Author Topic: When can I go full-time with my writing?  (Read 4312 times)

Nick_Miller

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When can I go full-time with my writing?
« on: June 22, 2017, 08:27:19 AM »
I know the answer is not "today" and it's not "tomorrow," either. But I'm trying to start the (hopefully only 30 month) process of transitioning from full-time legal work/part-time writing to full-time writing with perhaps some part-time legal work.

Present Stats:

My wife and I both work, earning $50K (her) and $80K-$100K (me). We have two kiddos, 7 and 11. Small college funds for each, but both are strong students. I will encourage them to attend local/state public schools and hopefully they will earn some scholarships. We do not anticipate paying their entire way through, although we might help some in the form of a small monthly payment or letting them live at home.

Current NW only $154,227.00. However, that represents almost a doubling in the past 18 months, since I found MMM.



My Goal:

To be able to write (for $) full-time. I have earned almost $20,000 in royalties for my first novel in the 18 months since its publication, and payments continue to trickle in at between $400-$500 per month. My second novel will hopefully be published at year's end. It's a direct sequel, and if it shares the success of the first one, I will feel like I have a strong audience. A third novel, (the end to the trilogy) is planned. That will take another 2 years to finish. It's possible by that time I could have a passive income stream of $1,500 per month just from these three novels.

So assuming #2 is published Dec 2017 (and does well), and assuming that #3 is published in late 2019 (and does well), at that point I might want to "go for it" and make writing my full-time pursuit.

At that point, in late 2019, we would be debt free other than our mortgage (would be about $120K on a $200K home, 3 years into a 30-year fixed mortgage) and my student loans (which would be down around $20K at my present pay-off pace)

(Projected) assets at that time would include about $200K-$250K in investments, probably $25K in cash, $15K in cars, and $80K in home equity. I would be 46 years old. Assuming rule of 72 (at continued growth of 7%), investments would double to $400K-$500K when I am 56, and then double again to $800K-$1M when I am 66, even if we don't add another dime over that 20-year-period (doubtful).

Assuming that in late 2019 I am earning $1,500 per month in royalty income and would be able to finish a novel a year (since I'd be doing it full-time), and assuming they all share the same level of success (big assumption), I could potentially be earning $2,500 in monthly royalty income by 2021 or 2022. My wife would continue to work but she might dial it back to part-time work, bringing him about $1,500.

I could possibly pick up some PT legal work on the side but I wouldn't want to have to depend on that.

So I guess it comes down to, if we can "break even" from my mid/late 40s on, is it too risky to count on market growth to get us to $800K-$1M by "normal" retirement age?

Thoughts? Similar experiences? Am I crazy for thinking about this?





 
« Last Edit: June 22, 2017, 08:30:44 AM by Nick_Miller »

Vindicated

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2017, 08:39:57 AM »
If you haven't followed Kerowyn's journal at all, I recommend it.  She writes a lot, though I'm not sure any of her writings have had the success of your first.

I don't have advice for writing income, but perhaps you and her could learn from each other.

What is your book about?  What genre?

Nick_Miller

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2017, 08:49:18 AM »
@Vindicated,

That sounds like something worth checking out! Thanks! I've checked out some author blogs from folks who are willing to share earnings information (most won't or their publishers won't let them), so it's always nice to find some new data.

And my genre is "comic booky" but in novel form. Most of my readers are younger, teens and 20-somethings.


LifeHappens

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2017, 09:14:46 AM »
You are self-publishing, correct? Do you have any plans to pursue a publishing contract, or is that not a good option in your genre?

If I were you, with relatively young kids and all the uncertainties that come with them, I would want to know my writing income is reliable. It seems your plan for getting your 3rd book to market and waiting until you have the data from those sales is reasonable. If you can reliably pull in a minimum $1500 (or whatever income you and your family agree to) each month, great. If that doesn't work the way you hope, I would seriously consider keeping one foot in the legal world and billing for a minimum number of hours each month.

Smokystache

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2017, 09:34:01 AM »
I hope you're able to make a real run at this. A couple of thoughts:

1) Do you think that you'd be happy being a full-time fiction author where your family's income is at least partially reliant on your ability to write books that sell well? I think some love this lifestyle and some don't. But full-time writing can be a really tough way to make a living for decades. You may be someone who would do it until the day you die. Similar to LifeHappens, could you find a situation where you could do some legal work (picking projects that provide the best return on your time), but also have 20hrs a week to write? This would allow you to stay connected to the legal world, and also see how you like writing when you can devote at least 20 hrs/wk to it.

