Writer's Fallout Shelter

Ah, Jessie, you've found a topic that bugs me worse than an exposed molar nerve. I'm going to try and contribute to this thread while playing nice with the bizarre idea that "writing for cash is criminal."

I've also heard a very few writers say that taking money for writing is a form of prostitution. I reach for the Pepto-Bismol every time I hear this. I find the process of writing to be romantic enough without having to saddle it with the ridiculous baggage of the "tortured artist." (Not saying that tortured artists don't exist. I know several. But without exception, writing for money has nothing to do with the "torture."

Some people have this bizarre idea that you have to throttle back your emotions or message if you want to ever see your work in commercial print. Those same people should consider that some (many) of the most "tortured artists" to ever lift a pen sold pieces and had them published. On numerous occasions. (That's how we knew the writers were A. tortured, and B. artists: We had a chance to buy their work and experience their passions.)

Selling work is a means to several ends. Situations differ with the authors, of course. It can mean you've found a way to earn a few extra dollars, and there's nothing wrong with that. Writing to entertain is honorable work folks, and monetary compensation for time and effort is fair and proper.

Selling can also be a kind of validation, that some audience finds merit and value in your efforts. And it can mean you've simply found a way to distribute or expose your message to people who otherwise would never see it. As Jessie said, I write to be read.

Not all books are, or should be of a "commercial" nature. Commercial works keep the booksellers in business so they can afford to take the academic, controversial, left-field, ultra-conservative, radical, and free-thinking works that come along. Hard to get those kinds of books into print with the major publishers? Maybe. Even so, authors who've had little or no luck with major publishers can always look at the less lucrative, though no less valid, small press or web publishers. Regardless of the route, it requires effort, luck, timing, patience, and tenacity to sell books.

Maybe it's just easier for some people to say "no one understands me" or "selling your work is prostitution."

Heaven forbide that someone would actually pay a writer. Why just think, if no one ever sold a book, they're be none of those nasty old libraries cluttering up our cities and schools!

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"Have you ever been caught hiding bodies in your closet? No? Good place to hide them, uh?"

Proud member of the Horror Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, and the Authors Guild