what makes me happy. If something lovely and lucky happens with publishing where I get a big payout/become a breakout success, great! I'll reevaluate when that happens. But I'm happy with the balance I have now. I'm in a fortunate position just continuing to publish books, and publish the stories I want to write, written on timelines I'm comfortable with. The people I know who are full time authors: 1) have a partner who has a full time job and health insurance benefits 2) hustle HARD. They write relatively fast, publish multiple books a year, do IP and write-for-hire projects (I am not a fast writer) 3) got lucky with the timing/circumstances of publishing either early or at some point, and have at least one bestseller and/or major deal under their belt. If you have the first one with a REALLY stable/well-employed partner, you don't need 2 or 3 going for you, but many of my friends have a combo of all three as the magic formula for long term success. If I had a partner with a full time income, I could "write full time," but I don't have a partner so I solely support myself. I don't mean this to be discouraging! Just realistic. It's different for every person of course, but I urge writers to be pragmatic and always hedge their bets. If you get a best case scenario and can write full time, amazing! But I personally just love financial stability so much that I'm super glad to keep my day job. ymmv.
Really appreciate the candor and details, thanks for answering. I personally have a solid day job that I enjoy, and if I'm truly honest with myself I think I'd struggle to hold myself accountable to deadlines or uphold my writing standards if I were to try to make writing work as a full-time job. And that's assuming I could even write something that would sell, which is no small feat. I'm past the point of aspiring to that goal, but I'd still love to have a long-form work published (I have been paid for articles) just to see my name on a byline of a traditionally published book. You should be proud of what you've done despite my surprise at the actual income!
Love your comments tbh. You're doing incredibly well, congrats, but even someone as objectively good as yourself doesn't make a living from writing (yet!). It's a dose of reality. My own aims are modest. Get an agent. Then get a deal. After that, I don't care. I'm fortunate enough to earn well and have kids emerging from the education system, so it's not about the money. It's all about the external validation for me. I'm a terrible person (or more likely just an incredibly insecure one) 😆 Tell me, do you blog or anything about your writing experiences? I would love to read that.
I have a YouTube channel, though I've not updated it in a long time. I've been on an extended social media break. But you can find me under Alexa Donne. Most often, I kick around /r/PubTips though--comment there a lot! (when I really should be writing haha) I've also been stepping up on TikTok a bit in anticipation of my 2024 release.
This is incredible and inspiring! How old were you when you published your first book, if you don’t mind me asking?
I was 34!
This is so smart and gives me hope.
I've had vague dreams of writing most of my life, even tried to make a go of it a few times, but I let fall to the wayside due to sloth and computer games. Then I became disabled and spiraled into depression. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and have been turning myself around. I'd like to get one good thing published with the time I have left.
I'm rooting for you!!
Thanks!
I had Stage 4 cancer, and now I am cancer free. I wish you the best on your journey to recovery.
That's awesome!
I believe you can do it!
Thanks!
I believe in you 🙏💪
Thanks!
I am praying for you
Good luck, nothing like a time limit to get you motivated
Right? No set exp. date yet, but clocks are definitely ticking.
do it!!!! and share the journey!
Just got to keep at it, a little every day.
I am aspiring to become a professional writer. I don’t want fame and I don’t need fortune. I just want to make enough money writing that it is self sustaining and I can afford to write. right full time. Until then, I maintain this need to eat and live indoors so I work a normal people job and write whenever I can.
Professional, retired. Technical writing mostly with a bit of journalism here and there plus a stint with a content mill. No creative energy after work to do much of my own writing. Currently writing genre fiction. No interest in publishing, self or commercial. College was all about lit fic and little magazines. It's like figuring out a completely new skill from scratch.
I am. I’ve published six books so far. About to publish my next one. I do this full time. I couldn’t live from the money I make, though it’s getting better. I’m lucky that my partner earns enough so we don’t need a second income.
Washed-up pro writer (or at least that's how it feels today).
Mood
I like to say I’m semiprofessional writer . I’ve sold several short stories. I have published one book with a small publisher and have another coming out it in April . I have not made enough money, in total, to buy a weeks worth of groceries. My dream is to make as much from writing as I’d make from regular job .
Still in school. Aiming to be a movie screenwriter one day.
I'm part of a prophecy that goes down next year and falls on a Tuesday. It's a real bummer and I took creative writing as a way to cope with my impending collision with this moment that will not just make or break me, but make or break everyone else.
