Who else /strugglingartist/ here?

nah, no good would come of it on here.

how do you survive? rent/food? toilet paper?

Tell me about the work instead then.

This. Obviously if you have something you think is really great, don't post it online (publishers are very reluctant to publish anything that has already been posted online), but there's no reason not to start building a portfolio you can show off.

Nothing is going to change in the US, as most people are more preoccupied with paying back their debts than changing the system that enslaves them.

>how do you survive?

I guess you could say I don't.

>here's no reason not to start building a portfolio you can show off.

Fuck off Zuckerberg. The internet is a disgusting, degenerate place and trying to shill your existential brand on here by posting your photos and updating several social media platforms is evidence you are a writer I have little time for.

I have no idea what I said to inspire such a vitriolic response. I think you might want to get your blood pressure checked.

Oh, psh! Fuck you homo! Heard that shit before. Oh, just check my blood pressure, buddy, no big deal! Next thing you know I got a dick in my hand! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Someone post that Husserl scholar pasta

I am a 36 year old with a PhD in Philosophy. I am $450k in debt and currently working two minimum wage jobs in order to stay alive. I work alongside 18 year olds and whenever they ask about my background I just tell them I've been in prison for a long time, which is less embarrassing than admitting the truth. I am probably the most well-informed Husserl scholar on the North American continent, perhaps in the world. My 1,500 page biography of his life has been rejected several dozen times. No college will take me on since they don't think Husserl is relevant, and that other applicants are therefore pushed to the head of the line. I have had 6 Husserl-related papers published in different journals and philosophical quarterlies, but have earned no money or recognition for having done so. I just moved to Abbeville, Louisiana since there is a job opening at the university in Lafayette and I decided to go all out in order to get it. But I've just found out that my application was rejected and now I'm stuck working at a Wendy's three shifts a week and a Barnes & Noble the rest of the time. I have no wife, no children, and at this point no friends I'm willing to talk to due to the shameful nature of my existence.

>tfw debt-free stem dropout whose been published multiple times and about to get a major deal

>tfw debt-free autodidact NEET with a strong resume

I am a 22 year old college dropout (dropped out at 19). Mom died when i was 10 and left me 200k. I dont work yet still just living off what i got, i know ill have to work soon (going to buy an electric car and do lyft), i spend my days reading meditating exercising going for long walks and being lonely and occasionally dropping acid

I am so happy I dropped out. The meme of the generations before me no longer makes people happy. I was paying a fuckton of money for bullshit classes and the few classes i mightve enjoyed were overrun with rambling profs who were mostly devoid of passion because these classes are the gimmick they run so they can study what they are truly passionate about outside of class

College nowadays is incredibly overpriced at least for USAfags. I hear the Euros get free college

Since dropping out ive read a few hundred books, completely on my own inspiration. Nothing made me hate learning more than authoritarian academics telling me I needed to get at least this high of a gpa to graduate. Carrots and sticks man didnt motivate me one bit

Fuck higher ed in the us

lolwtf why are you paying for grad school? If your institution isn´t funding you they don´t believe in you, especially at the PhD level, and everybody who ever looks at your resume will know that they didn´t believe in you enough to fund you.

Be careful going down the path towards autodidacticism user. I feel you. I thought it was quite frustrating being in college for about my first three years. It definitely isn´t worth the cost of attending, but if you can afford it or find a way to get people to pay you to go (scholarships or stipends), then it is kind of necessary depending on what you want to learn. Even if you have original opinions and your own way of doing things, it is worthwhile learning what the consensus and trends surrounding a field are. It´s super easy to spot an autodidact.

Just turned 23 and similar story, but no inheritance and I dropped out of both highschool and college. I don't regret either.

Gonna join the navy for free training and practical skills (IT + that clearance = $$$ boyo) and in the meantime I can enjoy myself and make literary gains. This shit's a playground.

what sort of work exp do you have???

