From: Norma Jean <nsawicki>
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:41:49 -0400

Unless a writer has other means of support, writers are always encouraged not to quite their day jobs until they have a good sense of how their work fares in the marketplace. Advice that has always been given. F. Scott Fitzgerald, for instance, went to Hollywood to write screenplays... his books did not fare well when they were first published. By virtue of the work, many writers of adult books teach at universities; unlike writers, and illustrators of children's books they do not have the option of speaking to groups of kids, etc., for a fee. While there are writers and illustrators who do not enjoy speaking gigs, most of the writers and illustrators I published welcomed the opportunity...sometimes for financial reasons, sometimes because they enjoyed the contact...sometimes both. I say this because I do not want librarians and teachers who subscribe to this web site to believe all writers/illustrators who turn up at their door steps are resentful of speaking gigs...they do not....many enjoy it, and even love it....the opportunity is welcomed, and much appreciated.

Writers/illustrators who do not enjoy it should do something else. The freelance life...be it as a writer, artist, musician, editor, copyeditor, web designer, accountant, whatever...is a hard road...it takes a certain sensibility to make it work, and until one is established everyone does
"something else" to pay the bills. Early on in publishing, I fretted too much about the writers I published making ends meet until a publisher I admired enormously pointed out that I was responsible for publishing each and every book to the best of my ability ( which includes the resources that were available) and no more. Writers, like everyone else, cannot predict where the freelance life will lead. Norma Jean
Received on Mon 11 Jun 2007 12:41:49 PM CDT