If You Write for Money, You Are A Real Writer

Those who suggest you are not should check their privilege

I have been writing on Medium for a few months now. I have tried very hard to improve my craft, which has led me to join email lists of some writers who have done well on Medium.

This morning I woke up to an email that instantly made me mad. While I generally enjoy Tom Kuegler’s writings, waking up to an article entitled “If You’re Just Writing For The Money, Then Your Not A Writer” made me so angry that I needed to share some thoughts.

While towards the end of the article, Tom Kuegler does talk about how you have to pay the bills and suggests that you should both write for money and write for pleasure. He suggests that this should be done in different articles.

Throughout the article, he discusses how those that write for money have lower quality pieces and that they are not true writers. The article discusses how he doesn’t care about headlines or big publications anymore. Yet, I am sure he makes money off teaching people to focus on headlines and getting into big publications through his Medium Mastery Academy.

Here are share some problems with the constant idea that you should not create content for money and why you are a true writer even if you write for money!

Not Writing for Money Is a Privilege

I always find it interesting how those who say you shouldn’t create content for money are those that are already making significant money from their content.

If you do not have the money to fulfil your basic needs, your efforts should be focused on finding ways to have money to fulfil your basic needs. There are many people who turn writing on Medium to attempt to make money. Most of these people actually need money.

Suggesting you should not write for money, just means you are out of touch with the realities of most writers' lives. There are so many things going on in someone’s life. When you have reached full financial stability, you can have the time to invest in hobbies that produce no income. Before you reach financial stability, your life is focused on how to achieve financial stability. This is why many people turn to side hustles and content creation to reach financial stability.

Therefore, those that discuss how content creators should not create for money should recognize that they have the privilege not to do that.

Content Creation Is a Job

Content creation takes time and much more effort than many believe. Creating content is a job, whether that is part-time or full-time. You can both love your job and still do your job for money.

I have a PhD in Chemistry and have worked as a scientist. I truly enjoy science and being a scientist. However, I am not going to spend my time researching if I am not being paid.

This logic has been used to justify unpaid internships that keep those who cannot afford to do them out of careers they love and are amazing in. Making these arguments against writing essentially suggests that someone who writes for money shouldn’t be writing at all. This means that only those who could afford to write without money should write, which largely stifles the diversity of voices.

However, I think it is wrong to suggest that if people love what they do, then money should not matter. This logic has been used to devalue content creators. It is the same reason that I have gotten emails and comments telling me I should coach people for free, which I talk about in a ranting piece below.

As writers, we should support any writer that is trying to improve their craft. It doesn’t matter if their drive is to make money, improve their craft, or just have fun.

Writing for Money Does Not Make You a Bad Writer

In the article, Tom Kuegler makes many suggestions of what those who write for money do and why it makes them not real writers.

Here is a secret. I write for money. I write to make myself a better writer. I write to help others learn from my experiences. I write for the feeling of accomplishment when I get an article accepted. My primary reason to write is to make money though.

When you read someone’s writings, you cannot know their motivation for writing that article. Another secret is that the same tactics that allow you to make more money also get your writing in front of more people. It allows you to make more of an impact with your writing. That is generally a desire that most writers want.

Being a bad writer is someone who refuses to improve. We all start at different places in our writing journey. We all have improvements we can make. As long as you focus on making those improvements, you are a true writer. It doesn’t matter what motivates you to write!