Also since you have a good chunk of money start looking into investing/finance if you haven't, particularly cryptocurrency. You legit wont have to work again if you learn how to trade/invest, and its MUCH easier to hit that too with the starting capital you're working with.

>150k+ in debt with a liberal arts degree
Your fault for not getting something useful.

how do you spot an autodidact? i taught myself how to write via google/reading pynchon, and i won a national award judged by a novelist who won the governor general's award (leafland's Pulitzer basically)

Reading about Murican school system always feels so unreal, I doubt I'd buy that shit if someone wrote a dystopian novel about a similar kind of insanity.

Though why would you bother with any of that shit if you want to be an artist? In the time wasted for muh "education" you could've written at least one decent novel. The only justification for the classes is networking.

>The only justification for the classes is networking.
Not if you're surrounded by sex-crazed undergrads who are living off their parents dime just like you. Connections are either with professors or in grad school.

You will be working minimum wage your whole life if you don't get some form of higher education.

Not really. There's a shitload of self-taught coders making bank. Their skills are in high demand and many of them start their own businesses too.

Really, just gets skills and go where the demand is, or make something that meets a demand.

>Connections are either with professors or in grad school.
Mostly but assuming the classes aren't filled with complete fuckups, you can meet a few kids who got parents in right places too. At least that's how most of my working class friends made it.

That's a pretty moronic idea, which helps to inflate the cost even further, and my point wasn't even about higher education per se but higher education for artists. Learning how to write or draw to make some professor happy is the trivial first step every idiot will make after couple years of doing it, the thousands of others steps needed, are not something university will or even can help with (sans networking)

People are fed the lie that college is the only option for a better life and if you don't go you're a low class buffoon.

Not even remotely true. It's easy to land a 40-50k per year job here if you're a hard worker and show some loyalty and value. I make more than almost everyone I know including college graduates and I'm a HS dropout working a trade.

You're alive and you have access to the internet. I'm going to assume you don't live on the streets. Answer the damn question.

Literally how? College doesn't cost that much unless you're a private/out of state paying moron.

It's not that much if you come from a well-off and above family, but the big "go to collerge" meme has so many people forcing themselves into wasted time and horrible debt even when they aren't mentally and financially prepared for it.

Someone should definitely write that dystopian ya novel.

>Long ago, before the bombs fell and the world changed, life was simple. Youth, a blessing. Work, a guarantee.
>Those in charge thought it a gift. We all needed education in this turbulent world. How better then than to give it away. No one could have expected the price to be paid down the line.

Kinda writes itself. Kinda.

Reveal over time that the bombs we're referring to weren't even here and are actually the vietnam war, which was a problem on two fronts, with such a rush for collegiate draft dodging and the drying up of the unskilled job market when the boys came home. Comes to light later in the book that the biggest driver of the problem is government backed student loans in the first place allowing college prices to skyrocket.

No, I mean a four year degree isn't that price.

It seems irresponsible to loan this much money to someone studying creative writing. How does the bank ever expect to get it back?

Is it because they know the government backs the loan?

Why isn't the government tightening the purse strings?

Loans, like prisons, are a billion dollar industry.

Trillion dollar

Why only take a man's money, when you can take his life, all his property, his family, and descendants too?

Why would you pay that much money to get taught by failed authors?

Can we please just get rid of all Americans?

Can attest to this backfiring on you terribly. An online presence is more difficult to construct than some shitty novel. I would just remind yourself that you're never not online anymore, that your story ideas are as predictable as you are to those who are looking to stay ahead of the game. I recommend either going obvious ideology person with marketable quirky characteristics or just go full on writing for friends from a bunker.

Then you'll pay that debt off.

Can anyone explain why American loans are so crippling? We have loans here, but the conditions are so favorable that it doesn't really count as serious debt.

Capitalism doesn't treat usury as a crime.

