Do You Have to Have Money to Be a Writer?

By Amanda Earl

A recent change in my financial circumstances leads to thoughts on the expenses of publishing and whose voices are not heard from because of these often-insurmountable expenses. I thought I would enumerate expenses associated with publication and promotion.
 

​
​Publication in Literary Journals
 
Many journals do not offer payment and some charge reading fees. These fees can be nominal, but they add up if you are attempting to publish in numerous journals. I was surprised to learn that in the UK most journals do not offer payment because they receive no government funding. In Canada, the major literary journals offer funding, but student-run publications at post-secondary institutions and independent journals often do not. For a few years, through my press AngelHousePress, I paid our contributors through the generous support of small press and individual donations to crowd funding campaigns. If I were starting a literary journal today, I wouldn’t do it unless I could ensure payment for staff and contributors.
 
Grant Applications
 
In Canada, writers and literary publications have access to funding for manuscript preparation and touring at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. These grants are not easy to obtain because budgets are small and the process is competitive and time-consuming. Grants can range from microgrants of a few hundred dollars to larger awards equivalent to a year’s salary of a full-time worker in an impoverished industry…such as…well, writing.
 
Applicants are expected to devote their “free time” to the process of applying for grants. There are often programs to assist writers, but I have never seen any subsidies to pay writers for the time allocated to applying for grants.
 
Applicants with the money can hire editors to help prepare their applications and sample pages. This means that those with little money to spare are in competition with those whose work is polished and honed by the work of professional editors.
 
Book Publication
 
Increasingly publishers are expecting authors to hire their own editors before submitting the work. Once the book is accepted, authors are expected to promote the work through tours, interviews, readings, social media and a web site. These all cost a great deal of money.
 
Authors who wish to go the independent route and self-publish their books have to bear the cost of those expenses or run a crowd funding campaign.
 
Some authors choose to give away their work for free in hopes of increasing their exposure. If you don’t have the money or time to generate work that you can give away for free, your voice is not heard.
 
I am concerned about the voices that we are not hearing from in this process. What can we do to ensure that writers that have been systematically excluded from the literary canon are heard if we continue to ignore the fact that the system advantages those with money and disadvantages those without? How do we know we aren’t missing out on some great writing because we aren’t supporting the work of writers?
 
In 2020, the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) wrote a public letter to the Federal Government asking for a basic income guarantee. “Structural inequalities disproportionately affect vulnerable and marginalized communities, making it more likely for people with disabilities, LGBTQ2+, Black, Indigenous, people of colour, refugees and immigrants, women, single mothers and others to slip into systemic cycles of poverty and poor health.”

 “Diminishing Returns: Creative Culture at Risk” (TWUC 2018) reported that Canadian writers in 2018 were making 78% less than they were in 1998, taking inflation into account. “The work of writers fuels an almost $2 billion book industry in Canada, and yet more than 85% of writers earn an income from their writing that is below the poverty line. “
 
I can no longer afford to submit work to publications that don’t pay honoraria. I must spend all my time now finding ways to make rent, which has gone up significantly in the last few years. I began working as an editor for hire in 2023 and have managed to eke out enough money to pay rent; however, this leaves little time for writing, never mind grant applications and promotion. I also write reviews to get free books and honoraria from literary journals. The amount I receive for one review will cover a home cooked dinner for my husband and me.
 
I have been thinking about submitting a manuscript for consideration to a publisher, but I already know I won’t have the money to do the necessary promotion work if the book is accepted, which is something I must agree to in a contract with the publisher, so for now, I am shelving plans to publish my work. I have a Substack with a paid subscriber base that covers a few months’ rent so far.
 
Biography
 
Amanda Earl (she/her) writes, edits, reviews and publishes on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. She is managing editor of Bywords.ca and the editor of Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry. Her latest book is Beast Body Epic, a long-poem collection provoked by her near-death health crisis. Amanda offers an editing and mentorship service. Visit TinyUrl.com/AmandaEarlEdits for more information and subscribe to her Substack: Amanda Thru the Looking Glass for whimsy, exploration and a feeling of connection with kindred misfits.

---