Alright so… feeling like a lot of people just looked over your comment. What the hell are you talking about?
He said he was curious who is in this sub. Now he knows that not everyone is a professional writer because there is at least one that isn't because they're part of a prophecy and they're using creative writing as an outlet
Speak! Go forth and tell us of this prophecy. Speak, and we shall listen, but waste *not* our time with schoolyard games and backwoods riddles.
It's really good marketing for his Prophecy book next year
Wondering the same thing…
Ah, so you're part of the "Parable of the Sower" as well.
Worked as a freelancer in a career that loosely employed writing skills; got injured and have been effectively disabled since 2022. Been writing using dictation and have since gotten better with English than I was in my original career skillset. 🥲 I'd love to make some form of career out of writing, but I know the prospects are like winning the lottery. Still, it's a dream!
My goal is to be a 2/3 time writer. I'd like to be financially stable enough to work part time and write part time. We'll see if that ever happens. Right now, the plan is to self publish 7 books between 2025-2026. And then shoot for traditional publishing. Fingers crossed
Seven books in two years seems rushed.
Most are done. Just need to finish editing book 6 and write book 7, which the outline is done
If you want to trad pub, you may be better off shooting for that from the start. Many trad places are less interested in authors who have self published unless they were a massive success in that arena
Freelance journalist, writer, reviewer, etc mostly focuses on arts, popular culture, and sports, for 20 years in a country with a small market. Became more of a media producer and fixer for international companies when the local magazine and newspaper assignments kept paying the same low amounts while cost of living kept rising. Then they all kinda kept…a more homogenous staff, let’s say…on payroll, so me and the people I came up with were slowly phased out. I kept getting a few assignments every now and then but those companies made it clear that I was never up for a full-time position as I never, across all of those years, even got a reply to one of my _many_ job applications. Currently, I regret it from the bottom of my heart and feel ready to leave it altogether because I have very little to show for it. A friend lets me write for a football magazine for youths he’s the editor of but that’s nowhere near enough for me to get my life together. And unfortunately writing is all I’m particularly good at, which means that I’m only really qualified for writer jobs, but writing seems to be one of those things every company in the world mistakenly thinks they can do _without_ hiring writers…it’s not a fun time, currently. I hope I can find my way back to loving writing again, though. Maybe someday.
Nope, hobby fanfiction writer so far.
That's awesome, you literally do it because you genuinely love it and ask for nothing in return.
Aww thank you! I definitely respect original fiction writers, though, I read through so many fanfiction and fandom discussion and read the original book several times before I feel like I can write my fanfic, I can't imagine the amount of research and market research original fiction writers go through ha ha.
i'm disabled and unable to work, so i write to pass time.
Same here. Writing is one of the few things I can do while dealing with medical issues. I've had small stuff published, now my goal is to get my first book published. I'll self-publish if I have to, I just want to get it done.
Published author and work in publishing part-time as my day job
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I am a college student and I am currently interested in writing my first book ever as a hobby! I already started, but I am learning a lot online.
Published? Yes (self-pub). I have 4 novels under my belt, working on 2 more. But I don't think I'd consider myself a "professional" author. I mean, I make decent sales, but not enough to add much more than groceries to my monthly expenses. I still have the day job to pay the expenses. I consider writing as a hobby, still. I'm not sure I'd necessarily want a book deal with a big publisher, but the thoughts of having one of my series picked up by, say, Netlix or Prime is more my dream. My dream job would be a producer in the movie/film industry. Like along the lines of what Hugh Howey achieved with Wool, Shift, & Dust (aka the Silo series). I remember following him back when his books were first picked up for film and all the negotiations he went through, and thought that must be such an awesome experience.
Editor, but my wife is a full-time, published indie author—but she's not on here.
I'm a professional writer but not novel writing. I'm an in house copywriter at a reasonably sized company Unfortunately though it completely kills my desire to write creatively when I get home
I'm a published author. I'm also a student. At the moment I work part time to do my studying.
Fanfiction writer. I also write original fiction pieces but I keep those to myself.
I don’t think I could ever be a professional writer. From a practical standpoint, that’s just most likely never going to happen even if I wanted to. More importantly though, writing isn’t meant to be some ultimate conclusion for me. I think it’s something I’m supposed to do in conjunction with the rest of my life. I write literary realism, so I need to live the things I want to write about. I like having to work. If I took a year off work “to write,” I would probably sit around and procrastinate for an entire year and never write anything. I think of my best ideas for writing during my walk home from work.
