Recently, a fellow New Pulp author posted on Facebook saying that he was asked by someone if he could make a living off his writing and he tried not to laugh. Another New Pulp author said that he has family members who are convinced he’s sitting on mountains of cash from his writing career and is lying when he says otherwise.
It’s an unfortunate truth that the vast majority of us writing in New Pulp still have to have day jobs, because we do not make enough off of our writing to live off of. Even if I were making enough money from my writing to live off of, I’d still need a day job for visa purposes (the joys of dealing with the Japanese immigration system).
So when my fellow writers tell me they aren’t making enough to live off of, I nod my head in sad agreement. But what gets me is that invariably there’s someone who will come along with the “true writers write for the joy of writing, not for the money.”
That kind of mentality drives me nuts.
I’m going to post this quote from an interview with Harlan Ellison:
They always want the writer to work for nothing. And the problem is there’s so goddamn many writers who have no idea that they’re supposed to be paid every time they do something. They do it for nothing!
I love writing. Novels, novellas, short stories, comics, film and TV scripts—I love it. If I made enough money off writing to live comfortably, then I’d quit my day job so fast, it’d make your head spin. But the notion that artists don’t or shouldn’t care about money, that they’re “sell-outs” if they use their art to earn a paycheck, is just flat-out nonsense and it’s something I’m sick and tired of hearing.
If a carpenter loves his job, would you expect him to build you a table for free? If a mechanic loves his job, would you expect him to fix your car for free? If a chef loves his job, would you expect him to cook your food for free?
Absolutely not. So why is it with the arts there’s always this idea of “well if you’re a true artist, you’ll do it because you love it, not because you want to get paid.”
Fuck. That.
If you think I’m not trying to build a career out of my writing, a career that pays the bills and provides for my family, then you are out of your freaking mind. If I didn’t want money for my writing, I would only write fanfiction. If I didn’t want money for my writing, I would post up all my stuff on Wattpad and not even bother with publication. If I didn’t want money for my writing, I wouldn’t pay for cover design.
Money isn’t the only reason why I write, but it absolutely is a factor. Anyone who sells their writing and says otherwise is flat-out lying. And it’s because we’ve built up this image in our culture of the noble starving artist, slaving away at his craft not because he’s trying to enrich his soul instead of his bankbook.
Kill the starving artist. Stop perpetuating that stereotype. Because it’s that stereotype that leads to people thinking they can exploit writers and artists by getting them to do work for free.
Writers may not be laying brick or performing life-saving operations or stopping violent crimes or anything like that. But it’s still work. It’s a valuable service that people need. Writers who make a living off their art aren’t whores or sell-outs—they’re smart.