>Why isn't the government tightening the purse strings?
You mean the same government who enables it and probably has a few people who profit from it in congress? The fucking president was running a scam university, remember?

Besides, even without gubernment backing, the people will be paying all their lives.

>that your story ideas are as predictable as you are to those who are looking to stay ahead of the game.
Meh, most are self insert stories in slightly different worlds by middle class people, another huge chunk are attempts at social commentary, again by middle class people. The people who "stay ahead" tend to combine both and adding some quirk. Not that originality even matters either way.

It might introduce debt slavery back tho.

Pretty sure user's talking about academia, not fiction writing.

Ew.

Also it's easy to stay offline if you never do social media to begin with, and dont post your work everywhere like some autist.

His family resentfully pays for his shit.

I'm applying for mfas as well. I understand the appeal. But why tf would you go into debt for that degree.

>going to school
>not going to books

How'd you do it?

I'm not trying to be a dick, and I guess I'm really sheltered, but how the FUCK can you not get a job when you're aiming at the level of gas station attendant? I've never understood this shit, there are so many jobs to be done. What country are you in? How do you explain it?

Jobs are all about social skills, and given that he's here, and didn't find one in 12 years, it wouldn't be too outlandish to presume, that he sperged out a bit.

>gas attendance
>social skills
Not in my town.

This thread makes me glad I did engineering.

Hey I might not get to endeavour into my passions as much as you guys but I'm 29 with no debt and earning 6 figures. If I can invest $20k into my current Vanguard account every year for the next 20 years I'll have $1.6m in it by age 50 and I can live very comfortably off interest.

Is it possible to be a writer without going to university studying a literature related degree?

Fuck... If this is true then you could pay up front for any fucking degree you want and do anything these people in this thread are doing and more...

I am so sad right now.

Yes, but you have to be dedicated. I personally recommend not attending. Read Jack London's "Martin Eden". There is no point writing for fame / money in 2017 though.

It's all true lad. If I can spare it I'll go back and study something, but currently my plan is to pool enough money so I can retire 50 or younger.

And what then? Do you intend to write at all? If so your brain is already shutting down much of that potential and reorganizing itself in a way that focuses its power on STEM rather than creative thinking. Look at Stewart O'Nan, he was an engineer throughout his 20s making big bucks but quit to write because he knew, subconsciously probably, that his brain was literally being altered to discourage creative thought necessary for writing. You may have more money than me, you may """retire""" (a concept only applicable to wagecuckolds) sooner than most, but will you ever experience a truly profound and insightful thought as I currently do several times a day? Will you ever pen a sentence that makes you literally cry due to how intelligent, wise, humorous and empathetic it is? While I wake at 10am currently, enjoy a glass of warm milk and some cookies to protect myself from the cold weather, and lie in the bathtub with my eyes closed thinking the kind of thoughts that only a small handful (Tolstoy, Dosteovsky, Jesus, Buddha, Hitler) were capable of thinking, you are presumably in an office, facing another several hours of existentially irrelevant work, only so that in 30 years (if you like that long) you'll be able to do the same thing? Sickening.

Don't fall for the engineering lifestyle though. Most of my coworkers are making six figure salaries, but they blow all of it on cars/house and are stuck paying mortgages to the bank until they're 60. Upper middle class is a code word for "comfortable debt slavery"

The people you met had enough social skills to convince their boss to take them, so you didn't see the worst.

You've spent 11 years of the around 70-80 more you have left to get a bigger number in your bank account, and plan to waste 20 years more, from your physical peak; only to be left with 30-40 years, the ones when your body starts deteriorating. Sounds hardly any better.

Because there's probably about 400 other people applying for the job in my economically depressed town, and people with college degrees generally go to the bottom of the stack, because nobody like to hire college people to lower level jobs because the people in charge of hiring are afraid the college people will eventually their jobs.

Somebody told me to just lie and say I've been in jail and rehab for the past 10 years, and I'd get better results.

I guess I should, part of it would even be true.

