Bloggers, Writers…You Know Who You Are
If you happen to be reading this article, you choose not to watch a video, listen to a soundbite or observe a live production.
You might be watching, listening or observing while reading…nonetheless you opted to spend time with the written word.
So, what constitutes a writer?
Do you have to be a member of the local Writers Guild or some type of National Endowment for (insert name here) to consider yourself prolific in your craft?
In the 1930’s FDR started the Federal Writers Project to help misplaced writers from the Great Depression begin to find work. Nearly 6,000 writers were hired over the next 10 years to write guidebooks, non-fictions works and oral histories to help educate Americans about America.
Even though the FWP helped a number of writers get back on their feet, or pick their pens back up – that doesn’t mean all were struggling and none were writing.
As of now, there are over 185,000 people in the United States who support themselves through writing books, plays, poetry and speeches.* Roughly 275,000 new titles end editions are published yearly in the United States…and, the average annual income for a writer is $38,000 a year.
I mention all of the above statistics speaking as if know every writer and every time money exchanged hands for “pen meeting paper.” Such as the stat: “185,000 people in the United States who support themselves…’”
How do we determine what supporting oneself means?
A blogger who covers the light bill by making $100 / month from Ad Sense IS supporting himself.
The tens of thousands who use Elance, ScriptLance, oDeask…the list goes on and pick up small writing and translation gigs – all support themselves through writing.
Even if you work the 8-5 and spend four hours a night busting through a blog post hoping to capture your audience and rake in a few extra bucks…for heavens sake you make up the millions (not 185,000) who do the same.
Let me be clear: not all writers have agents, book tours and contracts. Nor do all writers make a single penny from their work. But, for the ones who make $0.01 to $100,000,000…you don’t need the National Endowment of the Arts to conduct a survey to tell you who you are: a writer.
Never forget.
* National Endowment of the Arts (via Anti-Trust Law & Economics Review)
