Writing doesn’t pay well—so how can creators survive? Utsudo has noticed that prices keep rising while writing fees have barely moved, and the print publishing market keeps shrinking, so it’s hard to live freely on novels alone. Her approach: build a promising side job, learn about personal finance and new fields, and stabilize your life first. With that secured, your creative work can actually become freer, balancing reality and dreams.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

A few days ago I was chatting with friends, and naturally we were all venting about the nonsense we deal with at work.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but all of us happen to work long hours, and some are even on salaried “no overtime pay” schedules… so whenever work came up, the complaints never ended.

Responsible, capable people have it harder

I also realized something: employees who are responsible and capable usually have it the hardest.

A workplace has all kinds of people: some are bossy and hard to get along with, some make a habit of playing dead, and some just aren’t very capable and make a mess no matter how hard they try. The ones people complain about most are probably those who clearly can do the work but always play dead.

Using every skill you have to dodge work and still get paid is actually pretty impressive (X

As a newcomer, one friend found it hard to refuse the work handed down to her, and because she’d helped out before, she was asked to do even more. Hearing that, I suddenly understood why a friend in the civil service said, “The pay’s the same anyway, so the less work the better.”

Everyday exploitation at work

Of course, some bosses think that since they pay you, you have to do anything—they even try to exploit you, making you do several people’s jobs for one salary, reply to work messages after hours, and not even leaving you alone on weekends. It’s awful…

A friend who recently found a job ran into this: the job posting said no overtime, but on the very first day they suddenly sent her on a business trip. It was a day trip, but still weird. And it wasn’t the only time the boss went back on his word. My friend quit soon after starting because the overtime got scary QQ

Or you think about your employer, arrive early and leave late, never ask for a raise, and get praised all the time—yet the moment you resign, the employer turns on you. It’s really disheartening.

Then we got to talking about how a classmate once asked if I wanted to mine Bitcoin. I didn’t even know what a graphics card was back then, so nothing came of it. Later Bitcoin rose to over a million NT dollars. Damn it, if I’d mined back then I’d be running my own publishing house now—who’d still be here writing Ghost Island laments about life?!!

Ah, please pretend you didn’t see that last sentence, smooch ^.<

Writing doesn’t pay, and fees haven’t risen in years

Actually, I’ve been reflecting a lot these past few years. Apart from part-time jobs and freelance gigs, I basically focused on building my writing career, and I could at least get by. But writing really doesn’t make much money, and while prices keep rising, writing fees have barely moved.

You can see it will only get harder, especially with the print publishing market shrinking.

After the shock of a recent rejection, I re-examined my position and survival strategy: what went wrong, and what could be improved.

Side jobs and finance: a creator’s survival strategy

After thinking it over, I decided I should take on some side work with better prospects. If I can hold up the practical side of life, my writing can become freer, and I can pursue dreams like traveling or doing research trips whenever I want. Everything would reinforce everything else.

Since I can’t live freely on novels alone, maybe I can develop something else to become more stable. I want to keep learning and approach new things with an open mind. It may not succeed, but I’m sure I’ll find something along the way.

I also want to learn more about personal finance. In an era full of opportunity, there are so many ways to make money. If we cling to old ideas, we’ll never see the opportunities this new era brings. As the saying goes, “We can only earn the wealth we understand,” and it’s absolutely true.

As for what I’ve been looking into lately, it’s mainly fields like self-media and blockchain. I’ve only just started, so maybe I’ll share what I learn someday.

I hope every creator can find a way of surviving that suits them. If living on writing alone isn’t realistic, at least find a balance between reality and dreams. Once your life is stable, I think your steps toward your dream will be steadier too.

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #102: Revising a Manuscript Is Such a Pain
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.