Lois – It’s not just the publicity load that has expanded enormously, it’s also the opportunity and ability for those with minimal knowledge and publicity skills to jump into the arena has expanded. The Internet makes it easy to trade ideas, provides tons of new ways to “get exposure,” and allows writers to produce things from bookmarks to mugs and T-shirts relatively easily…and many, many of them do. When I was getting started, a lot of the same conventional wisdom about publicity was around (i.e., the writer has to do it or it doesn’t happen), but you had to work a little to even find out that other writers thought they had to go talk to the truck drivers or ID buyers, or make up bookmarks or other giveaways…and all those things were much harder to do.

nct2 – It’s not quitting your day job that’s the key turning point; it’s selling your first novel. As Lois said, the work load grows as the number of novels you have out grows, but if you have anything at all on bookstore shelves or on offer to the public for money, everything else applies, whether or not you have a traditional day job. Fan mail doesn’t usually get to be a big deal until a) you’ve been around and visible for ten or fifteen years (whether as published writer or as Internet blogger building a fan base), b) you have a big hit, or c) you write fiction for children or teens. You have a certain amount of control over much of it – for instance, if you and your agent don’t actively market foreign rights, you’re not likely to get many inquiries unless you have a hit – but a lot of it will happen eventually if you keep at this, even if you try to duck it. Quitting the traditional day job is what you do when managing your writing career while actually writing becomes more than you have time for (or at least, that’s how I did it).

Dan – I have known very few writers who could work a writing-related day job and still come home at the end of every day and get more writing done. The notes-on-weekdays, write-on-weekends method has worked for a number of people I know, so let me just add that it not only can be done, it can be done with great success (Hi, Lois!).

I love to write, but I often end up burned out at the end of the day. It’s tough to come home and relish delving right back into writing again—you can overdose on things you love, after all. I imagine there might be a few professional chefs who get home at the end of the day and can’t stand the idea of cooking another meal.

It’s frustrating at times, feeling like you’d much rather be working on your own project, but as I do get paid to write every day, I’m pretty fortunate. And, after a year of working almost only exclusively weekends, I’ve almost finished my latest novel. So it can be done.

I came to this blog via Lois M Bujold’s blog (-which I’ve just seen) and its resonated with some heavy thoughts I’ve been having.

Its inspired me AND given me a kick up the rear!

ta

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I would imagine that taxes do and fan mail doesn’t, but I’ve no idea about the rest of it. (Not that I need to worry about any of it any time soon.)

The PR load on writers has expanded hugely since Pat and I started our careers.

The para-writing attention drain also goes up over time, as there are more things going in and out about more titles — subrights and foreign rights and so on. Doing things about, say, one’s e-book presence wasn’t even a thought on the (in my case, quite limited) horizon back when we began.

The being-your-own-boss thing does count, sort of; there are also elements that are more like having dozens of bosses.

For my early books, my involvement was limited to the sending of the manuscripts, checking the galleys, maybe tweaking the cover copy, and then plunging into a news blackout till some months after publication when I would timidly write (snail mail) my editor to find out what was happening with my precious book. Nothing else. (Except the tax record-keeping, natch — less of it, but all done by hand, badly.)

Ta, L.

For me, another big one would be the simple fact of being my own boss – I took a serious hit in income for that purpose during the dotcom craziness, and even failing as I did to make my fortune, it turned out to be worth every glorious year I could wring out of it.

Go that road again, it’s apt to be with storytelling, and it’ll be hard to go back on it. There’s long ways still, before I’m set for that.

You must have an awfully big desk. >:)

… not that I don’t have a six foot stack of my own, but it fills up three big boxes, not one drawer.

(And yes, I am still trying to get something done with it all. I spent most of today writing a query letter, in fact. Bleh. I will be very glad to get back to actual story writing tomorrow!)

I always figured that a novel was like a bridge — no matter how fine, useless until it’s all the way done and reaches the other shore/the end.

Good post!

Ta, L. (Wading to the waist amongst a bunch of crooked pylons at present.)