![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fiction and money part 2
Nov. 21st, 2009 02:30 pmYesterday's post was all about stating the obvious. I wouldn't have had to write it if so many people didn't assume that income is optional for many writers.
Today I'm going to work through the list of overheads and expenses and other stuff. Like any small business, these items vary from writer to writer and the problems that need to be addressed also vary*. Keep in mind that writing income can fluctuate wildly and that if a writer draws on their reserves to meet one of the needs listed below, they may not have income to cover basic living expenses. Or they may. It's unpredictable. We can't just spend up to the limit of our credit card and wait for Thursday**.
I've divided all the material various writers have given me into categories, to simplify things. Since businesses vary so considerably, the line between what's normal for a business and what has to be done for a particular person to be able to work in the business can be drawn in a number of places.
Business expenses (sort of an overview)
Sean Williams has broken down a bunch of the business expenses in the post I quoted so extensively yesterday. He emailed me the link and I looked and thought "Neat – I remember him posting this." Then I remembered "I ought to look closely at it." Then I thought "Why don't we all get safe public service jobs and give up on novels?" Here's a blown-up version of the most important graphic.
Basic equipment
Things like computer and peripherals, office consumables, phone. The easiest way to think about it is to consider that a writer has an office or formal workplace. The office/workplace may be oddly configured sometimes, but it still exists and it needs office equipment. It's hard to talk to an editor with no phone or internet.
I don't know how one would write a novel without basic equipment. Even Jane Austen needed paper and pen and a table. She also needed a blotter to hide her current work, so that no-one would know she was writing, and the capacity to post her finished manuscript to London. This leads us to services.
Services
Writers' offices require certain servicing. These can overlap with household needs when we work from home. Services include things like electricity, water, sewer, garbage/rubbish collection, telephone, internet, insurance, rates and/or property taxes, post. Various forms of insurance, bank fees, paperwork could fit in here, or even have their own heading. Time costs as well as financial ones need to be allowed for whenever services are involved. Every time a writer queues to pay a bill, that's time they're not working on fiction. The same goes for wear and tear – replacing or fixing things takes time out from writing, and so is a cost.
Wear and tear
A standard work-related expense. Just as crucial as disposing of rubbish and having electricity. A lot of things fit into wear and tear – anything that's essential to a writer for work that breaks down or gets old, basically. A dead computer is a serious problem when that computer is used to earn their income. There's also wear and tear on the body and mind, which brings me to leave.
Leave
The fact that the writer pays by not working rather than an employer giving days off still has to be factored in. Same with bereavement leave, holiday leave and any other sort of time off. Being self-employed (which is essentially what most novel writers are) means that the money and time for all kinds of leave have to be factored into finances.
Taxes
Writers who are not hobbyist pay taxes. Refunds usually come in the following tax year (well, they do for me and the writer who commented on US taxes). What this often means is we pay taxes up front on big lump sums (like advances) and then recover some of it later on. Most writers also have an accountant. I did my own taxes when I wasn't self-employed, but then it became complicated and now I need help (I probably need all kinds of other help, too, but let's not go there).
Health and retirement
Two big items are superannuation and healthcare. With no employer to provide, they have to come out of the money a writer makes. Whether you regard them as business overheads or not depends on your definition of human resources, I suspect. The truth is, though, that not many writers have enough money left after everything else to get superannuation. Healthcare provision (its nature and extent) depends heavily on which country you're in – it's a giant other topic.
Research
Research can include books, internet access for internet research, my recent trip to Sydney and a bunch of other things. So many non-writers ask where ideas come from. One of the answers is 'through research and hard work.' Sometimes it just takes time (time is a cost, remember), but research expenses can be significant. Like other expenses and overheads some are tax deductible, but some aren't.
Promotional expenses
In a dream world, books sell themselves or publishers do all the work. The reality is that, more and more, writers are expected to do a substantial amount of work (time cost) and even in making and distributing promotional material. Getting the word out about a new book or project is a part of the writing business these days. Examples various writers gave to me included making bookmarks, fridge magnets, business cards, travelling to cons, donating services (time cost as well as donation of the service itself).
Memberships in professional organisations
Just what professional organisations do writers join? It varies from writer to writer. Just like everything else.I'm not a member of every professional organisation I ought to be, because of the cost.
Personal expenses
Some basic living expenses have to be taken otherwise writing cannot happen. This includes things like food, drink, clothes, education, healthcare, childcare, care of frail relatives. Technically, they're mostly not business expenses or overheads, but, as Sarah Zettel said "I suppose I could plunk my kid in front of the TV for eight hours a day while I work..."
These are just as much issues with writers as they are with anyone else in paid employment. That many writers work from home can mask this. Basically, if something can't be done by someone in a normal fulltime job, then the writer has to sort it out and allow money for it or take time out of their job (writing) in order to meet the need. This comes out of the income earned part of a writer's life ie the money made from a book after tax, agent's fees etc have all been taken out. Remember that portion of the % of a % of each book sold is the writer's equivalent of a salary.
How many books does it take to make a liveable wage for a writer? That's the big question. A liveable wage is what's left after the business essentials are dealt with. Some of these essentials are overheads. And that was what started these posts.
* These two years my biggest timesink is deaths, oddly, and long phone calls sorting out the consequences of deaths. I'm hoping that relatives and friends will decide to live forever, starting tomorrow, and that I shall have more time to be self-centred and obnoxious and maybe follow up with more of the promotional stuff I really ought to be doing with 2 new books and a rash of short stories.
