Deciding to work solo can be a challenging decision. It may seem appealing to imagine not working for anyone except yourself, but it is also a risky road.
I discovered the ups and downs of this path when I decided to pursue a career of a fiction novelist. I knew that my choice to focus on writing novels was questionable. Many think that it is not a serious career; it can just be a hobby, they said. Being an introvert, it always felt like an alluring path as I would have minimum interactions and would just focus on doing what I love while hoping to earn from it. It is not easy though. I may have gotten far enough to have my own novel published but I’m still along way from making a living out of it. I am currently in the process of learning first hand what it’s like to be your own boss. Whether you are an artist, a writer, a businessman or some kind of entrepreneur, one thing is for sure, you are not working for anyone anymore. You are your own boss! And here are four things very important things that you need to know about this choice.
From deciding your work schedule to setting priorities, you are in charge of all the rules and decisions. It is hard to say whether being in charge of everything you want to do is a beneficial factor or not. Honestly it can work either way, it all depends on you. Take setting up your schedule for example, you might go too easy on yourself and not give as much time to your intended work as you would have if there was someone constantly keeping check on your progress. If you are your own boss, you have to act like one too; be hard on yourself, push yourself to do your best, meet deadlines and make sure you don’t get lazy. Originally I had the same problem. If I was on my own then I would get too relaxed. I knew I could have written plenty of books during my year off from school. The fastest I had written a novel was within the three months of a summer break but later I let myself slow down too much. I didn’t follow a regular schedule. If I had then I probably would have completed my novels faster. On the up side though, if you do it right you can plan things the way they work best for you. Nowadays I write everyday during all the spare time I have. The only time I take breaks is when I feel symptoms of stress or exhaustion from working for too long. This is the best part of having your own schedule; I take breaks exactly when I need them, I lie down, relax, munch on some snacks, and get back to work as soon as I am feeling better. If you make strict rules for yourself and follow them with discipline then nothing should stop you from achieving your goals. The only thing that stands in your way is you.
In the beginning and maybe even later, it will be a very lonely road. Again this can have both advantages and disadvantages. For me it always feels best when I am left to do my work on my own without interruption or disturbance. Yet at the same time, since humans are naturally social creatures, it is hard to survive on your own. Eventually you will realize that you will need someone to help, guide and support you. Not to long after that, you will be hit with another realization; there won’t be many people committed to helping you out. Maybe you would have to hire help when you need it but you can only do so if you can afford it. To add on to that, there's also the struggle of doing things where you are inexperienced or unskilled. My personal example to explain this struggle would be self-publishing. After struggling to get a literary agent for years, I decided to take matters into my own hands and publish my own book. It was hard! After all, I was only a writer, but to self-publish I had to illustrate the book myself, put it on platforms myself and market it myself. There was so many situations where things got too technical for me and I found myself constantly making mistakes because it was just nothing I had done before. I may have made a print version of my book Bonds of Friendship on my own but I still struggle at selling it. In the end I found myself going back in search of literary agents to help me publish my latest book.
It’s like a flip of a coin; heads or tails, win or lose. When you work for someone, you have a contract; you know what you have to do and how much you will earn for it. If you are trying something on your own though, it’s an unpredictable roller-coaster ride. In an independent business or career, there will always be a risk of loss. Yet on the flip-side, if things go too well, you could be a millionaire! I really can't say what can guarantee your success, far too many variables.
“This is not a get rich quick scheme,” says Joanna Penn, a writing entrepreneur, “I started writing in 2006, left my job in 2011 and it was 2015 before I was making six figures. I now have 25+ books, a blog, a podcast and a number of other income streams. The author business model is a marathon, not a sprint.”
0 Comments
If you are at that point in school where you now have options for subjects and a plethora of options to choose from, then I'm here to help you make the right choices regarding subject selection especially if you are an aspiring writer!
