Buy Yourself A Clue
I've been a writer all of my life, but I've only been writing professionally for around eight years.
During my time as a writer, I've met countless authors, readers, bloggers, editors, publishers, and cover models, ninety-nine percent of whom have been absolutely amazing and supportive. Artists, and lovers of art, are a fairly generous, kind bunch of individuals as a whole, but then, like in all other aspects of life, there's always that one self serving person who pops up like a weed in your garden of prize winning roses. Just a couple of days ago I discovered a "starving artist" in the form of "writer" Payne Hawthorne. Why the parenthesis around the word writer, you ask?Well, I'll tell you why.
You see, Payne has decided that she wants to quit her day job and be a full-time writer. There's nothing wrong with that decision, every writer in the world wants to make enough money from their writing alone to live a comfortable life, what IS wrong with this decision is the fact that Ms. Hawthorn has also decided that we should pay her bills while she sits at home and "writes".The GoFundMe page she's created is absolutely ridiculous.Now, let me elaborate with some direct quotes from her GoFundMe page.
I've spent the last 5 years struggling to become a full time author. I've been working odd and part time jobs and writing at night. I'm tired, but I've managed to produce 4 series, 9 individual titles, (All big/real books).
I've also produced 4 of these as audio books. (Invested $3500.00 just in the audio books). I'm getting noticed and I'm getting awesome reviews on all of my books. I'm not, however making enough to sit and write full time, (which would allow me to also sleep).
My goal is simple. I need to generate a $1000.00 a month. I do have partial support from my family. It's not a full-time living by any means.
Guess what? Every single writer, painter, sculptor, model, actor, etc, has held down a day job to support their family while honing their craft. It's called doing our job.
$100-$200 a month? Well, congratulations, Ms. Hawthorne! You make more than most indie authors make in a single YEAR!
Have you ever stopped to think that everyone has problems? Be they financially, and/or health wise? Why should we give you our hard-earned money so you can sit at home?Also, by her own admission, she had the $3500 to spend producing her Audiobooks. So why, if she had that to spare, is she asking us for money?But wait, there's more!
Most E-books sell for under $3.00, or less than a cup of coffee, and I get one dollar from that sale. Said E-book took me about 6 months to produce and roughly $1000.00 after paying for cover designers and editors.
Most readers are unaware it takes 20-30 hours of writing/editing/polishing time to produce 1 hour of readable/publishable material.
Any and all help would be immensely appreciated and I am happy to gift my books to supporters.
Now, this is where I got really pissed off.Seriously, who out there thinks a book gets written, edited, a cover made, and published in a matter of days?That's right, no one! Yet she's on about how long it takes to produce a book like the people she's begging for money from are complete morons. I know writers who have day jobs and families who write 80,000 words in a single month. I myself have a family and a 20,000 word deadline to reach by this Friday.
And what's even worse is, she says if you donate to her, that she'll send you her books for free. Well, now, I see your little scam here, hon. Someone sends you $10, $20, $100+ and you send them some books? Wow, you're raking in a little extra there compared to just selling the books now aren't you?
You want to make enough money off of your books to sit at home and write, well, SELLING BOOKS IS HOW YOU DO THAT, GENIUS! Not giving them away, then asking for a handout.
Yes, it's the most thankless, time consuming non-job on the planet.
And this is where my inner loudmouth, southern girl rebel busts out and offends some people.The most thankless, time consuming non-job on the planet? Oh, go fuck yourself!Writing is a JOB whether you get a big, fat check or not, and if you feel that it's a "non-job" then it's a HOBBY, a fucking PAST-TIME and you should move along to something that you're better at doing and that makes you happy.
Thankless? No. Every compliment a reader gives you, every smile you put on a reader's face, is your thanks, and in my opinion, that's thanks enough. Money is just unexpected icing on the cake.
On her personal Facebook page Hawthorne also went on the call people who disagreed with her GoFundMe "Cock-juggling thunder-cunts".
I am now blocked from said page, simply because I agreed with someone who disagreed with her GFM.
(Cock-juggling thunder-cunts? Nice ripoff from the movie Blade-Trinity. Yeah, I'm a nerd so I know this shit.)
She's not as creative as she thinks, obviously.
If there's one thing that I've learned in this business, it's that word spreads like wildfire across the sea in a George R.R. Martin novel. We all talk to each other and the best way to alienate yourself is to call readers/authors/bloggers crude names simply because they don't agree with you expecting a handout.
Ernest Hemmingway once said, "There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."He didn't say that to be dramatic. He said it because it's the absolute truth.
We all have day jobs and/or families that we have to spend the majority of the time taking care of and dealing with.
REAL WRITERS make time to write because it's important to them, even if that time is ten minutes while you wait to pick up your kids from school, or in the dead of night.Why? Because it's our passion, our dream, not our "Thankless non-job".
Pay your dues. Write when you have time. Even if it's one page a day. One page a day for 365 days equals 365 pages which is, you guessed it, a book! Write queries, synopsis', submit to every reputable publisher you can find, accept the rejections, and move on to start the routine all over again.