2) If you're writing fiction full-time and it is self-published (i.e., don't have to wait on an outside company for production, editing, etc.), you should definitely be writing more than 1 book per year. Even at around 800 words a day (I'm keeping this (IMHO) low in order to account for time to go back and edit, etc.) at 20 writing days per month = 16,000 words. In 5 months that gives you an 80,000 word book - time for holidays, vacations, time to recharge. So putting out 2 books a year seems like a reasonable goal to me. I'd be curious to hear how much you think you could write on a typical day if you were writing full-time. If you haven't already, you might look at some books like 'On Writing' that talk about writers' schedules, etc.

I hope that you get a chance to do this full-time and it really is your full-time bliss.

Kerowyn

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2017, 11:27:44 AM »
Hey Nick! I think your plan sounds great. I'm impressed (and, OK, a little jealous) that you're doing so well with just one novel. I would definitely say don't quit your job until book 3 is out and you have plans for more.

What are you doing with all those royalties? Are you investing them? I would recommend having a good amount of liquid cash before quitting, because sales can have unpredictable dips and rises, and of course there are a couple of months between when you make a sale and when you get paid for it. My current plan is to save 4 months of necessary expenses from my writing income, plus the emergency fund that we already have, before quitting (though I won't be quitting for a while yet, regardless). Is your book in KU or wide? Wide is more stable, but KU seems to make me more money. I'm not too familiar with your genre, so I don't know which would be more lucrative for you.

I do think that one book every two years sounds painfully slow (I'm on track, and fully intend, to release four books this year), but I won't judge--it certainly sounds like it's working for you, plus you have kids. That's one thing I'm really worried about when I have kids, the loss of writing time. I bet as your kids get older, you'll have more and more writing time.

I'll leave you with my usual recommendations: Kboards is a good forum if you're just starting out, though you may be a bit beyond their advice. PM me if you want the name of the writers' forum I'm on; it costs a little to join, but it's been completely worth it to me. Also, read all of Kris Rusch's Freelancer's Guide and Business Rusch posts: http://kriswrites.com/. If you're into podcasts, I recommend The Creative Penn.

Nick_Miller

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2017, 01:48:29 PM »
@LifeHappens, actually I have a publisher, and it's the only reason I was able to reach lots of readers. On my own, it wouldn't have happened. And yes I will let the data speak for itself. I have a good number of readers emailing me about when the sequel will be released, so that's a good sign, but you never know until you see those first week sales.

@Smokystache, 1) Hmmm. Maybe. I know that's the trade off. "Going for it" would give me SO much more time to write, but yeah the pressure goes up tenfold. I'll circle back to the data. And yeah I would consider PT legal work, but that's not easy to land.

2) So I do have a publisher, so I need to go through them, but they don't require changes; so basically there's no mandatory editing, but it does take a few months to get it to market from the time I get it to them. And my first novel was 160k words, and Part 2 will be around the same length, so they are pretty huge and take a lot of time. Writing one of them per year, and getting it to market during that 12-month window, would be pretty challenging, but doable. Doing two per 12-month window might be possible, but it would probably involve 50-to-60-hour weeks (of writing) at the very least. I average about 500 words per hour when I'm humming along, but I currently only get to write in 2 hour chunks, so at 1,000 words per writing session, and then all the numerous edits required, you can see why it's taking so long.

And thank you so much for your kind words.

@Kerowyn, Hey! My fellow non-programmer/engineer Mustachian! Right now, I am putting my royalties into IRAs to pump up our investments. If Book 2 does well next year, I might open up an Individual IRA, but I'll have to wait and see. I totally agree about saving up cash, and I'd probably want about $42,000 tucked away (a year of $3,500/month household expenses).

Yes my progress is verrrrry slow and it's verrrrry frustrating. This is my window of opportunity, but I feel it will close if I don't get Part 2 to market by the end of the year. People start to get impatient or move on to other things. The issue is time.

Wake up at 6:30, take kids to school, get to work by 8:00, work until 5:00, get home by 5:30, homework/dinner/kid activities/getting them to bed stretches until 8:30, and then I have that two-hour window until 10:30 if I want to get writing done for the day. Some days that works, other days my wife would actually like some of my time, so no writing those days. On weekends, I try to create some 3 or 4-hour blocks, and that happens much of the time, but not always because of all the tasks that pile up during the week. And some Sunday mornings, I have to go into the office for a half-day to catch up (on my legal work).

So I am jealous of YOU because you're getting so many books out! And I really think that's the key - to keep writing, keep publishing, keep improving, and keep building your library.

