Can I Create a Sustainable Income Via My Writing Work?

If others have created sustainable income via writing, I can, too.

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There are three utterly different styles of writing I employ regularly.

This is the first because it’s the most frequent. Blogging. I write and post a minimum of 4 blogs a week. Each of these are topical – positivity and related on Mondays; writing, arts, business, and creativity related on Tuesdays; Pathwalking and conscious reality creation/mindfulness related on Wednesdays; and health/wellness/wellbeing and related on Thursdays.

The second is my greatest passion. Fiction. I started to write sci-fi and fantasy when I was 9 years old. In fits and starts, I’ve continued creating fantastical worlds, characters, and situations. Three years ago, my focus in this realm shifted, and instead of writing in bits and pieces, I began to work regularly. Thus, I’ve produced more than half-a-dozen books since 2019, have 12 self-published (3 fantasy, 1 Steampunk, and 8 sci-fi in 2 different series), and 4 more ready to be edited and then published at present.

The third is Business writing. This is a craft I’ve honed over the years on a lot of different levels and in multiple industries. I’ve done press releases, website content, instructional information, advertising, marketing, and business blogs. In this variant, I’ve written about retail, Web3 and the metaverse, podcasts, magazine articles, interviews, web pages, and a wide range of topics.

Despite these three disparate forms and my relative skill with them, creating a sustainable income via writing is an ongoing challenge.

Getting paid what you’re worth is the first challenge

Corporate America hates to pay. Period. Their goal is to do whatever they can to hoard all the profit possible while paying as little as they can get away with.

That’s why the corporate bigwigs and stockholders are making money hand over fist and veritably everyone else is struggling to a greater or lesser degree. That’s why 1 person is frequently doing the work of 3 at a quarter of the pay even 1 person should reasonably be earning.

This is not me being pessimistic – but I am both cynical and skeptical. What’s more, I’ve fought in multiple places to get paid what I’m worth.

Even small businesses are challenged to pay what you’re worthy of because they operate on the slimmest margins. Nobody is making money hand over fist here – most profit gets reinvested in the business and/or its employees.

Then, as an artist, it’s even harder to get paid what you’re worth. I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve seen that pay an insulting rate (well below a living wage) or want free work from writers, graphic designers, and similar artists. Like doing art is lesser.

Am I building engines to power industry? Literally, no. But when the website is the first stop on the journey to learning about a business – and I did the content – I am building the engine to power industry.

In this day, when the service economy is dominant, artists like me are building the engines. And to that end – some want to pay us as poorly as the most unskilled worker on an actual assembly line.

Getting paid what you’re worth is, thus, the first challenge.

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Sustainable income is the right of everyone

It doesn’t matter what you do. Any labor you put out there for money should earn a sustainable income.

This is especially true in any business that earns a profit. Why? Because profit is cash above and beyond operating costs. Thus, if a business makes a hundred-dollar profit, a million-dollar profit, or a billion-dollar profit – they are in the black and bringing in money above and beyond operating costs.

When they go out of their way to protect their earnings against taxes and laws to pay their employees a minimum wage and benefits – they do everyone (save their ludicrously wealthy executives and shareholders) a disservice. They go so far as to buy politicians to convince you that the more they make, the more you’ll see from them. And after 50 years of trickle-down economics not happening that way in the slightest – people are still falling for that lie.

If you’re an EMT and get mad that a fast-food worker earns the same as you – reconsider that maybe your sustainable income is too low, not that theirs is too high. Setting us against one another disempowers us while empowering these assholes.

But I digress. Earning a sustainable income is your right. And the narrative that doing so shouldn’t be fun or feel good is utter bullshit.

I continue blogging, writing fiction, and business writing to create a sustainable income via writing. Why? Because I love to maneuver the words to speak in amazing ways to open imaginations, awaken sleeping giants, show you your worth and value, and share information to make businesses grow and thrive.

And why shouldn’t I love what I do?

It takes work

The most important factor here is that creating a sustainable income is a product of ongoing work.

To put it simply – I must keep writing. And there is no reason that my focus needs to be tighter on one topic over another – save that business writing does tend to pay better than either fiction or blogging.

But that could change. Publishing my blogs to medium, one might draw attention that gets enough reads that all my work gains more popularity and I start earning more from blogging. Likewise, my fantasy and sci-fi could find new popularity that massively increases my sales – and that could easily overtake business writing.

But to me, writing is art, no matter what form it takes. So if it continues to be all three elements I must employ to build a sustainable income – I’m good with that. I’m happy to keep doing the work to make that fly.

What do I consider a sustainable income?

First and foremost – your mileage might vary. Sustainable for you won’t be sustainable for me and vice versa.

But to further my ongoing work in conscious reality creation, I’d like to share what a sustainable income looks like to me.

A sustainable income, to me, is this: Alongside my spouse, earning enough money to pay for essentials with cash, not use credit, pay off credit cards and medical bills, and setting aside a percentage of pay for ourselves (savings, investments, vacation funds, retirement, and the like). Essentials, in this context, are not just the absolute basics – but the occasional dinner ordered in or out at a restaurant, streaming services, and other such things.

Am I asking too much? No. Because I do the work – so I believe it’s perfectly reasonable to ask for a sustainable income as such. And I’m worthy and deserving of that.

FYI – so are you.

Be inspired to be your own creator, whatever form that takes.

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