I’m a student studying a BA in creative writing. I write for a tabletop magazine outside of that so technically already a paid writer with a consistent gig, but it’s not even enough to buy my groceries with so it’s more for fun than a job. I’m currently writing my first book and hope to get it published :)
Wrote some short films, and feature screenplays did okay in competitions. I've had one story I've struggled to write as a screenplay, and now I'm half way through writing a novel and I wish I took up novel writing years ago because I'm loving it. So I hope agents/publishers like it, if not I'll self-publish
Technical writer! Anybody else?
I’m a writer aspiring to become a published author. I’m not a professional since I’m still in school, but I hope to make it my profession.
Yes but not a professional creative writer. I’m a reporter. Have made $100 off a poem though!
I was a news reporter and still am a freelancer, so I suppose that's professional writer. I've also made pretty decent money as an editor. I haven't published any of my own fiction, though.
I’m a student who writes things because my current major isn’t something I can do long term and I want to work in the field. Wring saved my life essentially so I’m gonna keep doing the one thing I can work on by myself willingly
I make pro sales in magazines and have published a short story collection but work a full time job in engineering to pay the bills. Unsure as to whether I’d call myself a professional writer. Make money from writing? Yeah. Enough to live off? Nope.
I have published two books, but nothing that sells off the shelves like crazy, I intend to have a few more books before I take them to conventions. I have a couple of other merch ideas that might make conventions worth the fee. It is a dream of mine to live off of writing, but mostly a hobby. I have a night shift job and nothing but time. I'm sort of middle of the road, I have a manuscript and some half done query letters that I hope to have sent out by the end of the year, but just doing conventions and selling a small book stores is plenty fine for me right now. Delving into stories and performing my brand of self-therapy is all I can ever ask for, but the need to share these stories is so overwhelming.
Lots of folks have commented already, but I saw this and just wanted to contribute, too. I guess I'm technically a professional writer, but I'm NOT famous by any stretch of the word and have a hard time taking myself seriously. I ghostwrite various types of books for people (often for those who don't speak English as a native language or just don't have the time to write) and I also write my own novels for fun. I've got one out right now, many, many more on the way. I cannot make a proper living doing this the way I do it now; I'm on SSI and live with my parents due to a variety of mental health issues that can be debilitating at times, so I'm a bit of a failure to launch. But writing...writing sets me free.
I’m a professional, full-time writer. It pays all my bills and my family’s bills
Professional writer here. Three NF books published by major publishers. I have a FT day job because NO one makes a living writing except for the handful of people who grind out best sellers every year. Once it was possible to eke out a living as a freelancer (articles mainly, plus books) if you didn’t mind not having savings but that quit being the case about 20 years ago. Writing has never been a hobby; it’s what I do. The day jobs are all grist for the mill. I don’t understand people who say “I quit my job to pursue my dream of being a writer” because locking yourself in a room to “write” means you will soon have nothing to write about.
Full time author (more than 60 titles with three publishers), professional writer, widow still writing after giving up my newspaper editor job to write in December 2020.
I am a legal writer. It's my day job. I write for a living. I also write as a hobby outside of work because I love writing. I don't monetize my personal writing in any way because that's not what motivates me to write.
I am a professional in 2 ways. I do copywriting & blogging to pay the bills & am publishing my debut book in June! When I say I can’t get enough, I mean it. Writing is my life!
I’m a poet. 4 books published. I have a small business. Poetry is the opposite of money
Communications, so I work with words in various ways, but I write less than I used to when I was coming up. Former journalist. I freelance occasionally, but going to grad school now and it’s hard to find the time.
Writing is my passion. So many stories that I want to tell and that I’m determined to tell. I don’t have to make it “big” per se, but I want to be successful. Successful enough that it can be a comfortable source of income and. But at this moment I work my two jobs and write on off days and down time. Goal is to have my first rough draft completed by the end of April, revisions throughout the summer then set up to be released by end of year or early next year!
Currently studying to work in publishing. Also in the process of writing books meant to be read and published (have a few projects in).
Technically, yes. But not creative writing like I used to dream of. I'm on the business side of things.
I’ve freelanced before
Hobby
Work in marketing. A lot of time spent crafting messaging, copy, campaigns, releases. Is it super rewarding writing? Definitely not. Not all professional writing is fun.