OP, I think you have made some wrong decisions in life.

>$0 spent on advanced writing courses
>$0 spent on writing
>$0 spent self-publishing 8 books
>$0 spent ghostwriting 2 books

>Making over $100 a month since August

I am presently unemployed, have put out professional resumes to get a job because I feel like a disgusting leech while on welfare but I've gotten no calls. Ultimately, I just work on my writing, and I'm still a ways off from being able to pay all my bills with it, it's still giving me a nice chunk of spending money for the time being. As the months tick by, things will continue to improve, and I suspect that in 1.5 years at the most, I'll be making 5-figures a year with my writing. Now that I've reached $100 a month, I guess I'm at a present average of 4-figures a year, which is still nice, and even nicer considering it hasn't cost me a single penny.

>makes $100 for three months
>surely this will transform into 6 figures in a little while.

the delusions of self published fags really astounds me.

>economically depressed town

Get out, senpai.

Made over $100 A MONTH over the course of two soon to be three months, and my aim is 5 figures, not 6. I also don't think 1.5 years constitutes as 'a little while'. Within less than a full year of being self-published I'm already making 3 figures a month, even if it's at the low spectrum of 3 figures, which is nothing to sneeze at. It's still 4 figures a year, and who would turn down over $1000 a year just for doing something you love?

The delusions of followers of the 'self-publishing is a meme' meme really astounds me.

>falling for the higher (((education))) meme
Serves you right

I don't know if it's a meme, but you guys do come off as pretty delusional.

Not knocking it that much, as I plan to self publish a book soon also, but I'm not really expecting anything from it.

I get weirded out by every self published fag's delusional future world though. "See, I made $300 so far, and this undoubtably will not only continue, but if it continues it's obviously going to increase, so it's basically a sure thing that by december I'm going to be making $5000 a month, and then after that they're probably going to make me CEO of amazon because I own a nice suit, and they're already aware of that! So after that, I mean trump is locked down to be impeached, so I'm going to be a shoe-in. Now, the problem is I know my drug problem that's been haunting me, and my predilection for pre-teen Laotian boys is going to come back and bite me, so maybe I'll loose some senate votes over that, but I'll have sent a colony to mars by then, so there's no way I'll be impeached and re-election is in the bag. Then the aliens come, and I fucking kick there asses, I'm really going to go down in history as caesar, napoleon and washington all put together after that. I'm thinking the French Alps for retirement."

Jesus Christ I don't know who it is you've been reading, but that's hyperbolic as fuck. My first 5 months or so of writing resulting in probably less than $10; as you can see, I'm not looking to get rich quick, or to even get rich. I'm in it for the long run. It was in March that I got my first good chunk of change with about $45, and then April was about $50 with most of it coming in the last week or so when I self-published my... fifth book? That's when it hit me that this might not be a 5-10 year thing that I initially was prepared for, and indeed I'm still prepared for it to take that long, but I believed that I could manage it within 1-2 years. Most self-published authors don't make $100 in their first year, but I made that in practically just 2 months.

Now here I am, half a year later, and I made almost $140 in September and I've also got 5 physical copies of my books in mainland Europe as well as a few faithful readers that I keep in touch with from America, Europe, and Australia. I will continue to ghostwrite, which will result in more and more reviews which will help in allowing me to slowly increase my prices. I will continue to self-publish, expanding my bibliography to what I anticipate to become at least 20 books by this time in 2018. As I write more, I'll get even better, and in time I will continue to get more reviews for my books which will in turn improve sales. I'll keep doing promotional offers, regularly putting books on sale and even for free roughly once a month at least, which will result in more exposure.

