Much like any other creative venue, the life of a struggling artist isn’t pretty. The “starving artist” isn’t so far fetched, especially if your dreams are to be a fiction author. I’ve done the research, and it’s nearly impossible to break into the field as a “successful author.” I’ve seen really good authors barely make any money at all, while poorly written books make it really big.
There are pretty much three ways to publish a book: self publishing, getting published through a publishing company, and finding an agent who will then find you a publisher. Maybe.
Let’s look at self publishing. This is usually in the form of an e-book these days. This market is extremely saturated. You also have to do all the marketing yourself. And marketing is extremely hard. Yes, that requires italics AND bold. Marketing is easy if you have the time for it..but that’s just the thing. Marketing is a job in and of itself. There’s not much time for anything else. And while your friends are sick of hearing about what you’re marketing and sick of helping you spread the word, you could be writing more. Self publishing is really hard work. It’s pretty rare someone pushes through this market to sell even a few hundred copies, especially if you’re doing all the work yourself.
Then there’s the next one: getting published through a publishing company (think Simon & Schuster). You might as well prepare to cry. And cry a lot. Unless rejection doesn’t make your feels sting, that is. This is why I stopped caring about becoming an author. I just can’t handle hundreds of rejection letters piling up in my desk drawer. This is a really tough market to break in to, and most never do.
Then there’s getting an agent. An agent gives you a better chance at a publishing company, but no guarantees. You’re also going to get a lot of “No”s from this avenue, and you’re still going to get rejected from the publishers.
Sometimes, you won’t even get a response from anyone at all. There are so many “wanna be” writers and already established writers vying for the attention of editors every where you turn. It’s the most competitive market there is, next to music. I would say that music and writing are the hardest jobs in terms of trying to make a living. Photography is hard as well.
I recently spent a lot of time applying for about 15 freelance writing jobs that I thought I was qualified to do. I didn’t hear back from a single one of those applications. I stopped trying, because what’s the point? The editors that post these jobs are so inundated with applications they don’t even have the time to write back a simple email saying something like “I thank you for your interest in this position. At this time, your experience and qualifications do not match what we are looking for…” or some such thing. They didn’t even send a FORM letter back.
Am I pessimistic about this? Maybe. Or, maybe I’m just a realist. Keep in mind, these freelance jobs I was applying for..? They were $20 per article. So, it’s not even like I was applying for prestigious writing jobs, which can pay up to $250+ per article. Thus, is it realistic to try and become an author? I would say no, it’s not a worthwhile effort to seek such a thing out actively. Writing is something that needs to be done on the side, for yourself.
I used to be a dreamer. And then reality sunk in like a cold splash of water to the face.
Honey & Chocolate 