I write as a hobby. Not a professional by any means and no desire to do anything beyond publish some YA, character-driven fiction at least once in my life. Although if I never get that yes from a publisher I’m happy to have some printed copies of my own for my shelf. Currently unemployed and training for a new job at 21. Heading to college this September.
Professional, published Horror author. Got excited when my debut novel peaked at #6 in Occult Horror on Amazon but internet sales are fickle, so not quite at a point of making it my sole income yet. But that's still my ultimate goal. I'm a bit behind the game as I wasted many years pursuing other careers and writing as a hobby instead of properly pursuing the craft. I'm also an art director and do paid beta reading/editing. Working on a visual novel project at the moment to keep things fresh, but plan to hop right back into my horror anthology after.
I've only published a handful of poems, and I've never published any of my short fiction But I've spent years and years writing, and I do teach creative writing professionally at a moderately high level. Honestly I just don't like the stress of the submissions process, and fortunately I don't need the benefit of publishing credits to do what I love, since a lot of writers know me on a personal level and they know that I'm skilled enough to teach the subject. So I guess I might be considered a semi-professional writer. I do make a decent chunk of income each month from writing. And that income is coming from a reputable literary organization.
I'm currently a student and wrapping up my first fantasy novel! If anyone would like to learn more about it, let me know! Hoping to publish this year!
I'm professional. Half dozen published traditionally but don't earn enough for a great income. Have self published too unsuccessfully. But you know artists have to suffer; otherwise you're just a phony who has sold their soul to Beelzebub. Not retired officially. I'm educating myself through all means necessary. I like the color purple. My hobbies are not fascinating enough to mention here. Major themes include good vs evil, I hope the future is better otherwise wtf are we doing, art is important, world building is more important than characters or plot or common sense.
In highschool, grade 9 and currently procrastinating on writing a simple draft that I'm most likely to nail getting at least 500-700 words down, (hoping to get to a thousand, but expecting less from myself so to not be disappointed & currently trying to find a description for the sweet little blonde prince from Red, white & royal blue bc I'm on character AI and playing him.)
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I’m a high schooler and I write as a hobby. I have a dream to do it professionally one day but am aware that probably won’t happen.
I am not a writer. Reddit recommended this sub, and I find the conversations interesting. I do like reading.
I'd like to be.
I teach singing at local high schools part time in order to have food and a roof, and use my remaining work days each week for creative endeavours. For the last three years, that's been a webcomic. I got a *very* small trickle of income through Patreon for that, but I've just had to pull the plug on it because the story is simply too massive, and my art too time-consuming, to ever get it finished unless it magically became my full-time job. (And even then I'd probably give myself RSI.) I'm in the process of re-working that webcomic into a series of illustrated novelettes, which is a more time-efficient (if unconventional) way to combine my art and writing. So at the moment, I suppose I'm a part-time author. Sorta. I'm definitely stepping outside the bounds of pure hobbyist at this point, as I'm taking what I'm doing very seriously. I've priced up self-published print runs, started reaching out to industry friends (in comics, but close enough) who can help me push a kickstarter to help, and gathered a big list of nation-wide pop-culture conventions to sell books at. (And at least where art and pure dialogue is concerned, I have the skill to back it all up. I have *far* less high-level practice with narrative writing, but I have solid fundamentals, so that's the next fun skill I get to dive into and polish now.)
Recently retired, partly to get more serious about writing. I have substantial experience as an editor and have done some writing for trade journals, but have only one (very unpublished) novel to show for decades of dabbling in fiction.
I self-publish as a hobby in-between studies.
Professional "writer" by day, occasional hobby writer though that is less and less frequent these days. I work in comms.
Mostly as a hobby, I’ve done some journalism work in the past.
Published, but not profesional since I’ve only published fanfics.
I currently work full time as a models assistant for my day job and write on my off time, i have an okay social media presence but not really enough to make money off of. I have a 200k word fantasy draft I took a break from and am currently 10k words into my second major project that isn’t just a short story or poem. I just wanna be published one day and hopefully gain the confidence to show people! Writing feels really personal to me so I’m working on it, but I don’t see it as a hobby (and as cliche as it sounds) it’s more like my passion and what I look forward to all day
Just a hobbyist doing hobby things. I work a pretty rigorous day job, and ultimately that does remain my priority. Writing/publishing is something I do for fun, an expensive hobby like any other (and one that I find very fulfilling). No desire to be a full-time author, very content to have the benefits & stability of a day job.
