Turning Professional as a Writer

If I had to do it all over again, here’s what I’d tell my younger self.

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By

T K Hall

I’ve been a professional writer for over twenty years, and in all that time I’ve rarely stopped worrying about money.

There have been bright spots. I got a good advance for my first series of novels. I’ve had regular paycheques from ghostwriting and from journalism. But more often than not balancing the books has been an ongoing battle.

All that said, making a living from writing is entirely possible. Especially if you know the pitfalls to watch out for.

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There are many things I wish I’d done differently up to this point – usually the result of advice I ignored.

If I had to do it all over again, here’s what I’d tell my younger self:

Don’t be too quick to ditch the day job...

When I struck lucky, and my first novel sold to a publisher, I immediately turned my back on all my old journalism work. I focused solely on my book and its proposed sequels. I was certain that ‘following my bliss’ would be enough to carry me through.

It wasn’t. My first book was well received, but didn’t sell in anything like the numbers needed to sustain a livelihood. Paying the bills became difficult. The stress this caused contributed to major writer’s block and stunted my storytelling for years.

Even once you start making money from writing, the earnings tend to be erratic. Therefore, I recommend keeping at least a side job. The steady income helps steady the nerves. It provides a firm grounding on which to build our creative work.

...but try to make it the right day job.

Having done a great number of odd jobs, I’ve settled on one that works perfectly alongside writing. I work for a charity helping to run youth centres for disadvantaged young people. This gets me away from my desk and doing something active and social. It feels worthwhile and energising.

What’s more, it helps inspire my writing. My novels often feature teenage protagonists. Working with young people, learning how they act and what they actually think, gives me real-life detail to feed into my fictional characters.

If you’re serious about writing, but your day job leaves you depleted, think seriously about alternatives. Whatever it is you choose, do as little of it as you can to get by, then dedicate the rest of your time and energy to getting words on the page.

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Put yourself out there...

When I first became an author, I was advised to get more active on social media. I resisted because I thought it would suck up too much time. In my naivety (and arrogance) I thought marketing was for marketing departments.

Now I accept that every writer is also a marketeer. And that doesn’t have to be as deathly as it sounds. Since starting my Substack, I’ve found it can actually be a fun part of the job. I’m now connecting with loads of like-minded readers and writers, enjoying their company online and learning loads in the process.

...but not so much you’re never in.

Mind you, we’ve got to strike a balance. There’s so much wonderful stuff here on Substack, if I’m not careful I can spend hours interacting with other people’s writing and neglecting to do enough of my own.

As ever, in the life of freelancer, scheduling is our friend. I have a set hour each day in which I sit down to comment on other people’s articles, reply to messages, and explore what’s new. Then I get back to focusing on my own work.

T K Hall writes Wildwood Rising, a newsletter all about the ups and downs of being a professional writer. Sign up here.

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114: Mini Book Publishing (with Chris Stanley)

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Don’t be afraid to start small...

Again, when I started out as an author, I was encouraged to take care of the little things. A visit to a local book shop to introduce myself. A writing workshop at a nearby library.

I regarded such activities as a waste of time. They didn’t fit in with my plans for global success. But I’ve seen since that little actions really can start to add up. Every reader you meet, every bookseller, is one more potential champion of your work.

Also, starting small is satisfying. Watching something grow, reader by reader, is part of the joy of creativity.

...but keep on dreaming big.

There’s never been an easy time to be a writer. Arguably, the competition right now is fiercer than ever. On the flip side, there’s never been more ways to get our words out there. Through platforms like Substack, we can publish our essays and stories and have them read all over the world.

The challenges remain considerable. But the potential is now limitless.

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T K Hall is the author of The Blind Bowman trilogy, a dark fantasy retelling of the Robin Hood legends, which the Guardian compared with A Game of Thrones and the Sun newspaper called “Astonishingly good”.

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