An Open Letter To Writers Who Constantly Tell Us How Much Money You Make

You’re Forgetting One Very Important Thing

As an editor for several publications, I’ve been totally blown away lately by the number of new writers and a few veteran writers who continuously post articles on what they did, or are doing, to make tons of money with their writing.

Typically, this is where my ranting starts, but hey, even this old dawg can learn a new trick or two. No rants, just observations.

I’m going to break these observations into two parts. The first part will be a brief dip into the analysis pool of these types of articles and because I’ve been known to save the best for last, the single thing all writers who publish articles such as these forget to do.

Albeit a tad infuriating for some (most) of the veteran writers here who have been slaving away for a very long time and making a pittance, we really need to stop and give these writers their due.

They’ve done the work just as we have (but not as long) and they’re now bringing in some pretty good dough. What I’ve noticed in almost every piece I’ve edited is that most of them at least use spellcheck — every now and then.

Interestingly enough, every piece had some or all of the same steps on what we as the writing community, need to do to start making the same money they’re making.

• Don’t write clickbait titles, but make your titles click-worthy.
• Write poignant, from the heart articles that make the reader want to read.
• Format your stories, so they are pleasing to the eye and make the reader keep on reading.
• Use quality artwork in your stories.
• Don’t write quantity; write quality.

The concern I have with most of these — getting richer by the second — writers is they never provide truly concrete examples of what a quality title or poignant writing or pleasing format is. What they often do is provide a link to one of their highest-earning stories as if to say, “do it just like this. Oh, and by the way, be sure to read all the way to the end.”

When I see these pieces (and I do a lot), I must admit, I’m just a bit conflicted. It’s one thing to read advice from a “I’m making tons of money and you can too” writer who has only been writing for a couple of years. But it’s entirely another to hear the same advice from a financially struggling writer who has been writing for over thirty years.

Which one should I really pay attention to?

I suppose it depends on who you are, where you are in the process of writing, and what your real motives are.

I daresay there are thousands of new writers who join the ranks of this platform each month. They’re just starting out, don’t know which way is up, and have little clue how to get started on the journey.

All they know is they want to make money writing stuff.

It stands to reason they’re going to seek out advice from these so-called “writing oracles”. Many of these new writers are desperate for the magic bullet. They often pounce on articles such as these, thinking the advice proffered is going to be the “holy grail” to their writing dreams.

The more writers who join our ranks seeking fast-track wisdom to riches, the more times these “oracles” are read, and of course, the more money these purveyors of writing magic are rewarded.

It’s pretty simple mathematics.

The problem is when these “new to the game” writers start their copycat adventure to the mother load they discover even though they’ve done precisely what the “experts” say to do — stopping just short of plagiarizing one of the oracles’ successful articles — they don’t see Manna falling from heaven.

They get disgusted, angry that it’s not happening for them like the stellar writers who are making all the bucks said it would, and they call BS and quit.

Happens all the time.

These frustrated newbies quit, but not before leaving a little sumpin’, sumpin’ in the writing expert’s pocket for their wonderful advice.

Remember, earlier I said it depends on what your motives are. So, let me ask you one more question before I slide into the one thing all these “advice-givers” are forgetting to do. Think about all the writers who have been here for years and years, writing every day and making pennies each month.

Why do you, dear reader, think they’re still here, still writing? I’ll wait.

Give up?

They’re here because they love to write. Sure, they won’t turn away from the chump change their making, but that’s not what’s important to them. It’s the writing. Bill Clinton was once quoted as saying, “it’s the economy stupid.” It’s the same for a ton of writers here. It’s the writing, the sheer love of writing.

So what do all of the magic bullet, “I made a ton of money and you can too”, writers fail to do every single time they put out an advice piece? It actually took me a bit to notice it, but each one I’ve seen of late has omitted the very same thing.

Each of these types of stories had the same “here’s what I did, and you can do it too” type of content in the body of their work. Unfortunately, a ton of them said the same thing the exact same way.

Copy, paste.

But none of them, not a single one of them, thanked us for reading their work. I’m not talking about the ubiquitous Thanks For Reading comment at the bottom of their work. Hell, I do that on all of my pieces. Well, except my series where I prompt the reader to Read On.

What I’m talking about is a message to all of us readers who, by reading the writer’s work, help put them on the money map. What about a few acknowledgments to all the readers? What about thanking the readers who could have scrolled on by, but didn’t? How about offering high praise to those who could have clicked in and immediately clicked right back out but didn’t?

What I would love to see is a few simple, but genuine, admissions that the writer would be nowhere close to where they are now without the wonderful readers who stuck with them and read their work.

You know what? The truth is without us reading their work they wouldn’t have made that dough.

Without us readers, these moneybags who continuously barrage us with their how to make money writing articles would right now, at this very minute, be frantically reading someone else’s “how-to” piece.

Yeah, they’d be reading and praying desperately that what they read becomes their own magic bullet to riches and fame.

So to all you writers who continuously write about making money here and insist on offering your wisdom to the rest of us all I can say is:

You’re welcome.

Thank you so much for reading. You didn’t have to, but I’m certainly glad you did.

Let’s keep in touch: [email protected]

© P.G. Barnett, 2020. All Rights Reserved.