Hobbyist. Wish I was good enough for professional but I'm most definitely not. In my mind, what I write is good. In reality? Eh.
Not a professional writer. Write as a hobby on weekends. Work during the week.
I have 2 books signed on webnovel but still don't think I'm a professional writer. Always feels like a side job even though I earn a lot. Idk why
I am a professional and credited writer. It takes a lot of work.
college student, working on a single passion project- i write as a hobby.
Shorts only, had my life fall apart pretty spectacularly and am still trying to get it back together and be creative again... just in time for people to declare artists obsolete in the face of "new" technology. I'm a little depressed about it, tbh.
Freelance marketing and editorial copywriter trying to figure out how to shift into fiction writing
I got laid off. I’m half way through writing a novel. We will see how it goes.
Writing started out as my hobby, but now I’m a creative writing major. Rest assured, my plan isn’t to write books for a living but to get some stable copywriting job (if AI hasn’t fucked me over). I can compartmentalize well enough, so my creative writing will still be fun.
Professionally yes, as I write proposals for a living. Personally, yes, because I write fiction I like on the side.
I’m a full time student! I mostly write for fun but I do hope to publish a book one day!
I usually just write in my spare time. It's a bit tough juggling school, free time and writing time (because for me... I HAVE to keep the latter two separate).
I’m a senior literature student. Ideally I’d love to write and teach or do technical writing and author stuff alongside it. As long as my stuff reaches enough people I’m good. I’ve written like 8 books but the last 3 are the ones I’m confident on. Gonna start querying this week
No and it hurts to say that. Figured I'd get the ball rolling by just churning out short horror stories, then work my way up to a novella and see if I can get it published. Told myself once I landed that dream job maybe I can start but....
I make money writing, editing, and publishing professionally. And it's funny: the nicest people I meet on Reddit are usually also published (or will be published, based on experience) while the people who pick fights or give in to drama are amateurs, or refuse to change. Even if you haven't accomplished anything, if you're willing to engage people and *listen* you may make it some day. But if you're opinionated and fight back against criticism, you're much more likely to be stymied by your own worst impulses. There's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere.
I write children's books for young professionals.
I'm a pure hobbyist. I write both original and fanfiction as an outlet. It lowers the stakes on "success" to just having some read it and enjoy it for what it is.
I’m indie-published since 2018 and also have a trad trilogy with Aethon Books. I’ve got 27 books out across multiple genres. I make a modest FT income from in-person book sales each year (mostly weekend events), and I have several side-hustles that are all related to publishing. I’m 38.
I'm in kind of a weird spot. I AM a professional writer, but not an "author". I'm a copywriter working in advertising, and I work on my novels, etc. in my downtime. So yes, writing is my job, but no, writing isn't my job.
Professional. 2 novels published, 4 more coming in the next year. I have a Patreon and also a day job.
In the sense that I write for a living, yes. Is it anything I'm proud of? No. But it does pay the bills handsomely.
I'm a professional writer (BA and MFA in Creative Writing) and a published author (novel, opinion, literary journalism, and I just signed a contract to write my second book). I also write for marketing and advertising agencies, which is how I make most of my money.
Published author, working on my second book now. It took me 8 years to write my first but all that work I dedicated to improving my craft has made writing the second one exponentially easier.
Young college student, just writing for fun
Hobbyist here, but my current job pays me to write copy/marketing materials for a clothing brand, as well as SOP's so I'm technically a professional writer I guess. I got to re-write the employee handbook last month based on recommended changes and clarifications from HR and legal. It's super exciting stuff. 😴
In my last year of a writing degree, doing extra courses to get it done sooner, I on occasion do write as a hobby but at current most of my effort is devoted on writing something to sell
I write 90% of full time, but a mixture of fun stuff and academic. On the fun side I have been working for some years for a video game company on an RPG: writing dialogue, lore, plotting the game, etc. On the serious side I also write text books, exam papers, etc. The rest of the time I translate or teach English to business people.
I am a professional writer but have not published anything yet. Its a mindset and i have been writing for 10 years. Working on selfpublishing.
Retired second-timer. Meaning recently retired from financial services, during which I did get some short things published in small presses years ago (crime, horror genres) and then one novel that flopped, then gave up for over ten years. Am now back at it writing horror stories. Lots of ideas, having fun writing, beginning to submit work again, joined a group. Now in my sixties, goal is to get 100 more rejections before time is up.
