Home
>
Writing
>
Writing IS a Business

Writing IS a Business

Why is it that so many people don't take writing-as-a-job seriously? I once heard it said that writing is one of the most under-rated cottage industries in the world. I believe it.

Perhaps it is because many of us do so much writing in the course of a day anyway. We write reports for work. We send emails. We take down messages. None of that is creative writing (on second thoughts, some work reports might fall into that category) - but it's part of the reason that "writing" per se is taken for granted. Since the people around you write frequently anyway, they can't see your hours tapping away at the keyboard as being anything much more difficult. It's your 'hobby', isn't it?

Sometimes, you can change people's attitude towards writing by changing your own attitude first. It's very easy to lose track of the reality that writing IS a business when you're creating fictional worlds. (Imagine having so much fun and getting paid for it as well!)

1. Talk About Writing In Businesslike Terms

Let's imagine for a moment that you're not a writer. You run some other business. To make it a paying business, you have to look at income and outgo carefully. Note that not all businesses make a profit in the first year. (Many go into business expecting to run at a loss for the first year or even two years.)

A writing business works in just the same way. You're likely to put in a lot of hours, a lot of effort and at least some money before you can expect to see any results. Those results - payment for your labour - might be in the form of a flat fee, or an advance payment with royalties at intervals later.

Try putting it all down on paper. Work out:

your expenditure on supplies - paper, toner, hardware, software, etc
your expenditure in hours - keep a writing log
your expenditure in training - workshops, seminars, professional journals and books, courses
your expected return - what do you expect to earn? This is, of course, hard to work out if you're writing fiction. Try surfing the web and asking around at writers' groups/discussion lists to get some idea. If you're a freelance writer of non-fiction, you may be able to set your own rates.

It won't take you long to see that you need to put in a certain number of hours to get a return on your investment. When you talk about your writing, talk about it as your writing CAREER. Start dropping into the conversation a few terms like 'return on investment' and 'business plan' and watch for the change in the listener's expression. Quite often, this is the first time they've ever thought of writing in terms of being a business!

2. Plan Your Expenditure

Any business requires some start up money. Traditionally, writers have not spent much at all on their craft. (Even today some writers still have that 'starving for my art' mentality... writers should sit and scratch away with a quill in a cold room and hope for a government grant so they can afford more than soup.)

Let's get real here. If you want to establish a thriving writing career, you need to plan as carefully as you would for any other business.

Sit down and look at your budget. How much does your writing career mean to you? Are you prepared to go without other things in order to invest in your career? Do you need to sit down with the family and say: "This is important to me. This year instead of spending money on XXXX, I want to put aside $500 to go to this conference," or "I can't write while I'm trying to fit it in around the rest of the family's computer usage. I need my own computer."

Only you can know (a) how much money you can put aside in the next 12 months for your writing career and (b) the best way for you to spend it. A computer may be your most urgent need. It could be a fast internet connection. It could be an advanced writing course.

Here's a list to start you thinking:

books for your professional library
a computer
a second telephone line (for your own internet connection)
a writing course/conference/workshop/writers' retreat
ergonomic furniture
renovations to the house to provide an office for your writing
software - a word processor or office suite
filing cabinet/bookshelves

Keep in mind that the cost of an internet connection could be repaid many times over by the amount of information you gain (either for research purposes or at writers' sites.)

If you've been having trouble getting your career on track - or getting people to take you seriously - then start with your own approach. If you treat writing as a business, then it's much more likely that others will too.

Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers' tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/

disinfecting cleaning services Deerfield ...

In The News:

Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.

iOS 27 finally lets iPhone Shared Albums store photos and videos at full resolution in iCloud, but new items count toward the owner's storage.

A fake Facebook Marketplace text scam uses your real name as the seller to trick you into replying, and Malwarebytes warns even one response helps.

The Pentagon data breach exposed 2.76 million Social Security numbers and military records, raising long-term identity theft concerns for veterans.

Kodiak AI plans to haul IKEA freight on Texas highways with no one in the cab, raising urgent cybersecurity and safety questions for drivers.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.

Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.

Scammers can combine your name, phone number and address with data breach details to attempt SIM swaps, phishing and even identity theft schemes.

ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse and Gemini Spark can monitor flight prices, sort your email inbox and track important deadlines, but savvy users start small.

iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel each hide a built-in tool that turns a video frame into a separate photo without any screenshot needed.

Operation KillSwitch dismantled KillSec's ransomware infrastructure, but investigators say a 16-year-old allegedly ran the entire cybercrime operation.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence newsletter covers where voters will decide on AI data center ballot measures and Jeff Bezos' tech vision.

Apple's Impersonation Risk Detection in iOS 27 can flag suspicious activity inside apps, but the setting is off by default and must be enabled.

Federal Election Commission records can expose your name, address, employer and donation history once contributions exceed the $200 threshold.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright says human skepticism remains the strongest defense against AI-driven phishing scams and voice cloning fraud schemes.

iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy each handle security updates differently, and one screen saying "up to date" may not tell the whole story.

Deborah Del Mastro heard what sounded like her daughter's terrified voice on the phone, launching a five-hour virtual kidnapping scam ordeal.

Hotel TV privacy risks go beyond forgotten passwords when you sign into Netflix or other streaming apps on shared devices you don't control.

Apple's iOS 27 Visual Intelligence now lets your iPhone search objects directly on screen, but Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have a head start.

x47.c Windows malware uses xAI's Grok to maintain persistence on infected PCs while stealing passwords, browser cookies and API keys from victims.

Frankie LaPenna fought three robots in a cage, including two modified EngineAI T800 humanoids that can kick with up to 850 pounds of force..

MacSync malware hides malicious commands inside iCloud calendar events to download additional payloads onto infected Macs without raising suspicion.

Joseph Holycross dismissed his racing heart for nearly two years until his Samsung Galaxy Watch detected atrial fibrillation and changed everything.

Home title fraud begins when criminals forge your signature on a deed. Here is how to check your own property records and set up free alerts.

Jeffrey Ladish, a former Anthropic security team member, warns AI agents are colluding and hacking with no reliable solution to keep them in check.