These aren't delusions; they're clear points of improvement that I've made in less than 12 month's time, with steps I'm making to be sure that I'll continue to improve, and goals that seem to me to be well within the realm of possibility. Is it 100% for certain and foretold, set in stone and bequeathed to me by the creator of the Heaven and the Earth? Obviously not, but I can see the possibility of reaching my modest goal of $10,000 a year by about April 2018 or 2019. When I said 5-figures, that's literally what I meant; $10,000 a year. Believe it or not, I can live in relative comfort with that, complete with a good bit of spending money after the bills have been paid, the fridge has been stocked, and the necessary amount of liquor purchased.

As for 6 figures, it's obviously not guaranteed that I'll ever reach that, but it's most certainly possible, though it would not surprise me one bit if it takes more than a decade or perhaps even two to reach that. I wouldn't be hurt, however, if I never attained 6 figures in a single year. If I never make more than a mere $15k within a 12-month period, I still will have lived a happy life, and my works would remain for years to come. I like the idea of someone finding one of my works after I'm long dead and largely forgotten, quietly enjoying the words I'd written long ago, before my fatal encounter with a dragon dildo.

Has it ever occurred to you that you'll just make a few hundred bucks, and then it'll completely dry up?

You're obsessing about your extremely minor success, and seem assured that it's somehow going to transform itself into something bigger.

Write me a letter when that actually happens.

That's the thing about self publishing faggots, they all say the same story. They make $50 and start writing their nobel prize speech, and tell everyone on here about the amazing success that's sure to come, then you never hear from them again because the bottom drops out.

That's fucking disappointing desu.

I live in easterneuroland and I know an alcoholic wannabe who made about $970 in a month. Sold 75 copies, ~$13 each, mostly to his circle of friends and family.
I mean, he has no talent and doesn't know who Kafka is but he wrote a shitty book of poetry between two bottles of cheap cognac and got it published by a mutual friend who's a literary critic. He felt sorry for him and published him. Then we each bought one out of pity. We basically crowdfounded almost $1k for in exchange for his trash.

Then there's you and muh self-publishing for a hundred a month. Shit.

>spending 120k to study a field where there are no jobs and you can easily teach yourself for free

Its all your fault you fell for the hyper-individualism meme.

I envy you for that. I studied electrical-engineering basics in HS and I hated it from the start. Got a clear-cut path to study it at university but it makes me want to die. I could be an electrician with no further studies. I tried other trades, even ducking carpentry, because everyone told me it's manual labor and computers and engineering where the money's at. I fucking hate it all.

Now I study literature and foreign languages. I can finally follow my passions, but goddamn if I don't wish I was at least neutral towards STEM and trades.

I either get into academia or I become a HS teacher. That's what I get for being born a humanities-fag.

Where is here?

UK

You only pay back a certain percentage after you earn over a certain amount. Basically if uni does nothing for your job prospects, then you won't have to pay back your loan as repayments are based on how much you earn. Plus they get wiped after a few decades entirely. Interest rate is low ect

I just wanted to know how it works in US, because people constantly complain about it.

If I stop now, no more writing for myself or ghostwriting, yeah, it will likely end up just drying up, but that's assuming I'll stop. I won't. I'm not obsessing, but I am most certainly addressing success where I see it, and these hundreds of dollars I've made in the last few months is most certainly a success in my books. I put no money into writing, but I am getting money out of it. It's like I'm getting paid just to play videogames, and who wouldn't celebrate that? I feel confident that it will indeed continue to, not transform, but to grow, and thus far I see no reason to think that it will not. Month after month, it's only been improving.

You're getting hyperbolic again. A novel prize? My goal is a mere $10,000 a year, and that's less than full-time minimum wage, but either way it is certainly within the realm of possibility that I could reach $100,000+ per year. That's not my goal, but it might come someday decades from now whether I want it to or not.