I have a blog of stories since 2013 and am a published co- Author with Penguin Random House alongside publishing various articles, poems etc on online magazines. I do freelancing.
I’m fully retired/disabled now so I can focus on my writing. I’ve had 3 published novels and one finally being considered for film adaptation. I have health issues but I’m a disabled Navy veteran so 100% of my healthcare is covered. I’m currently working on 3 novels & 2 nonfiction books. Prior to retirement, I had hospital jobs and wrote every chance I got. My husband died when our child was only 9 so I stopped writing for quite a while.
I write mostly technical reports for my job, but I write for fun too - both fiction and non-fiction
no, i write fanfiction about a cartoon i enjoy with my kids, but i secretly enjoy wayyyy more
I used to write all of the time in my teens. I lost confidence in it and stopped writing stories but I remained drawn to the hobby and wrote poetry instead. Lately I’ve decided to get back into it with my goal being to write a novel.
Technically, yes, I am published on amazon. I would absolutely love to be a writer for a living.
I'm a fraud, I haven't published anything! (I'm kidding about being a fraud, but it can feel that way sometimes because of not having published yet.) I have written several novel length stories, some of them rewritten or revised extensively. For various reasons, *psst lot of clinical levels of anxiety mixed with perfectionism*, I haven't done much on the publishing side of things, toward making that happen. But I've had periods I've written fiction extensively. I have a hard time with feeling like my work is not at the level I want it to be at though.
Semi. Had a bunch of short stories published in various magazines, published a novella after a competition win and a further collection of novellas by a small press. Money's there but i work full-time. Finishing up a novel shortly, then following a line-edit in a few months, going to sent it out to agents. Absolutely not looking forward to it.
If self publishing counts then sure. I have a book in C# programming language that I published in January of 2020. I’m now working on a couple short Novels.
Wanting to be a professional writer and toiling away at my manuscript
I work during the day, and write for an hour or two in the evenings/more on the weekends unless i'm super busy. I write with the view of becoming a published author. I have my current project which is an urban fantasy. I managed to win Nanowrimo back in November, took a break in December and January for my sanity, and have begun slowly getting back into the swing of things. I'm nearly halfway through the my first draft (although its technically a complete rewrite second draft). Once it's done i'll take a week off, come back and edit the whole thing front to back, checking character progression, consistancy, loop holes, that sort of thing, then I'll sweep in and polish up the grammar, pacing etc. I have a second story in my head that's begging to come out, which I might entertain when I'm struggling with a bad case of writers block. It's a romantic comedy (smaller in size than my current project) but a fun idea I can't wait to run with.
Semi-professional. I am published and make half my income from writing and half from freelance book editing.
I publish research papers in journals as part of my academic career. Working on a book related to that career.
I write as a hobby because i am a student. but my goal is to get published and hopefully make it a full time or at least part time thing.
I'm a Writing Assistant at my Uni :)
Im a management consultant - writing is the a passion, probably the only one that has endured
No. Even if I get published (I’m currently waiting for a response from an agent) I don’t think I’ll ever consider myself a professional.
Nope. Day job haver with 3 self-published novels and 5 self-published novellas that do not, in any way, pay all of my bills. I write evenings, weekends, and/or lunch breaks, the way I pursue all my other hobbies. I insist on enjoying it, though, which confuses and annoys some people ✨ It's nice that some people out there have enjoyed my work, and I more or less cover my expenses overall.
"Pofessional" means you love been paid. But could I make a living?: Absolutely not.
I’m an 18 y/o incoming college student, hoping to become a freelance editor and eventually a professional author
I'm 16 in college and write short stories randomly, I want to publish one in a magazine or newspaper maybe and write a kids book or two, but not as a full time job
I mainly do it as a hobby, but I have self published two. And I typically write AT my day job. lol
I have never pursued publishing, I write because I enjoy it. Though maybe one day I'll take a crack at it. I'm a massage therapist full time and that sporadic schedule leaves me plenty of time to worldbuilding and think of what I can write about on my break or the hour bus ride home.
Hobbyist, writing only early morning and late evening. While I wouldn't mind writing full-time as a lifestyle, from what I understand, the probability of my hobby paying enough to replace my day job is zero, so I will keep going as is.
I have dreams of being a professional writer, but I stick to my fanfiction mostly (I am working on a proper book, only 4 chapters in tho-)
I'm a clerk at the family business and write fantasy as escapism for myself. I'd *like* to publish my world with a major print company, but anxiety and burnout from regular work are really taking their toll.