For a university/college level major or degree, of course you should focus on Creative Writing, but I have to admit the subject is hard to find on a Bachelor level or below outside of USA. If that's the case, most would go for English Language or Literature degrees. There is also the matter of whether you need to study to become a writer at all. Many would say to focus your education on a different subject and do writing on the side. I don't fully agree nor disagree with the matter, especially since I ended up giving up on college education and dedicating my full focus to writing, but if you really have to study something than wouldn't you rather take a subject that will help you in your aspirations to become a writer. I will tell you that no knowledge will go to waste so why not pick something you are more likely to benefit from in your future as you pursue your dream of becoming a writer, even if you took it as a minor! So anyways, here's my advice on subjects you can take as a writer if you can't choose. 1. English Language; most people will give up English as soon as it is no longer compulsory or they would think of it as an easy A or they'll think that Literature is better or good enough. WRONG! Don't for a second think of this subject as useless or unimportant and it definitely won't be as easy as you might think. I'm telling from my own experience of taking English Language during A levels that this subject proved to be better and more helpful than literature while it also made literature easier. No aspiring writer should underestimate the English subject nor should they take it for granted. Trust you'll benefit the most from it. 2. English Literature; the best way to learn writing is reading but reading books at home is nothing like reading literature at school. You will discover that there is more in books than you can think and analyzing books will definitely expand your imagination. Reading classics will also be beneficial as you'll come to understand how to write in various ways, how to make your books a big hit and of course you'll get more inspiration from it. 3. Psychology; if you ever read classics and sometimes even nonclassical underrated books you will discover that the best books will at some point explore human psychology. If you take this subject alongside literature it would definitely help because you will keep on finding connections between stories and the stuff you will learn in psychology. Besides, stories about abnormalities, mental illness, depression, madness always seem more interesting... At least to me they do. 4. World History; I never took history but I've seen those who take it have an advantage it literature class. Just like psychology history is connected to stories at all times and so knowing history is great for aspiring writers. Also let's not forget history is just his-story i.e a story one can take inspiration from. What better way to seek inspiration other than looking at real life stories that once took place. 5. Other Languages; being multilingual is also a great thing for writers hence taking another language subject could help you in understanding English better in a way. Also if you read literature of a different language then you would surely come across something you never found in English hence more inspiration. If English was never your first language in the first place then I further encourage you to go and study literature of your first language like I did, it'll help, I'm sure. There can be other subjects useful as well like I think sociology may be good but I don't know much about that subject, so far the ones I named are actually supposed to be a writers priority. I took the first three that because I found a lot on internet about those three subjects being best for me and they were but it's up to you on deciding whats best for you. What do you think, any suggestions? Feel free to comment below. Questions about anything writing related are appreciated. So you've finished your book, even edited it thoroughly to the best of your ability, so now what? Should be easier that completing the manuscript, right?
Wrong. I'm sorry to hit you with this demotivation so early on your writing career, but it's a fact; getting published is one heck of a struggle. I should know. I've finished my first book back in...2015, yeah, it's been 5 years and that story still saw no light. I finished many books since then and continue writing today but have just one novel actually out there for people to read. I've even tried self publishing recently as well, and so I have experiences in all fields to let you know, none of it is easy! The Severe Competition The first problem is something that almost everyone would face in any field; competition. It gets annoying how many people exist in the world trying to do the same things as you but you have to face it, you're no special butterfly in the garden. Everyone out there who is writing is probably doing so for a reason, I'm sure many are great at it while many have great stories to tell, but at the end of the day there can only be so many books out there that people would actually read let alone become bestsellers. The problem isn't with you, I've come to realize, the problem is with the overload of competition. You need to really shine hard and prove yourself to be perfect to even get a chance in today's world. Whether you are selfpublishing, investing with publishers or seeking the help of a literary agent, you won't be able to outshine other writers that easily. It's harder with literary agents, as they won't even consider your work unless it is a diamond in the rough of their query letter pile. The Personal Disadvantages Another problem in today's world is the unfair system where your hard work and talent doesn't help you succeed as much as some privileges do. If you have a lot of money to invest or professional support or perhaps some useful contacts that can sneak you past the line in your career than suddenly it becomes a lot easier. For example, publishing a book online for free is an option but to market it you need to invest and you need to get professional help to make sure your work is worth marketing in the first place. In the case of publishing through literary agents, you need to have an advantage of either contacts or an impressive writing credentials that may take years to build up. But you can also take advantage of this unfair system by seeing what path is better suited for you as some things may be harder than the rest but there might be a way for you to make it if you have the right plan. Maybe you are more capable of investing time in building a bio that will make literary agents more confident about working with you or perhaps you would rather save and invest on publishing and marketing your book so that you can quickly gain readers without having to wait for a literary agent to do the job for you. The Need To Be Perfect Like I mentioned before, your book really needs to outshine the rest of the library for you to dream of becoming a bestseller like how I wish for it. Even if you think your book is done, even if you went over it so many times that you are sick of it, even if your friends and family told you it was great... you still need to keep improving to the point of perfection that no one can doubt. So what do you do? First, don't just write it, really work on it. Dedicate good amount of time to give your writing your full focus. Perfect each line to the best of your ability, edit and re-edit as long as the manuscript sits there unpublished, get reviews and ask for harsh comments to improve every tiny fault in your work and if you can, invest in professional help and editing services. Just never stop working on it! I know it's a struggle to give so much of your time to something that might never make it out there any time soon, but if you dared yourself to start on it then it's only fair you give it your all before giving up...and for all you know, after several years of waiting and working, you might actually end up with an instant hit! |
AuthorWelcome! My name is Iman Malik and I am an aspiring novelist who is dreaming to be a bestseller one day who can be well known as writer Iman Malik. Archives
September 2021
Categories |