See, I don't market my books in the real world, and CERTAINLY not to family or old friends. In truth, my family doesn't even know what my pseudonym is, so they couldn't buy my books if they wanted to. Also, if those 75 copies were paperback, then he didn't 'make' $970, because he will have had to invest in buying those 75 copies before selling them. Even if I ended up getting 75 sales for my $10.99 paperback book tomorrow, I wouldn't get $825. A chunk of that money has to go towards the cost of printing the books, and another chunk goes to Amazon, then I'd likely end up with perhaps $300, which is actually extremely good. In traditional publishing, an author (even Stephen King) would be VERY lucky to get 15% royalty. $300 out of $825 is over 30% I wager.

I also don't use crowdfunding, or Patreon, or anything like that. I also don't ask for reviews; I either get them or I don't. So you might think self-publishing is shit, but I assure you I'm very happy about and proud of my $255-260 or so that I made in August and September, after all I DID say I made 'over' $100 in those two months. If I maintain that average, then I'm already at $1500+ a year. Would you say 'no' to or complain about getting that much money for doing something you love? I certainly wouldn't. Back in February I was making on average less than $2 per month. Then, from about March-July, I was averaging around $30-50 a month. Now, August-September and soon to be October, I'm at $120-140 a month. I will ghostwrite more, I will self-publish more, and if this trend continues then I will more than likely be at $250-400 by spring 2018. I will continue writing, continue learning more about the world of self-publishing (and I haven't stopped learning about it in the past year; HUGE learning curve), continue getting reviews and touching bases with readers who enjoy my work, and it still seems to me that full-time writing can be attained by spring 2019. $835 a month, only a fool would think that to be impossible.

>Plus they get wiped after a few decades entirely

The fuck you on about lad?

If you haven't paid the loan back in 30 years it just gets written off

I'm Sam HydeHAHAHHAHAHAHhha

Bullshit lad.

Ok? What are you trying to achieve? This is something you can check easily.

23, have had to take care of my senpai and work throughout college but I'll be attending full time soon and I should be finishing my degree in philosophy before 25. Probably a waste of time and money, I know the memes, but a diploma is essentially a HS diploma now and I'm not going to major in something for a job I won't enjoy.

Gonna grab my CELTA + TEFL and teach literally everywhere in the world after I graduate. Gonna spend my free time writing too. My buddy is doing something similar in VIetnam - nets about $1600 a month and it costs him less than $500 a month to live, but he only has to work ~20 hours a week. Shit sounds fire.

>and these hundreds of dollars I've made in the last few months is most certainly a success in my books

For one, it's almost assured that you're lying about the few hundred you made.

For another, it's such a minor success that it's not really even worth noting.

you're on tier 2 and in your head you think you're on tier 50 for some reason.

If you want to have any hope in the writing world, you really need to be realistic with yourself. There's plenty of minor accomplishments I could brag about, but I ultimately know they don't add up to much, and there's no guarantee it's going to add up to anything more.

Lots of the self published types on here tend to fall in love with this future success they think they're going to be, and I haven't seen a single one of them actually turn into that.

Derek Murphy, Andy Weir, Hugh Howey, and Tim Knox are just a few highly successful self-published authors. Derek Murphy also made a vid showing that he made over $5000 in one month via self-publishing on Amazon and I'm certain there are people who are more successful than him. Anyways it's clear that you've got your stance on the matter, and I've got mine. You can feel free to believe I'm lying about hundreds of dollars, it's no big deal.

youtube.com/watch?v=94HLP2baQb0

Feel free to mock what he writes; he goes for what's hot on the market, which seems to be YA/teen stuff, he even wrote a book about mermaids or something, but none the less the numbers are there and he shows one of his books that are within the top 1500 best-selling books on Amazon. $5000 a month is over 5x what my goal is, but none the less, it is within the realm of possibility. $60,000 a year, and there's people making even more than that. Feels good, user. Feels good.

shutup

the other autist is obviously trying to set you up as a strawman for him to knock down, but you're also making some questoionable logic leaps

for one, it's not "free" when it costs time.