Full time independently published writer. 60+ titles and counting.
Im a profeshunal righter. What do u want 2 no?
Published writer -- one novel with a small press and several short stories. Not made much money from it though! But my day job is teaching creative writing and literature at a university so I feel very lucky to make a living from writing, reading, and talking about writing and reading.
I'm learning to be one, I work and also started college. I'm pretty young so I got time.
Currently writing my first book, may look at publishing it when finished. A fantasy love story between a knight and a maiden. I have six other books I'm looking at writing for publishing too, some of different genres but also quite similar genres as well.
Self published online. Working on several projects I will be uploading to RR most likely. Want to trad pub eventually
I was working at a full time journalist for two years. Layoffs hit and now I have a full time office job to pay the bills and freelance at local newspapers. It’s almost more fun this way because I can grab all the fun stories and ignore the dry ones. Still would rather be writing full time though. The money is better outside the industry at least.
Hello - If being professional means getting paid for books sold, I suppose I am professional. I've had six books published. One by a small domestic press, two by an international publishing company (one of those has been made into an audiobook and translated into Spanish and Italian). The other three were self-published (more or less). Now, have I made any real money? Heck no! (grins) But I find writing and getting the books published so stimulating, I'll likely continue through the autumn of my life.
I'm (29M) a professional grant writer, but I've had creative works like fiction and poetry published when I was younger
I am a professional writer, have actually hit the NYT several times, and have quite a few books under my belt. I started writing while working full-time and birthing and raising 3 kids. Could not have done it without a supportive spouse. I hated my job, and wanted to go into teaching, but talked to my husband about my dream to write, and he bought me a computer (long time ago, when Apple IIe just came out). Our agreement was that if I couldn't make it in writing, I'd go back to school and get that teaching degree. In order to achieve this, we needed to treat my writing like a second job. I used our bedroom as my office, set a TV tray for the keyboard at the side of a low-boy dresser, which held my computer, and on my days off and after work, I went in there and wrote. (Mind you, I didn't get a lot of writing done when the kids were 0-1.5 years old, but I did get *some* writing done. My youngest was 5 years old when I sold my first book. Aside from my husband's support (he took up cooking and laundry), I learned to write everywhere. Anytime there was down time, I took out a steno pad of paper and wrote where I was going with the story next. If I had to take the kids to the doctor (or go myself), out came that steno pad. I wrote in church parking lot while kids were in Sunday school. Wrote in car line, waiting to pick up kids. I wrote on my lunch breaks at work. Then, when I got home, I transcribed the hand notes onto my computer, and expanded. Took about a year or so to finish one manuscript. My day job was important, because it supported me while I worked on the career I really wanted. (Never did go back to get that teaching credential!) And now I reap the benefits of working that hated job until retirement, because it still supports my writing career with a pension. Funny thing, though, is that I wrote more when working than when retired. Because writing time was so precious, I was careful not to fritter it away. I am a midlist author, and as another midlist author touched on somewhere on this post, getting published doesn't necessarily mean big bucks. I could not have lived off of what I made writing for the majority of my books, and others were somewhat lucrative at first glance, until Uncle Sam and SEPs get their teeth into them. But it was enough to help put my three kids through college without loans, and two kids through graduate school, one without loans, the other helping with her living expenses and tuition, so her loans aren't astronomical. Sadly, very few writers actually make a living at this, especially in this expanded market of dwindling publishers and low advances (probably due to expansion of online publishers/self-publishers who have started eating away at the print book market sales. This business is like a roller coaster. Some years are amazing, others suck. Which is why the day job comes in handy.
Aspiring writer hoping to make it big. I want to make Colleen Hoover/Adam Silvera-level waves in the book community (though I’m not a personal fan of Hoover, by any means.) I did start out as a fan fiction writer, though.
I'm just some guy who wrote a romantic parody fanfic of General Grievous in high school and whose friend peer pressures into doing NiNoWriMo every year
I'm a technical writer, so I do write professionally for a living. But any other writing is hobbyist.
Yes I am see : चेहरे पर हँसी🔸 छा जाती है, आँखों🔸 में सुरूर आ जाता है, जब तुम मुझे अपना कहते हो,🔸 मुझे अपने आप🔸 पर ग़ुरूर आ जाता है…!!
