Comments on: DID YOU KNOW? EVERY WRITER OPERATES A SMALL BUSINESS

By: terrysthoughtsandthreads

terrysthoughtsandthreads — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:01 +0000

Yes, and I will reach out to both this summer. I’ve just put my name in the pot at the preschool two doors away, planning to substitute and try to build those SS quarters that way, so that i can both spend delightful time with little ones AND write more productively without thinking about making it earn its share of my time. I’m gradually figuring out this game of retirement on a slim budget. “We have enough” is our comforting refrain … but that little nagging “but shouldn’t we have a wee bit more to be able to do more than just barely pay the bills on time?” Dinner out with a glass of wine is just a memory today … but perhaps a dream ahead.

By: radine

radine — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:36:37 +0000

Terry, most writers admit they make very little outside of covering expenses, with novel authors often being at the bottom of the list. In my experience, writing for magazines and newspapers is much more productive financially.

By: terrysthoughtsandthreads

terrysthoughtsandthreads — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:44:07 +0000

Hi Radine,
I’m trying to figure out how to legitimize the hours i spend both writing and promoting sales of my writing, so that i can ‘earn’ a salary, or even an hourly wage, and earn U.S. social security ‘quarters’ toward retirement income. My first year of consistent effort as a writer and a schedule C showed a loss … my second year is heading in the same direction, as I have a habit of giving away more than I sell, and so the loss would be larger if I showed a wage for myself. What to do, what to do. I need four more quarters to be eligible for all the years i worked before becoming a public school teacher (in our state teachers can’t earn federal retirement quarters because we have a public pension system.)

I really do want to succeed as a writer; I want to be legitimately recognized as a tax-paying writer. I do pay sales tax forward to the state for what I sell. But I am working for myself without a salary…