Four Reasons You Won’t Make It as a Professional Writer
And what you can do instead.
If you’re reading this, you are probably a writer, and you’d like to get paid for your efforts.
We all do. Extra cash is always nice, especially with the holidays approaching.
If you’ve been writing for a while and don’t see the trajectory you want, you may be doing a few things wrong. You might be focusing on the wrong metrics and concentrating on things that prevent you from developing the writing habit you need to leave your casual writer self behind and step into your identity as a paid writer.
Four reasons you won’t make it as a paid writer
You are concentrating on the wrong things.
You are concentrating on stats, payout, and curation when you haven’t put in the writing time yet. When you measure your success in terms of the wrong metrics, it can impede your success.
It is the rare bird who will sit down to write and produce a viral article when first at bat. Most of us won’t strike a home run when we first step up to the plate, but the more times at bat we have, the chances of writing that viral article are greater.
Put your stories out there; one will eventually land. The odds are in your favor. You absolutely will not find writing success if you never step up to the plate.
Try not to measure your success in metrics like curation, reads, views, etc. — although this is what we ultimately want on this platform, try to concentrate on small wins first.
Do this instead.
Concentrate on small wins. Focus on making an impact in someone’s life. Base your wins on things like your first positive comment; even your first negative comment can be thrilling as well.
Your goal is simply to win most of the time. When you accomplish small wins, it adds to your writer’s identity. What is a small win? A small win is saying I’m going to sit down and write. Don’t start with I’m going to write 1,500 words a day. You are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, say, I will write each morning at 9:00 am at my desk for an hour. Increase the time each week.
Each time you write, you are a writer. You’re embodying the identity of a writer. The more you repeat the behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior. You’re both reinforcing the habit and your identity as a writer.
The type of person who becomes a paid writer is consistent and reliable when it comes to writing time. Show up to write.
You quit right before you see the labor of your work pay off.
When I started writing here over a year ago, I didn’t look at my stats for an entire three months. I couldn’t even locate the stats page, nor could I figure out if my articles were curated. I had a feeling my writing was resonating because a couple of the larger publications reached out to me, but when they did, I didn’t give it much thought; I just kept writing. Every. Single. Day.
Had I looked at my stats, I can assure you I would have been more likely to give up. Even without checking my stats after three months of writing and not much traction, I wanted to give up more than a dozen times.
As Jay Z so rightly said,
The genius thing that we did was we didn’t give up.
My suspicion is that many people don’t make it as a paid writer because they give up too quickly. I was one of these people. Actually, I didn’t even try. I wrote one story way back in 2015, posted it, waited a few minutes for throngs of people to swarm to my story, and when no one did, I gave up. That is bonkers! To think I could write one story and have people go nuts for it is unrealistic.
Little did I know that I’d have to write 100 stories before people started paying attention. I hadn’t put in my dues as a writer. Even great writers admit it takes years and years of writing to get good enough. I’m still not a good writer; I have miles to go.
Do this instead.
When you want to quit, and you will, keep persisting. Successful people share at least one common trait — persistence. It is especially true when it comes to writing.
Keep going. You will have a higher chance of success if you keep going. You will have zero chance of success if you stop now.
Often, success is right around the corner, but we can’t see it. We keep wondering when it will come, and many times it comes right after we were about to give up. Don’t. Keep going.
You don’t love it.
Writing is hard. Full-stop. It is more skill than talent. Yes, some people have a gift for words. Check out the blog Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. She’s a natural writer with a gift for telling a story you can’t stop reading. She illustrates her stories with silly and fantastic artwork to describe her feelings from her childhood self. Her blog went viral quickly, she signed a book deal and wrote a widely successful book based on her blog, and now has dropped off the face of the planet. I think she is living in Bend, OR with her partner; I’m not sure if she is still writing. Read her struggles with depression and anxiety. It is a master class in writing.
I bought her book based on her blog. My daughter and I read it aloud to each other in bed, with tears streaming down our faces from laughter. There are several short, brilliant stories, but the one that gets us doubled over in laughter no matter how many times we read it is Lost in the Woods.
You’ll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. — Zinsser
When you read Brosh, it is obvious she has a love for storytelling and words. You gotta love words to be a great writer. It can take years of practice. Be dedicated to writing; you won’t fail. I guarantee it.
Do this instead.
Focus on what writers do to get better, you will eventually become a great writer. It takes practice, like anything else in life. If you don’t love it, you won’t put in the practice required. And let’s be real, if you don’t love it, why bother?
Have a heart to heart with yourself, ask yourself, “Do I really like to write?”
You will save yourself time and pain. If the answer is “no,” you’ll have more time to follow what you do love to do instead. There are a lot of easier ways to make money than wrestling with words all day.
You complain.
You are complaining that other writers have it easier than you.
Yes. Some writers will just take off. Like my previous example of writer Allie Brosh. Good for them. Be happy for them, even if the only reason you are happy for them is that complaining will not be good for your writing career.
There is a lot of negativity online. Don’t add to it. People aren’t attracted to people who complain and approach anything with a “whoa is me” attitude.
We all have pangs of envy and jealousy.
I read an article in The Atlantic last night that had me really questioning if I’d ever be a great writer; that doesn’t really matter; the only thing that matters is if I like to write and whether I think it is worth time. I do.
If you wonder why some writers take-off faster than you, you are putting your energy in the wrong place. You may think, I can’t believe so and so wrote that piece, and it has X amount of views; it isn’t even very good. I can write a better piece than that four minute piece of…
Well, you didn’t write that four-minute piece of …that everyone seems to love. You didn’t come up with the idea or articulate it in a way that resonates.
Instead of concentrating on why you think they don’t deserve x and x, put that energy into writing better.
Do this instead.
One way of getting out of the comparison trap you put yourself in with other writers is to remember that growth happens when we compare ourselves to our own evolution.
Real growth doesn’t come from measuring ourselves against others but from measuring our progress. Compare yourself now to yourself a month ago, three months ago, a year ago. Then, plan what you want your life to look like three months, six months, or a year from now.
Don’t worry about what others are doing; put sustained effort into your writing journey and find out what you are capable of, and your writing life will expand exponentially. Complaining that you aren’t as far as such and such when you started earlier only increases that burden.
When I find myself in the comparison trap or dealing with “imposter syndrome,” I ask myself, what do I want, what could I do to grow my writing chops?
Then I answer the question. It is usually something straightforward, like read a book on writing or take a writing class. And then, I do it. I’m continually pushing myself to get better, and one of the ways I do this is sitting down to write every day.
When I look back at my posts from only six months ago, I can see improvement only from the concerted effort I’ve been putting in the last six months. I’ve gotten better. The progress I’m able to point to — not in terms of fans, followers, readers — but actual growth, keeps me striving to write better.
Focus on things that will make you a better writer, not on what every other writer is doing.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering type-A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