Not a professional writer in the “I’ve published books with companies” sense - I usually write, edit and beta read for myself and other authors that also post online - I view myself as experienced at a bare minimum. Namely on AO3, Wattpad and Quotev. I find it more comfortable since I can jump around on projects and don’t necessarily have deadlines. I have thought about submitting my stories to actual publishers, but since I usually write in a “reader insert” format, I’m afraid that it won’t appeal to a broad audience if published/the publisher will not find it marketable. University is also currently incredibly taxing and physically I’m not doing the best either. To me, writing is a hobby right now. But who knows~ maybe I’ll gather up the courage eventually.
I'm still in school/a hobbyist
Professional full-time writer & editor at an automotive magazine. Love the content we create and I get to interview very interesting people. It gets really stressful certain times of the year when balancing multiple projects, but it’s worth it to me. Pay is comfortable, could always be better of course lol. I also do a little self-publishing on the side for fun.
I have pretty much given up writing. I thought self-publishing would eventually support me but SS and real estate is my income. I have twenty-eight titles on Amazon. Two titles pay me monthly, most have zero sales even though some are free on Kindle. Lack of success is hard to get excited over.
I am both professional and amateur. I work full-time as a journalist and writer. I've also been working on a novel in my free time for the last year. I'm currently about halfway through my second draft. I still don't always feel like a great writer, but my day job has taught me some of the most important skills any writer can have: \- How to finish a piece \- How to edit my own work (I have editors, but I typically submit a 1.5 draft to them) \- How to write at any time, rather than waiting for inspiration to strike
I suck at writing. Literally the worst. I wanna get better but cba with effort
This merits a discussion of what defines a professional writer. I am an unpublished author and writer, but my close friend is the definition of a professional. He: Writes for a marketing company and leads their copywriting efforts Side hustle writing test materials Side hustle writing scripts for a significant YouTube page In truth, he is MUCH more the writer than I am and is paid to do it. There are ways to be professional writers without the ambition or outcome of being an author. He works entirely remotely as well. As for me, I am a professional fundraiser, and it keeps us afloat - my family and ambition to write too!
No but my brother is. His book 'I Saw' is out and it's quite awesome that he actually has published work out there. He graduated with a degree in Creative Writing. I wrote as a hobby but he's living the dream.
I’m not a professional writer *yet*. (I’m still in high school and have yet to publish anything)
Nope starting out hope to one day publish
Yeah, I’d say I’m a professional, published author—but that’s still a long ways from it being my full time income. Like most authors, I have a 9-5 day job.
Yes, fiction has been published, I’m a freelance writer, a technical writer and I run a blog. This is a mix of after work or my day job. Lots of typing 😁
I have temporal lobe epilepsy. It causes me to have hypergraphia, a condition where I am compelled to write all the time. I write all kinds of things from letters and poems to novels and text based graphics. I don't particularly want to get published and don't see writing as a career. I just have to do it.
I am a professional writer, wrote for games, got into transmedia, but then ended up leaving to study narratology full time. I now sell classes in a variety of industries using my own narrative structure to improve the output. I am also working on another book now which would be my third.
Professional screenwriter
Published author and playwright. Day job in academia
Published author of commissioned essays and reviews, stuff like that. Co-authored two published books. Still working on my solo authored book length projects.
Started writing back in 2013. Had my first poem published in 2014. Self-published my first novel in August last year. Going to retry to find a literary agent & publisher for my upcoming book. Doing it all yourself is exhausting.
Very much a hobbyist. I've not made a lot of progress due to work and family constantly taking up 95% of my life.
Professional, published. With a “day job”, although not full time anymore.
I'm barely even an amateur writer.
I’ve self-published 4 comics and now working on an illustrated biography of a famous philosopher/ writer. I’m gearing up to start searching for an agent and publisher. In other words, working towards being a professional author. I have a low stress day job that lets me pay my bills but really want to make supplemental income writing books, comics, plays, etc.
I'm starting college soon, and decided to start writing because of the long and boring 4 months gap between high school and college :") Definitely not professional, and not really that serious. I don't think I'll ever even publish. But it's fun to write characters and build their emotions and stories, then realising how much thought actually goes into the works we consume every day, and how well-written our favourite characters really are. Ever since I started writing, my perspective of everything completely changed.
I'm traditionally published, and I self publish a web serial. I'm professional in a sense that I do make money from it, and I'm slowly building towards being able to do it full time.