Like it or not, we are in the midst of a writing industry crisis. You don’t see it, you say? Sure you do – you just don’t recognize it.
It’s in the low-paying jobs that have become more standard than those that pay you what you’re worth. And you feed into it every time you accept a job that pays way below the rate you’ve determined as the one you need to earn to survive.
Or wait – have you done that yet? No? Tell me you’re kidding. Tell me you at least have an idea in your head of what you want to charge. For how can you base your entire career, your financial existence, on … what? Nothing more than the will to write?
Obviously, we all have some idea of what kind of income it would take to make us sleep better. Determining your magic number takes a bit of brainstorming, but once you understand where you are, where you want to be, and what your life will look like then, you’ll start to see a bit more clearly what kind of income that’s going to take.
First, ask yourself if you’re making enough money now to survive. Yes? Good. Put that number down on paper and move on. No? Then you need to do a bit more homework. What’s your income right now? What are your total annual expenses? Write them both down. If the income is less than the outgoing, you should write down the difference and circle it. That’s the minimum amount of annual income you have to come up with. The minimum – meaning if you buy nothing at all, including groceries, you could pay your bills and just exist.
But we’re not after merely existing, are we? We have that dream of a shore house or Italian villa in our heads, don’t we? Dream away. Go on. On a separate piece of paper (or Word document), list it all. Dream big and bold. You want to retire by 50, or you want to be able to travel and turn your writing career into a travel writing career. It’s your life – now’s the time to say what you want.
Okay, back to numbers. Look at your dream list. What on there is a must-have? Choose at least one thing – that shore house in Jersey, perhaps – and attach a price tag to it. If you’ve chosen where I think you have – Ocean City – you’re going to need at the very least about $500K for a house about six blocks from the water. If you’re looking for oceanfront property, my hat’s off to you. You’re in the $2M+ range. Doable? Maybe, but that means your writing game plan is going to have to change radically, for those articles you’re writing now for 25 cents a word aren’t going to cut it. Just for fun, get a calculator and divide $2M by 25 cents. The answer is how many words you have to crank out in order to get that oceanfront condo. If the thought of writing 8 million words stifles you, congratulations. You’ve just had your first epiphany – you have to charge more in order to attain your goals.
In order to do that, you’re going to have to rethink the work you take in. I know writers who will write only books. Great! But if ghostwriting or authoring one’s own prose comes in spurts or the books aren’t selling, it’s time to change the game plan. I know I get a lot of grief for writing resumes when things are slow. However, I’m working and filling in gaps in projects, and last month that little bit of work netted me over $1,400. In a time when the world is thinking holiday vacation, I’m still cashing checks.
So what other projects can you take on? That’s tomorrow’s post.
You also have to put insurance on that list. The cost of insurance for freelances is ridiculous, and yet, we can’t be without health care. So whatever percentage of each check needs to go towards health insurance has to figure into that nut, gosh darn it.
I’d rather be working towards the house on the beach than supporting my local, useless insurance company.
You’re correct, Devon. Tomorrow’s post has mention of other things too, such as retirement savings.
If anyone has a decent healthcare provider or plan, please let me know so I can help spread the word!
My deductible is kind of on the high side, Lori, but I’ve been pretty pleased since I switched over to Aetna. I have prescription coverage (even though I don’t currently take any prescriptions), which I didn’t have with my previous policy, and my rates have not gone up in well over a year. (Now that I’ve said that, no doubt they will!) With my former provider, rates went up like clockwork every six months. Aetna is not available in all states, but if it is in yours (I know it is in yours, Lori. ;o)), I think it’s worth checking out.
Excellent post, Lori! You really make a writer dig deep and think 😉
I anticipate the next post!
Keep us busy dreaming and planning!
Smiles,
Michele
I’m always happy to see you here, Michele. I love your blog!
Thanks for the insurance info, Kathy. I’ll put something up tomorrow about it. It’s important stuff for us to share. The rates are so freaking expensive everywhere that any decent deal’s worth repeating!