Writing books may be one’s most important work in life, but it is not always the easiest way to pay the bills.
Even successful writers often have to come up with other ways to support themselves. In a piece for Salon, author and essayist Ann Bauer argues that writers should be more up front about this fact. She reveals that she is able to have a career writing because of her husband’s “sponsorship.” Here is an excerpt from her piece:
In my opinion, we do an enormous “let them eat cake” disservice to our community when we obfuscate the circumstances that help us write, publish and in some way succeed. I can’t claim the wealth of the first author (not even close); nor do I have the connections of the second. I don’t have their fame either. But I do have a huge advantage over the writer who is living paycheck to paycheck, or lonely and isolated, or dealing with a medical condition, or working a full-time job.
Should writers be more open about where their money comes from? Share your thoughts in the comments below.