By that logic, literally nothing is free. To kneel down and pick up a coin isn't free. To have a coupon for a free burger isn't free even if you walk instead of drive, thereby saving money on fuel. Hell; breathing isn't free, whether it's with fresh clean air or in the ocean drowning by breathing in saltwater. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to ignore that 'logic leap', because going by that logic, literally nothing in the world is free, and that's just silly. There's also the thought of how long it takes to get something. I mean, are you waiting your entire life to attain everything you earn, receive, or obtain? By that logic, the most expensive thing in the world is your urn or coffin, or even the patch of dirt you're buried in, because it takes a literal lifeTIME to get it.

>$28k in debt from BA in poli sci and philosophy
>$7k in debt from MA in poli sci
>just graduated
>just moved in with grandparents in Toronto
>rent-free, cost-free
>now what.jpg
>applying for gov't jobs, public sector shit
>writing short stories, editing my thesis to self-publish as a nonfiction book
>about to turn 23
>having quarter life crisis
>might try to freelance as a "digital marketer" /content creator
>or should I opt for something more stable so I can write those novels I've always wanted to write in my off time
>options.jpg

>Derek Murphy, Andy Weir, Hugh Howey, and Tim Knox are just a few highly successful self-published authors

And?

I'm not saying it's impossible, just that there's no evidence to suggest it is for you.

>for one, it's not "free" when it costs time.

With the amount of time it takes to write a book, yeah it sure as hell isn't free.

Would you go around bragging that you were digging a ditch for 500 hours, and you made $300?

>It seems irresponsible to loan this much money to someone studying creative writing.
>irresponsible
I audibly chuckled.

exactly, nothing is free, but you can value it
how many hours have you put into your writing for those $300? how many more will you put in for the hope of $10000?

is this why Veeky Forums is all poor NEETs? cause no one understands the fundamental concept of "time value of money" and "opportunity cost"?

Evidence? What do I need evidence for? I've already said it's not guaranteed, but based on what I've experienced thus far it does seem to me that I can attain a fulltime job of writing within the next 1.5 years. I've worked on my books, gained readers whom I stay in contact with and are actively looking forward to buying more, I'm getting reviews and maintaining an average of over 3 stars, I've gotten into ghostwriting and will do more which will result in more reviews which will lead to more offers and income, etc. I don't need to change your mind; I'd have to care about your opinion for me to want to to begin with.

Now THAT is an interesting outlook. Taking my writing, and being able to put a monetary value on it in regards to hours. Though before I do that I'd like to note that what you're spending your time on makes a big difference. Working on paving roads, tending a cash register, constructing houses, driving loads cross-country, reading books, playing videogames, mining, soldiering, prison guard, stripper, porn star, writer; there's lots of different ways to spend your time. For instance, an hour spent playing videogames is something that most people would enjoy and readily do for free because they like it so much. Meanwhile, paving roads, that's pretty much something that people would only do for a Hell of a lot of money. So what you spend your time doing, on a personal basis, is worth different things. I can, and have, happily spent hours writing for free with no intention to make money off of what I write. Anyways, let's get to the hours/money thing.

I've written roughly 432,000 words I think, between self-publishing books and ghostwriting. As for how much money I've made, around $435. Now, I can write roughly 2000 words per hour. Sometimes I'm more on the ball and manage more, or sometimes my imagination struggles a little bit and I can't quite get that much, but I'd say that's right around the average. It's also a nice round number. So, 432,000 divided by 2000 is 216. So I've dedicated roughly 216 hours towards writing my books and ghostwriting for others. Well I don't really need to do any actual math to deduce the rest; I've basically been paid $2 an hour. $2 an hour to do something I would be perfectly fine doing for free.

Feel free to see a problem with that if you want, but me? I'm very happy to see this outcome, and I will use this method in the future. Really inspires me to write more, honestly. Yeah, those 216 hours could have gotten me over $2000 with a minimum wage job, but considering how much I enjoyed writing all that, getting 'only' $435 for it is perfectly acceptable. Thanks user! I'd never looked at it like that before!