Thanks for all the resource links - they sound helpful! And I need all the help I can get. I'm pretty good at the creative parts of writing (I love world building and writing dialogue), but the "craft" of writing is something I never studied. Some folks in my writers' group have MFAs and such, and they talk about stuff I've never heard of.

Kerowyn

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2017, 03:04:52 PM »
I'm writing much shorter books than you are, which helps! The links I gave you are mostly businessy, so if you're working with a publisher (even a very weird publisher that doesn't edit--really, not even copy edits?--sorry, that triggers a red flag for me, but do what works for you), they may not be as helpful. For craft, I recommend the Writing Excuses podcast and https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/ (she also has a podcast).

Nick_Miller

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2017, 04:18:05 PM »
I'm writing much shorter books than you are, which helps! The links I gave you are mostly businessy, so if you're working with a publisher (even a very weird publisher that doesn't edit--really, not even copy edits?--sorry, that triggers a red flag for me, but do what works for you), they may not be as helpful. For craft, I recommend the Writing Excuses podcast and https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/ (she also has a podcast).

I think you are much brighter than I am; writing shorter books definitely seems more efficient and probably allows for greater growth as a writer. But then again, no one has ever accused me of being overly bright (well my Mom says I am, but I disagree with her a lot, so she might be wrong too).

I just DLed 3 of those podcast episodes; I'll start listening to them during tomorrow's commute!

And yes the publisher WILL require/provide copyediting. See, I'm not very exact with my writing language. I just meant they won't force me to make substantive changes. Now they may make some suggestions, and I may agree to those suggestions, but again it's my call because the first one did well.

And I do want to learn more of the "businessy" stuff too. I have a growing FB presence (about 1,300 readers) and I'm trying to learn Twitter as I go. I have a basic website but I feel I either need to drop it or expand it; as it is, it just acts as an online placeholder but I don't have time to use it much right now. I post a few updates, fan art, etc. I might even consider trying out Patreon if Book 2 does well (I could offer Patrons short stories, more lore, maybe even including their characters in a book), but it might be awkward me being a lawyer asking college kids for a few of their bucks every month. But I know other others who earn between $300 to $500 each month that way, and they enjoy essentially getting paid to provide additional content to readers.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2017, 04:28:15 PM by Nick_Miller »

Janelle

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2017, 07:00:35 PM »
Nick, I'm bummed you aren't writing a novel about zombies...with a crossword puzzle in the middle with no words in it...

Just kidding, posting to follow :) Looking forward to checking out some of these resources!

stashing_it

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2017, 05:59:14 PM »
Right now I am making $2500-$3500 / month self published on Kindle.     I am publishing non-fiction.   I have about 100,000 words out there spread out among 12 different books.    Although almost all of my money is probably 80,000 words spread between 6 books, and that is the area I am focusing most of my efforts

This was over a time period of about 18 months

For me personally, I'm not planning on leaving my day job as an engineer until the writing income surpasses it.  Until then the extra income helps a lot to boost the savings.

The challenge is finding the time to work on it.  But I just have to beg, borrow, or steal the time

My suggestion to you is to write some shorter stories that you can put up for 99 cents on kindle, or preferably even free for some of them.  There are ways to make them permanently free.   Then, on all your kindle books at the front and back you should put a link to your website with bonus content that people can download for the price of their email address.    That way when you launch your next book, you have built in readers.

-------- edit I must have not read all of comments where you discussed word count before I wrote the comments below.   If I were doing it, and still wanted to focus on the 160,000 word book coming out every 2 years, I would also be trying to self publish a 10,000 - 15,000 word work every 1-2 months or something like that.   If you are doing comic book like stuff, I suspect there is a market for the shorter works   ----- end edit ---

I also agree with the other people that you should be thinking about ways to increase your word count.  (This might seems a bit hypocritical of me since my numbers show i'm averaging 6,000 words/month, but I am also doing a ton of charts, graphs, python programs in the book and as bonus content, and have to learn some of the material before I write it.  But yes, I need to get my word count up too)     Boosting your word count might mean keeping the same level of focus on your main books, but making a pen-name that you can generate a higher volume, even if it comes at lower quality.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2017, 06:07:02 PM by stashing_it »

stashing_it

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Re: When can I go full-time with my writing?
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2017, 08:38:37 PM »
FYI,

Here are two interesting blog posts by Eric Flint  (sci-fi / Fantasy author) about the usefulness of publishing a large volume of work, and how having free work out there can give access to readers who might later buy your books

http://www.ericflint.net/index.php/2016/01/17/how-should-an-author-look-on-used-book-sales/

http://www.ericflint.net/index.php/2015/08/31/the-divergence-between-popularity-and-awards-in-fantasy-and-science-fiction/

 

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