Proving the Possibility: How Writing Can Help You Survive — Believe it or Not, Many People are Living Proof
How to Start and Run a Writing and Editing Business by Herman Holtz, there is a striking statement from Samuel Johnson (a thinker and writer who lived in the 18th century): “No one but an ignoramus writes except for money. .” Dr. Johnson seemed to rail that only ignorant people write for reasons other than money. Dr. Johnson also seemed to convict that the writing job was not at all attractive unless it was financially motivated. On the other hand, it could be that these sentences were used as encouragement so that people would write because at that time the writers’ lives were not so good. Or maybe a prediction about the future of writers who wouldn’t be so good if they weren’t trying to push everything out of money.
Herman Holtz says in his book (p. xii): “For a long time, writing has been stamped as a low-paying profession for most writers who are not yet ‘established’.” In other countries, such as America or Europe, there may already be accurate surveys for today how writing work can be used as a livelihood support, including the work of writing books. However, in Indonesia we cannot get exact data, including the lack of research on the world of Indonesian books, so we don’t even know for sure how much interest in reading is actually growing among the Indonesian people and what kinds of readings they need. What is recorded is a phenomenon. Here I describe some of these phenomena.
1. Beginning writers continue to grow and new book authors are also increasingly enlivening the book market in Indonesia.
2. Some writers claim to be professional writers or part-time professional editors even though they do not really understand what professional means and are not scientifically literate in the fields of writing and editing.
3. The majority of writers work in the morning and some at night and generally write in their spare time. That is, many write after grappling with the day job (as an employee) with time left.
4. The authors do not really understand the Copyright Law or the implementation of Intellectual Property Rights, so they are often confused about dealing with publishers or clients regarding copyright.
5. Writers who claim to be professional sometimes cannot set standard rates for their services, so they are often paid below the prevailing writing market standards.
I myself am currently still involved in book publishing business activities as a professional who is paid monthly. It means, I can’t yet dedicate myself as a full time writer because from 9.00 to 17.00 I have to work in the office to manage the company. To that end, I have determined that I can retire as an office worker at the age of over 40 and then fully dedicate myself as a full-time writer.
In taking advantage of the remaining time and free time from office work, I can still manage the work of writing orders. That is, part of my life is indeed supported by writing work and in general it is writing books. Like Herman Holtz, I want to show you that actually for today the work of writing is not nonsense for financial gain. In fact, Tung Desem Waringin clearly admits that royalties from writing books are real evidence of passive income. Then, writing a book can also produce a multiplier factor (the financial freedom factor that Tung Desem always touts), for example getting a call to fill in a training/seminar/workshop, becoming a consultant, or being a permanent columnist in the print media.
I also got the factor this time. I have run training and consulting to get very decent financial rewards.
Then, does it have to be in the mind of a writer only about money and money? Not so because there is still idealism as a guardrail. The question of money is brought up here to let you know that writing can really be a money magnet for people who are fully dedicated to it — not half measures as Herman Holtz suggests. Idealism does not have to be castrated because of money because the main goal is professionalism which unites idealism and financial gain so that the writing profession can realize financial freedom.
Writing a book is one way of writing that you can take to express your ideals, self-actualize, and achieve financial benefits. However, from words and the ability to ‘write’ there are many ways to achieve these three things. Maybe you dream of creating a mega best-selling how-to book or a super-selling novel like Laskar Pelangi. It may work and it may take years. It is during this period of achieving your dream of writing a book that you too can use your writing skills for business or commercial purposes. You will likely or surely eventually find what is called CREATIVE SATISFACTION to immerse yourself in the creative industries.
So, in conclusion in this writing, I want to push your awareness that success in the world of writing other than WRITING BOOKS can be accompanied by WRITING FOR BUSINESS. Because of that, I really like Dan Poynter’s expression in his newsletter: “Writing is not a job; it’s a business!” haris.eu.org