Writers and Money

Let's talk money mindset for writers.

Like everything mindset related, it all comes down to the story you tell yourself. What stories are you telling yourself about money and writing?

Maybe you have a very positive story about how much it’s possible to make as a writer. Or maybe not so much.

I want you to take a look inside your brain and see what's in there. I’m going to give you some tools to unpack your money thoughts and see if they are serving you well.

Because here's what we hear in our culture about making money as a writer:

• Writers don't make money.

• Writers are starving artists.

• We can’t be in this for profit.

• Profiting from art is obscene.

• You shouldn't be charging for that.

• Wealthy people are greedy bastards.

• You should write for free for the exposure.

I invite you to take a minute and write down all your thoughts about money.

When we discussed this in the Happily Ever Author Club recently (March is Money Month) one of our members shared her thoughts:

“I feel that almost every author thing I do is unpaid volunteer, literary citizenship, and I have mixed feelings about it.”

Another had this realization:

“I aim low. Like, all I want is to make as much in a month as I currently take in from my part-time job.”

How do your thoughts about what's possible with money make you feel? Excited and eager to get to work? Or depressed and hopeless? How ready to take action are you, based on your thoughts and feelings?

As you look at all of the thoughts that you wrote down, I want you to ask yourself, where did those thoughts come from?

Really. Whose thoughts are those?

Some of them may have come from your parents. Some of them may have come from your partner or your spouse. Some of them may have come from a teacher or a mentor along the way.

It’s really, important to crack open your brain and look at what's in there and start challenging your own stories.

Here’s why:

Just as your thoughts are the source of your stories and therefore the books you write, so is money.

The money you make is a result of your thoughts.

Your thoughts create your feelings.

Your feelings drive your actions.

Your actions create your results.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at an example most people already believe.

Let’s say there’s a young woman who doesn’t think she’s college material, because that’s what society has told her for her entire life—in subtle and not so subtle ways.

She’s internalized that thought “I'm not college material,” so she feels discouraged and hopeless when she thinks about going to college. That feeling of discouragement means she doesn’t take any meaningful action to get into college. She doesn’t study. She doesn’t sign up for the SAT. She doesn’t fill out any college applications. The result is that she doesn’t go to college.

Is the same thing dynamic at work when it comes to you and making money with your writing?

Do you believe the messages in our culture that say profiting from your writing isn’t possible? How does that make you feel? Do those feelings prevent you from taking any meaningful action that could lead to making more money with your writing?

What would happen if you got more intentional with the story you tell yourself about money?

You don't have to believe you're the next Stephen King right away. A good place to start is just with a thought or story that opens up some possibility.

For example, your new thought could be: “Some writers write full time and do make a good living. Maybe that could be me.”

Maybe when you practice that thought you feel more motivated.

• Then from that motivated space, you can start to take some action.

• Brainstorm all the possible ways you could make money from your writing.

• Set some goals.

• Put some systems in place to hit those goals.

• Then start implementing.

If you don't like where you are with money, you have to tell yourself a different story about it. Lucky thing you’re a writer. You have what it takes to write a whole new story for yourself and get a whole new ending with a fat bank account on the last page.

If you need help writing that story, you should join us in the Happily Ever Author Club. The doors are open.