What is a full-time writer?
There are always some discussions going on about not being able to make a living as a full time writer.
First I get hung up on ‘making a living’. My wife couldn’t ‘make a living’ as a full-time teacher. She needed a second income in the family to support her teaching hobby…
I always find it funny that people think writing one book a year should be considered a full time job. Just because some books earn a wage that consitutes a full-time job, writing one book a year doesn’t mean it is.
Let’s do some simple math. Let’s use these conservative numbers.
100k words = book.
Say, three full drafts for completed novel. 300K words.
Let’s give a writer 500 words per hour. That’s a really conservative number, in my opinion. You know I have that whole 1000 words per hour thing.
Full time job is 40 hours per week.
300,000 / 500 / 40 = 15
15 weeks to write a book. That’s a seasonal job.
Or to look at it a different way, there are 46 working weeks in a year when you subtract (U.S.) holidays and vacation time.
300,000 / 500 / 46 = 13+ hours per week.
I am pretty sure 13 hours per week is still considered a part time job.
A full time writer should be writing three books per year. The only challenge in that is actually selling 3 books per year. This is where cross-genre, pen names, work-for-hire, etc enter the equation. And with new technology, new opportunities are popping up all over the place.
To me, anyone who doesn’t understand this, doesn’t understand what it means to be an entrepreneur. To be a freelancer. To be self-employed. These are people who believe a living wage starts at six-figures.
Sorry. You want to be self-employed? You have to hustle. Get over it.
All that said, I still have the Harper Lee dream. I’d like someone to give me a year’s salary to take a year and write my book and then have that book become pure gold.
I always imagine this conversation.
Person: “What do you do?”
HL: “I wrote a book once. It was a good book.”
Comments
Comment from Patrick
Time: June 30, 2010, 12:47 pm
Sure I am oversimplifying it, but I also think I am being really conservative on numbers. With 300K words written per book, wouldn’t you consider that including editing/re-drafting? I also feel I am being conservative on the writing speed, too.
All I am saying is that if someone expects a full time wage as a novelist, they should really expect it to take full-time effort. I also think that 40 hours a week is generous for a salaried position, especially for one making 6 figures. And that doesn’t include commute times. I regularly clock 60 hours a week on my schedule.
The discussion/position that I find annoying usually centers around “I want to write a book every year or two and I expect huge sums of money.” It usually comes down to an arrogance that the writer thinks they are writing literature for posterity and these things take time.
As you’re well aware, writing is a lot of work. Just like any full time job. 
Comment from Mike
Time: June 30, 2010, 1:14 pm
Why are there pictures of cute baby girls on your picture wall. I have been to your house. You have no cute baby girls.
Who really works a 40 hour week and makes a living these days? I’ve got a list — so far I have bankers and stock car drivers.
Comment from Patrick
Time: June 30, 2010, 1:41 pm
I believe that cute little girl is your son.
Comment from mike
Time: July 1, 2010, 2:26 am
I think that’s not likely. The cute little girl is 2 feet tall and appears to be wearing bright pink. My son is taller than that.
Comment from Patrick
Time: July 1, 2010, 12:00 pm
Hmm. Well, then it’s either your niece or the sister of one of Oliver’s friends in the neighborhood who we go camping with. So, I’m not sure which of the three, since the picture thing is random.
Comment from Mike
Time: July 2, 2010, 6:37 am
It’s definitely not my niece. I only have one niece. I mostly know what she looks like. Nephews, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen.
Comment from Patrick
Time: July 2, 2010, 7:21 am
It’s a neighborhood kid, then. We go camping with them. Pictures are probably from camping. All my neighbors have 18 children each.
Was it this one? http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4470414887_643002a69a_m.jpg
Comment from mike
Time: July 3, 2010, 6:43 am
Yes, that one.
I just got a note that my comment was too short and that I should try again and make it longer. Now I feel pressure — how long does it have to be?
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Comment from Kristen Painter
Time: June 30, 2010, 10:38 am
You forgot to factor in time for editing. And then, once you sell, there are other things to spend your time on like promo and setting up promo and traveling to promo and filling out cover art sheets and publisher questionnaires and maintaining a blog/website/FB page and writing proposals and reading contracts and going to the post office and…