Is Writing A Good Job Financially?

Does writing make writers rich? Not really....

The answer can be yes and no. If you ask EL James - Fifty Shades writer - she will definitely answer yes. But if you ask me, I have to say no :(

Being a writer, especially self-published one, is not easy. I do love writing but I must admit it may not be a good job financially. Unlike any other job, writing takes so much time (not to mention the time for proof-reading and editing/re-writing). It gets worse because an ebook can not be sold too expensive, no matter how long/how much work it takes for a writer to finish it.

My parents are actually not too fond of my writing activity. Besides it's too "gay" and too "porny" for them, they also think I need a "real" job: the one that brings steady income each month. They said if I had spent that much time in an office, I'd have become a very rich successful businessman, and not a jobless poor erotica writer. Unfortunately, I can not defend my writing activity because my parents are right. Writing brings me very less unsteady income. I can't even pay for my monthly internet fee with it!

Although I resent it, I've taken a deskjob last week. The sudden change of environment is appalling to me. I no longer have time for myself, much less to write! Even if I do write, I can only finish one page and I barely sense any soul from it (probably because I write it when I'm feeling tired). It's a disaster, but what can I do?

I do notice that some writers are not full-time writers, either. They too spend much time at the office. Maybe I just need to get used to it. But for me, it's very hard to spend time to write, not when I feel exhausted all the time because of the office work.

"You're A PORN Writer!"

Lately, I've had an unpleasant argument with an M/M fangirl who have NEVER read my stories. Basically, she said if a porn scene is filled with lots of non-sexual plots, it's still a PORN-WITH-LOTS-OF-PLOTS. She insisted I couldn't distinguish erotica from porn.

So, I wrote to Smashwords:
Let's say I write about a couple who struggle for their love. Lots of emotion, in fact in the end, one of them die. It's a touching story... But in the middle, there's an explicit love scene (pages long, complete with ejaculation)... Does it mean I still write PORN? And not romance-erotica???


And here is the reply....
Thank you for your question, though you would probably get perfectly fine answers from my co-workers, I'm actually writing in the Paranormal and Science Fiction Romance and Erotica genres.  There are shades of gray to all this and some people think that sex automatically makes for a porn categorization.  From how you describe your book, I would say it is an Erotic Romance.

If you develop characters that face the "requirements" of sexual relationships and grow through the relationships and challenges of their story, that would be an Erotic Romance, no matter how explicit the sex scene(s) is/(are).  It's a matter of ratio, what percentage of the text is used for sex scenes.  Porn writing is generally 90% or so sex, those writings are geared towards creating "desire" in their readers and are sometimes referred to as "one-handed reading."

Soundtrack For Books

When we watch movies, we'll notice that background music/score is always there. Depending on the scenes, the right background music can drive us to delve deeper into certain emotional state. Without background music, movies will feel static and emotionless. However, in textual stories, music is absent. Readers have to create their own imagination.

For me, as a writer, music helps me write better. The right kind of background music puts me into emotional state, to help me picture my own scene better. Many times, background music inspires me to write new minor plots which originally weren't intended to be written. I heard, other writers use the same musical method when writing. Someone I know also says he likes to paint with loud music for inspiration.

While other writers choose sexy jazzy vocal songs, I go for instrumental music. To me, vocal songs with words are simply distractions. It's akin to someone talking to you while you need to concentrate. It simply doesn't work for me.