I Listened to the Advice of a Top Writer

And I almost got screwed over.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

I’ve heard writing called art, a skill, a craft, and a business, among other things.

As I see it, when you decide that you want to make money from your writing, that’s when writing becomes a business.

And when you are running a business, you need to make intelligent and educated decisions to avoid costly mistakes.

The other day I came across an article by a writer who I really enjoy reading. I also respected this writer and believed that they made intelligent business decisions.

So, when I read the article that this person wrote about earning money from writing, I was so excited. The opportunity that they wrote about sounded perfect for me.

The writer described what the opportunity entailed, how much money I could make, how the earnings were calculated, and all sorts of other things. There was also mention of a contract, exclusivity, distribution, and other terms that I kind of glossed over. I would figure all of that out later, I thought.

I read the story a few times, forwarded it to a few people I thought might also be interested in it, and then spent the rest of the evening feeling optimistic and excited about my future.

What good fortune that I came across this article and that one of the writers that I trust and respect wrote it.

The following day, I started doing my due diligence — that’s a fancy term for dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s.

I got online and fired up my Google machine and checked everything that the writer had represented in the article that I thought would change my life for the better.

Things didn’t start well.

First, I discovered that to earn even a nominal amount of money, I would have to do an astronomical amount of writing.

Then, I found out that I would be giving up all the rights to my writing.

Next, I learned that the type of place I would be writing for was, let’s say, embarrassing, and the kind of writing they sold was even more embarrassing. I wouldn’t feel comfortable telling anyone that I was writing for a place like this.