Budget Basics – Food, Rent, Writing
In February, James Chartrand wrote a brilliant post on why writers need to show up for work. For those writers who are not paid for their craft, how seriously do we take this art? Do we enforce our daily scheduled writing times? Do we share our work with others, to receive feedback, both positive and constructive? Do we budget for our writing? Did I throw you for a loop with the last question? If no, then you are definitely on the right track. If yes, then let’s get into it.
The act of writing is simple and cheap. All you require is a writing utensil and a piece of paper. As your work matures, the items that you use to hone your skills tend to develop. No longer are napkins and Bic ballpoints enough, now you covet designer notebooks and legendary pens. Great, but what about the real cost, the cost of showing your work to the world?
We will budget for coffee, drinks after work, a round of golf, and food, but writing usually never makes the list. What costs, you ask? Stamps for starters. Yes, stamps. Though numerous publications will allow you to submit your work on-line, paper submissions are still king. Budget for the basics; stamps, envelopes, both 8 ½ x 11 and letter size, more paper, and a computer if you do not have one. As you review the submission guidelines, another term pops up which may send a slight shiver down your spine. Submission Fee! Oh Snap. That’s right sunshine, you are paying for the right for some unknown person to reject your work.
I am quite new to the world of submissions and the intricacies that surround the specific guidelines that are set forth by the powers that be. Yet I do understand that magazines, journals and newspapers are in business to share great work, but also to stay a float- recession or not. Fees are not limited to submissions, but also to the entity called writing contests. From $5 – $50, the costs, which are levied at you to enter your work for a chance at prestige and publication, need to be budgeted.
Once we start to take our writing seriously by accounting for the necessary tools and opportunities that present themselves, we attract the serious possibility of becoming great.
Giselle Maclean is Managing Editor of BreakFree, a blog that passionately charts her personal challenges as a wife, mother and friend; while managing a career within the financial services industry.
Nice post, Giselle — it’s always so easy to forget just how expensive it might end up costing to send a query to a hundred publishers.
Let’s rebel against tradition and tell the industry we don’t want to pay to be rejected again and again … that we want to be able to use this new, profound technology called …email.
Or, let’s just skip the publishing houses and magazines, publish our own work, and sell it through iTunes for the iPad.
:)
Interesting thought, Christopher.
Self-publishing is an interesting concept and I would be very interested in a how-to guide, especially for the iPad. (Maybe a future post on here.)
However, I think if we have the drive to be published, in book or magazine form (you know, “traditional” media) then Giselle brings up a good point. I think many of us on here still have that dream of seeing our name on the spine of a book in the local bookstore or library; that dream of writing the great American novel.
I don’t know that the iPad will ever replace books. And as long as paper is still king, be it for submission or publication, I think there will still be costs involved in getting our work out there.
Your point is a good one though. Moving into paperless media has brought self-publication to the masses at a minimal cost.
Totally agree — to see your book on the shelf at the bookstore is definitely the dream for most writers … I think we’ve all stopped by the shelf on which our work would be alphabetized just to see what authors we would neighbor.
That said, there’s something we can learn from the success many independent music and film industry artists have achieved when setting out to accomplish their own versions of their book on the bookshelf; to put it simply, sometimes you need to leapfrog the gatekeeper in order to meet your goals.
Doing it yourself is more popular than ever because it’s possible — filmmakers can make a film for a few thousand dollars and enjoy a $22 million success at the box office; musicians can produce music and gain a following of fans powerful enough to eventually grab the attention of the record labels; bloggers can gain popularity through their voice to the point where they’re flown to New York to sign a book deal.
I think that thanks to Apple and the iPad, writers have just entered a new stage of “do it yourself.” Unlike self-publishing in print, self-publishing will cost the writer a fraction of the cost, yet make their work available to the entire world. Additionally, it’s a much more powerful platform than musicians and filmmakers previously had because you will be able to sell your work (or give it away), thereby enabling you to sustain as a writer, while you strive for that book deal.
I guess all I’m trying to say is now writers can sustain as writers, just as aspiring developers have been able to do with the app store — the iBookstore will become to writers what the AppStore has become to app developers.
Once you leapfrog the gatekeeper and sell your book(s) 1000 times at $4.99, you’ll have made nearly $5,000 as a writer.
If you combine your talent as a writer with the ability to spread the word in good taste, you can build a following of people and maybe even land that book deal.
I’m a big believer that wireless information is the future, but at the same time that if there is anyone that should be using paper, it’s a writer. So I hardly believe the iPad or future tech will replace books, rather, I think we can use the tech to leapfrog the gatekeeper and therefore make it happen for ourselves.
It’s time for the independent writer.
Well said, again, Christopher.
There is a revolution here and I think self- and independent-publication can do (or at least has the potential to do) for writing what the digital filmmaking revolution did for Hollywood.
However, similarly the market can, has in film, and likely will in writing, become supersaturated with drivel, crap, and dreck from those who feel their work is worthy of the masses. (But YouTube ain’t Hollywood.) There will be a lot more to sift through before finding that elusive diamond in the rough.
Long before the iPad and the iBookstore there have been places to publish your written works online for download or purchase. However, if Apple can do with iBookstore what they did with iTunes then they will certainly have a corner on the market.
Thank you for the excellent comments Christopher. I love the conversation between you and Eric. I believe that as we progress in this digital age, the process and the ease for publishing your work on line will only increase. This can be both a good and not so good thing. Will the market become overly saturated with ebooks from just about everyone? How will we find that diamond in the rough? I guess it comes down to one..one person taking the time to read your work, love it and recommend it.
Great post, Giselle! A wonderful point that I don’t know that anyone has mentioned on this blog before.
I haven’t done the submission route for anything I have written, but I have spent plenty on entry fees for film festivals and contest/award applications – esentially, as you said, for the priveledge of being rejected! Though it does seem worth it when you get that one acceptance or award.
Thanks for pointing out one of the finer points of being a writer!
Great comments Eric. I will always hope to have my work published in print. The feeling I get when I start a new book, is awe. I am in awe, that the author pushed through the obstacles, the delays and their issues, to create a piece of work , that I am now holding in my hand. Now in saying that, if I had the opportunity to publish an ebook through iBookstore, I would jump at the chance. You just never know who may stumble upon your writing.