Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I like to write. I am rarely paid for writing, but that doesn’t stop me.

There has been some chatter on the Internet recently about people churning out content for big web sites for zero pay. The post linked here is part of that chatter.

Guess what? A lot of people write for zero pay. They write just because…just because lots of reasons.

Some reasons other than money for writing (at least in my case):

1. There is nothing good on TV
2. I am bored with everything else
3. Making up stories is fun
4. Researching the real world is fun
5. I want to show how smart I am
6. I learn while writing
7. I meet interesting people
8. It builds my resume
9. It makes me a better writer at work (where I am paid)
10. It is good typing practice
11. I always wanted to see my name in the newspaper
12. I love the feel of the keyboard
13. I already have enough money

You may not understand any of the reasons in the list. If you read the list, you probably understand some of the reasons. That is because something about the blog title attracted your attention. If you don’t like writing, you probably saw the title of the post and went on to something else that interests you more.

For example, (we have to have a few “for examples” here) in the good old days of publishing paper books I wrote four or five books. I worked hard on all those books – about 400 hours per book (yes, I kept track of the time). (And don’t you wish I would stop putting side comments in parentheses.) For about 2,000 hours of work I have been paid about 20,000 dollars in royalties. Ten bucks an hour isn’t enough to pay the bills.

But I found one wonderful thing on every book-writing project – I had something interesting and challenging to do every evening when I came home from work. I had a pretty good job that had its own challenges and chances to learn, but my “hobby” of writing books was far more fascinating.

The good old days of publishing books on paper are probably gone. In 2008, I wrote one short story every week. I did this for some of the reasons in the list above. And along comes a place called Smashwords.com. I have put those 50 or so short stories up for sale on Smashwords. To date, I have made a whopping $3.17 on sales. Again, not enough to pay the bills. Still, one day I will be able to read my short stories on my iPad in iBooks or iWhatever it is called. Maybe one day I will happen across someone who is reading one of the stories that I had fun making up (reason #3 above).