Does it actually matter if you make it as an author or not?

And should you invest in something you're not sure will make you your money back?

Shira

Feb 21, 2025

Welcome (or welcome back) to my writing journey!

How are you all doing?

Notebook with the words "don't compare yourself to others" written on a page — Photo by Bich Tran

This post is going to deal with a very heavy question.

Before we even get to that question though, we have to ask ourselves a few others, first.

What does it mean to “make it“ ?

Obviously the answer to this question will differ from person to person. It could mean being published by a traditional publisher, having one stranger buy your book, earning money from your writing, becoming a NYT best-selling author, or a million other things.

I’m sure you already have some picture in your head of what your life would look like if you “made it”. Examining that idea in depth might be helpful to you if you’re looking to have a concrete goal to work towards. Knowing what you want allows you to develop a plan to get there, and it also supplies the motivation if it’s something you really want.

If you’re focused on writing because it makes you happy or because it improves your quality of life, it might actually be a bad idea to look into this. If you’re writing for writing’s sake, you may not want an outside goal like that. Goals put a lot of pressure on you. Usually this is a good thing, because if you want to achieve something, pressure is a very good motivator. That’s basically how goals work. If you’re writing because it brings you joy, having a goal tied to success can really suck that joy out of it. If this sounds like you, keep doing what you have been. Let writing bring you joy, and leave all outside pressures out of it.

For me, making it looks like having published books, having a wonderful community who reads this publication, and making some money from my writing, which would allow me to spend multiple hours a day writing. I don’t necessarily want writing to be my whole career, but I do want it to be a very substantial part of my life.

Are you writing in order to make it?

You need to ask yourself why you write. I posted a note with this question a while back, and I got many different answers. It was really beautiful to read through them and see how varied they were and how personal each answer was to the person who wrote it.

The question you need to ask yourself now goes a little deeper. It goes past your initial motivation and reason.

Would you still write if no one was reading? Would you still write if it felt like you were sending it out into the void and getting nothing back?

If the answer is yes, then you are truly writing for yourself. You are not writing to make it.

If your answer is no, even a little bit, then there is some part of you that is writing to make it. There's nothing wrong with that. Not at all. A lot of the time, if you're not writing “for yourself”, your writing doesn't get taken as seriously, or you’re seen as chasing external validation. It has a kind of dirty quality to it. I wholly disagree with that.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to make writing a career, or earn money from it, or whatever making it looks like to you. There's also nothing wrong with just writing for yourself. My point with this post is not to promote one goal-system for writing and trash on another. My point is to help you zero in on why you're writing.

When you know why you're doing something, when you know what goal you're aiming for, it makes it a lot easier to achieve. When you know what motivates you, you can help yourself get through hard times. When you know what you want, it can really help you stop putting unnecessary pressure on yourself and stop measuring yourself by the standards of a career or goal you don't even want or care about.

Both options have their pros and cons. Knowing which pros and which cons go along with your chosen path will not only smooth the way, but also help you get where you're actually trying to go.

Personally, I am writing to make it. I have a goal and an idea of what my dream life looks like, and I want my writing to help me get there. I’m also writing for myself, in that writing, with no connection to the results, brings me joy. However, because I’m also motivated by making it, I know that if I wasn’t seeing success from my writing I would definitely write less. I wouldn’t abandon it completely, because writing does make me happy, but I would definitely be spending less time writing.

I know I’m probably going to get judged by some people, for writing for a reason other than to let my soul sing so to speak, but I believe that in order to be satisfied with my life and myself, I need to be honest. So I’m sharing my honest thoughts. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pursuing writing because it can lead to a successful career,and that’s what works for me. I hope that whatever your motivations are, you can be honest with yourself about them, so that when you achieve your goals you’ll actually be happy about it, because it’s what you really wanted to do.

Should you invest in your writing?

This is a very tough question because it could mean so many different things. You could be investing time, money, energy, mental space, or anything else, and the implications of each kind of investment are vastly different. The other things going on in your life also have a large ability to dictate what you can, and are, willing to invest in the various areas of your life.

Each person’s path to reach their answer to this question is so different, that I considered not writing this part at all. There are so many things that I may not even be taking into consideration that matter greatly to you, and I fear that I can only give my personal answer and share my process of finding it, and hope that that’ll be enough to give you some direction in your quest for your own answer.

Above I described what making it would look like for me, and shared that I am, at least partially, writing to make it.

Knowing that helps me answer the question of investing in my writing. I’ll address a few of the investment options, because my answer for each of them is different.

I am absolutely willing to invest time and energy into my writing. I get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of simply writing, so I’m happy to spend time and expend energy on it. Additionally, writing helps me recharge and relax, so I basically get an immediate return on my energy investment, which makes it a no-brainer.

Investing money in my writing is the tougher question. On the one hand, I do eventually expect to make money from my writing, so investing in it would make sense. On the other hand, getting the return on my investment is in no way guaranteed. I don’t know for certain that I will make any money at all from my writing, so I don’t know if I’ll even break even, much less make a profit.

Another thing to consider is that there are a lot of things in life that I need to spend my money on. Actual necessities. These come before anything. Things like rent, bills, food, etc. Only once I’m done with those needs can I turn and consider spending money on my wants. Obviously, the amount of money I’m left with after taking care of the necessities is considerably less than what I started with initially. I’m not a financial planner, but I do think there is a hierarchy to spending, and necessities and savings come before my wants.

There is also an order of importance to the things I want to spend money on. I need to decide where my writing falls. Currently it’s at the top, but it wasn’t always and will probably shift downwards at some point. I don’t know. Currently though, I am willing to spend money cautiously on my writing. There are so many free resources available, that only truly excellent things are worth spending my money on.

I am a paid subscriber to a writing newsletter, and I purchased one writing program when it was on sale. The writing program is amazing for me because they send out daily accountability emails, once a week there’s a really deep dive into the craft of writing, and they offer accountability and planning zoom calls as well. Those things are incredibly helpful to me, and when I tried it out for a month I saw how much they improved my writing. Worth it.

The course is by the same person who writes the newsletter, and I bought it after seeing how much this person’s teaching helped me. The course is amazing and has helped me plot and make significant porogress on my novel. I haven’t finished it yet, but when I do I’ll probably write a review and share it with you guys because it really helped me.

In total, I spend less than $10 a month on my writing. This is a comfortable amount for me, because even if I don’t end up making money from my writing, it will still be money well spent. It got me closer to my goals and improved my writing. I won’t be dissappointed I spent it regardless of the monetary outcome of my writing. I don’t think I’d feel the same way if I was spending $100 a month.

The bottom line

Once you have your reason for writing, you can create a goal. That goal will allow you to divide your time and energy according to what is important to you. That is the simpler part of the equation.

That reason and goal will also help you reach a decision about whether you want to also invest money in your writing. Because of the many other factors that dictate how you spend your money, this question is much harder to answer.

I hope that by sharing my considerations I can help you think more deeply about your motivations and what you’re willing to invest in your writing.

Are you writing to make it? If so, what does making it look like for you? If not, where does your dream writing path lead you? What does investing in your writing look like for you?