** Australian Federal Public Service payday. I live in a city where every second Thursday lots of people go shopping and drinking and celebrate having money again.
Today I'm going to work through the list of overheads and expenses and other stuff. Like any small business, these items vary from writer to writer and the problems that need to be addressed also vary*. Keep in mind that writing income can fluctuate wildly and that if a writer draws on their reserves to meet one of the needs listed below, they may not have income to cover basic living expenses. Or they may. It's unpredictable. We can't just spend up to the limit of our credit card and wait for Thursday**.
I've divided all the material various writers have given me into categories, to simplify things. Since businesses vary so considerably, the line between what's normal for a business and what has to be done for a particular person to be able to work in the business can be drawn in a number of places.
Business expenses (sort of an overview)
Sean Williams has broken down a bunch of the business expenses in the post I quoted so extensively yesterday. He emailed me the link and I looked and thought "Neat – I remember him posting this." Then I remembered "I ought to look closely at it." Then I thought "Why don't we all get safe public service jobs and give up on novels?" Here's a blown-up version of the most important graphic.
Basic equipment
Things like computer and peripherals, office consumables, phone. The easiest way to think about it is to consider that a writer has an office or formal workplace. The office/workplace may be oddly configured sometimes, but it still exists and it needs office equipment. It's hard to talk to an editor with no phone or internet.
I don't know how one would write a novel without basic equipment. Even Jane Austen needed paper and pen and a table. She also needed a blotter to hide her current work, so that no-one would know she was writing, and the capacity to post her finished manuscript to London. This leads us to services.
Services
Writers' offices require certain servicing. These can overlap with household needs when we work from home. Services include things like electricity, water, sewer, garbage/rubbish collection, telephone, internet, insurance, rates and/or property taxes, post. Various forms of insurance, bank fees, paperwork could fit in here, or even have their own heading. Time costs as well as financial ones need to be allowed for whenever services are involved. Every time a writer queues to pay a bill, that's time they're not working on fiction. The same goes for wear and tear – replacing or fixing things takes time out from writing, and so is a cost.
Wear and tear
A standard work-related expense. Just as crucial as disposing of rubbish and having electricity. A lot of things fit into wear and tear – anything that's essential to a writer for work that breaks down or gets old, basically. A dead computer is a serious problem when that computer is used to earn their income. There's also wear and tear on the body and mind, which brings me to leave.
Leave
The fact that the writer pays by not working rather than an employer giving days off still has to be factored in. Same with bereavement leave, holiday leave and any other sort of time off. Being self-employed (which is essentially what most novel writers are) means that the money and time for all kinds of leave have to be factored into finances.
Taxes
Writers who are not hobbyist pay taxes. Refunds usually come in the following tax year (well, they do for me and the writer who commented on US taxes). What this often means is we pay taxes up front on big lump sums (like advances) and then recover some of it later on. Most writers also have an accountant. I did my own taxes when I wasn't self-employed, but then it became complicated and now I need help (I probably need all kinds of other help, too, but let's not go there).
Health and retirement
Two big items are superannuation and healthcare. With no employer to provide, they have to come out of the money a writer makes. Whether you regard them as business overheads or not depends on your definition of human resources, I suspect. The truth is, though, that not many writers have enough money left after everything else to get superannuation. Healthcare provision (its nature and extent) depends heavily on which country you're in – it's a giant other topic.
Research
Research can include books, internet access for internet research, my recent trip to Sydney and a bunch of other things. So many non-writers ask where ideas come from. One of the answers is 'through research and hard work.' Sometimes it just takes time (time is a cost, remember), but research expenses can be significant. Like other expenses and overheads some are tax deductible, but some aren't.
Promotional expenses
In a dream world, books sell themselves or publishers do all the work. The reality is that, more and more, writers are expected to do a substantial amount of work (time cost) and even in making and distributing promotional material. Getting the word out about a new book or project is a part of the writing business these days. Examples various writers gave to me included making bookmarks, fridge magnets, business cards, travelling to cons, donating services (time cost as well as donation of the service itself).
Memberships in professional organisations
Just what professional organisations do writers join? It varies from writer to writer. Just like everything else.I'm not a member of every professional organisation I ought to be, because of the cost.
Personal expenses
Some basic living expenses have to be taken otherwise writing cannot happen. This includes things like food, drink, clothes, education, healthcare, childcare, care of frail relatives. Technically, they're mostly not business expenses or overheads, but, as Sarah Zettel said "I suppose I could plunk my kid in front of the TV for eight hours a day while I work..."
These are just as much issues with writers as they are with anyone else in paid employment. That many writers work from home can mask this. Basically, if something can't be done by someone in a normal fulltime job, then the writer has to sort it out and allow money for it or take time out of their job (writing) in order to meet the need. This comes out of the income earned part of a writer's life ie the money made from a book after tax, agent's fees etc have all been taken out. Remember that portion of the % of a % of each book sold is the writer's equivalent of a salary.
How many books does it take to make a liveable wage for a writer? That's the big question. A liveable wage is what's left after the business essentials are dealt with. Some of these essentials are overheads. And that was what started these posts.
* These two years my biggest timesink is deaths, oddly, and long phone calls sorting out the consequences of deaths. I'm hoping that relatives and friends will decide to live forever, starting tomorrow, and that I shall have more time to be self-centred and obnoxious and maybe follow up with more of the promotional stuff I really ought to be doing with 2 new books and a rash of short stories.
** Australian Federal Public Service payday. I live in a city where every second Thursday lots of people go shopping and drinking and celebrate having money again.