Change The World With Words

Christina Katz recently wrote in her Prosperous Writer ezine about a dismaying experience she had at a recent writers’ conference. She asked a roomful of writers (about 200) whether they considered their writing a business. Only 20% of them raised their hands.

This is shocking to me at this stage in my writing career, but only a few short years ago I might not have been among that 20%. For some reason we, as writers, see ourselves as artists rather than business people. Now I firmly believe we can be both (which is why the tag line of this site is “Make art. Make money. Make a difference.”), but I haven’t always felt like that.

Like most writers my freelance writing business grew out of the writing I did as a hobby. For some people a hobby becomes a business when they make some kind of transition. Buy business premises or hire an employee, for example. But many freelance writers spend their whole careers working from home and being the sole employee of their business. So how do we make that transition and see ourselves as being “in business”?

I have a few suggestions:

Call it what it is.

Even after I started making money from my writing I would say things like “I’m a full-time mom, and I do a bit of freelance writing”. It was a long time before I felt comfortable saying “I’m a freelance writer” and even longer before I heard myself refer to my ‘freelance writing business”.

Talking about the business side of being a freelance writer can be very revealing. It was only when it came up in conversation that I had spent my morning doing some boring business tasks (sending out invoices, updating income and expenses records, promoting my blog) that I realised that friends had no idea that was part of what I did. I think they thought I just sat there “creating’ all day, and most people don’t associate creativity with business (though I’d argue that creativity is an essential part of any business enterprise).

Invest in your business.

If you were starting any other type of enterprise you’d expect to invest in it. Not just money, but time and effort as well. A freelance writing business is like any other business. It takes time to grow and the best ones grow organically, starting small, with little monetary investment, but a lot of time and work.

As long as you are only putting a small amount of time and effort (and money) into your writing you will always feel like you are “dabbling”. Carve out substantial chunks of time to write. Consider investing in a conference or writing retreat. You’ll feel more like a professional writer if you treat your writing like a business that needs and deserves investment.

Learn business skills.

Spend some time learning how to keep financial records, how to market your writing, or how to set up a website. Once you accept that being a freelance writer is about more than writing (and start learning the skills you need in order to run a successful freelance writing business) you will have more of a sense of being ‘in business’.

Recognize that art can be business.

Accept that “creating art” and “being in business” are compatible. Top fashion designers and film directors undoubtedly consider themselves artists, yet no-one has a problem with seeing the organisations at the top of the film and fashion industries as business enterprises.

Do you consider yourself a business or an artist? Are you “in business” or pursuing a hobby? Would you have been in the 20% at Christina’s conference? Please share your answers in the comments.

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