WOW! Women On Writing Blog: money

Four Questions To Ask About Spending Money On Your Career

Thursday, March 12, 2015

by Jacob Edward (Flickr.com)

We all know the old saying: "You have to spend money to make money." How do you feel about this saying when it relates to your writing career? Whether you are a published author or a beginning writer, you may need to spend money to improve your craft or get the word out about your books. So, how do you decide what's worth it and what's not?

1. What is the benefit of this cost? I think this is the most important question because if the cost has no benefit, then you should not be spending the money. As a writer, you are also a business! A business owner doesn't spend money if it doesn't benefit him or her, so you shouldn't either. If you are a children's writer, attending an SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) writing conference is probably a great idea. If you are a mystery writer, that doesn't make sense. Also, before you pay money to advertise your books on websites, talk to other authors who have advertised with that website or check the website rankings. How will spending this money help you and your career?

2. How does it compare? With the ease of the Internet, it is super easy to figure out how much an average writing conference or online class costs. It is easy to research the conference speakers or class teacher. If you want to advertise your e-book through an e-mail service, how much does this typically cost for your genre? Do your research.

3. What is your budget? This should probably be number one, but it's on here at least! (smiles) You should have a budget for your writing career. If it's $200 on a conference and $50 to market your books, then don't go over that. Use your money wisely, answer questions one and two, and then spend happily. Just don't go over your budget.

4. Does this expenditure fit with your overall goals? Along with a budget, you should also have goals for your career. If you are looking to improve your craft, then a conference or class may be perfect for you. If you are looking for ways to get your book out in the world, then you may want to spend those dollars on marketing this year. If you have a manuscript you want to pitch to an agent, find a conference where agents are taking pitches! What are your goals? Your expenditures should reflect them.

The only one that can really decide whether the money is well spent is you. Just remember, you are making an investment, an investment in what you most likely hope is a career some day or may already be.

Margo L. Dill teaches online writing courses for WOW! and is the author of three books for teens and children. Check out her next online class, Writing for Children: How to Get Started and Take Hold of Your Career, starting March 18. There's still plenty of time to sign up here!

1 comment a writing career, finances, Margo L. Dill, money, promotion budget, writing budget

Why Do We Write: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I just received a quarterly royalty statement and it wasn't stellar. The money just isn't there. Why do I keep doing this, writing for kids and writing how-to-write articles and books? Why do we keep working in the face of surprisingly little money?

I've been reading DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink. He says that business has traditionally been built on the idea of carrots and sticks. If you do well, we'll reward you (with money, fame, perks, etc), and if you do poorly, we'll punish you. Unfortunately, the carrots and sticks approach works best for routine jobs and only for those type jobs. Think assembly lines. For those jobs where you want something done exactly the same each time, where compliance to a strict method is important, use the rewards and punishments system.

Writing is seldom a routine job. Instead, for work like ours, Pink says we are motivated by three things: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Writers certainly have autonomy. For fiction at least, we often write on spec, or the speculation that someone might like what we write. We determine the audience we will target, topics we'll discuss, the characters we'll create. We decide when we write, how we write and what editors/publishers we work with. Everything about a writing career is autonomous.

A second motivator is mastery, spending time to become an expert. When you are engaged in a subject, totally fascinated and you find that time stands still while you write, then you are working toward mastery. Pink describes this altered state as being in "the flow." In fact the best predictor of productivity is the desire for intellectual challenge, "the urge to master something new and engaging."

A sense of purpose is the final motivator and it's a powerful one. People who champion a cause are more likely to be engaged and to work with autonomy. Even brief reminders of a purpose behind your work is enough to increase productivity. My purposes revolve around two things: creating great literature for kids and helping other writers to reach their potential. When one of those purposes is activated in a piece of writing, I am willing to work harder--regardless of the results on that royalty statement.

Ours is a profession that thrives on autonomy, mastery and purpose. Do I want money? Yes! But oddly enough, Pink recommends business people provide adequate monetary incentive--make sure people can take care of their family and commitments. After that baseline is met, increasing pay doesn't increase productivity much; instead, an environment that encourages autonomy, mastery and purpose will increase productivity.

Why do I keep writing in the face of less-than-stellar royalty statement? Because I'm doing what I want, when I want; I am engaged and fascinated by this process of putting words on the page; and I do it for the kids and for other writers. I love my job. That's why I write.

Author and writing teacher Darcy Pattison blogs at Fiction Notes (www.darcypattison.com).