I understand helping those in need. Those losing their homes. Those with massive medical bill. Those who've lost a loved one. Wanting to sit on your ass at home while you work on your "non-job" is not acceptable and I can't imagine any intelligent, sane person wanting to donate to such a cause. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with donating to the homeless, the ill, the deserving.
I'm not sure why Ms. Hawthorn feels that she's entitled to our hard earned money, but she isn't, and her approach isn't the way to achieve her dream or attract readers.Hard work, dedication, and a passionate desire to succeed are the only way to get anywhere in this life.Not handouts.
I'm thankful for each and every single reader, blogger, publisher, editor and cover model who supports my dream of writing.
During my time as a writer, I've met countless authors, readers, bloggers, editors, publishers, and cover models, ninety-nine percent of whom have been absolutely amazing and supportive. Artists, and lovers of art, are a fairly generous, kind bunch of individuals as a whole, but then, like in all other aspects of life, there's always that one self serving person who pops up like a weed in your garden of prize winning roses. Just a couple of days ago I discovered a "starving artist" in the form of "writer" Payne Hawthorne. Why the parenthesis around the word writer, you ask?Well, I'll tell you why.
You see, Payne has decided that she wants to quit her day job and be a full-time writer. There's nothing wrong with that decision, every writer in the world wants to make enough money from their writing alone to live a comfortable life, what IS wrong with this decision is the fact that Ms. Hawthorn has also decided that we should pay her bills while she sits at home and "writes".The GoFundMe page she's created is absolutely ridiculous.Now, let me elaborate with some direct quotes from her GoFundMe page.
I've spent the last 5 years struggling to become a full time author. I've been working odd and part time jobs and writing at night. I'm tired, but I've managed to produce 4 series, 9 individual titles, (All big/real books).
I've also produced 4 of these as audio books. (Invested $3500.00 just in the audio books). I'm getting noticed and I'm getting awesome reviews on all of my books. I'm not, however making enough to sit and write full time, (which would allow me to also sleep).
My goal is simple. I need to generate a $1000.00 a month. I do have partial support from my family. It's not a full-time living by any means.
Guess what? Every single writer, painter, sculptor, model, actor, etc, has held down a day job to support their family while honing their craft. It's called doing our job.
$100-$200 a month? Well, congratulations, Ms. Hawthorne! You make more than most indie authors make in a single YEAR!
Have you ever stopped to think that everyone has problems? Be they financially, and/or health wise? Why should we give you our hard-earned money so you can sit at home?Also, by her own admission, she had the $3500 to spend producing her Audiobooks. So why, if she had that to spare, is she asking us for money?But wait, there's more!
Most E-books sell for under $3.00, or less than a cup of coffee, and I get one dollar from that sale. Said E-book took me about 6 months to produce and roughly $1000.00 after paying for cover designers and editors.
Most readers are unaware it takes 20-30 hours of writing/editing/polishing time to produce 1 hour of readable/publishable material.
Any and all help would be immensely appreciated and I am happy to gift my books to supporters.
Now, this is where I got really pissed off.Seriously, who out there thinks a book gets written, edited, a cover made, and published in a matter of days?That's right, no one! Yet she's on about how long it takes to produce a book like the people she's begging for money from are complete morons. I know writers who have day jobs and families who write 80,000 words in a single month. I myself have a family and a 20,000 word deadline to reach by this Friday.
And what's even worse is, she says if you donate to her, that she'll send you her books for free. Well, now, I see your little scam here, hon. Someone sends you $10, $20, $100+ and you send them some books? Wow, you're raking in a little extra there compared to just selling the books now aren't you?
You want to make enough money off of your books to sit at home and write, well, SELLING BOOKS IS HOW YOU DO THAT, GENIUS! Not giving them away, then asking for a handout.
Yes, it's the most thankless, time consuming non-job on the planet.
And this is where my inner loudmouth, southern girl rebel busts out and offends some people.The most thankless, time consuming non-job on the planet? Oh, go fuck yourself!Writing is a JOB whether you get a big, fat check or not, and if you feel that it's a "non-job" then it's a HOBBY, a fucking PAST-TIME and you should move along to something that you're better at doing and that makes you happy.
Thankless? No. Every compliment a reader gives you, every smile you put on a reader's face, is your thanks, and in my opinion, that's thanks enough. Money is just unexpected icing on the cake.
On her personal Facebook page Hawthorne also went on the call people who disagreed with her GoFundMe "Cock-juggling thunder-cunts".
I am now blocked from said page, simply because I agreed with someone who disagreed with her GFM.
(Cock-juggling thunder-cunts? Nice ripoff from the movie Blade-Trinity. Yeah, I'm a nerd so I know this shit.)
She's not as creative as she thinks, obviously.
If there's one thing that I've learned in this business, it's that word spreads like wildfire across the sea in a George R.R. Martin novel. We all talk to each other and the best way to alienate yourself is to call readers/authors/bloggers crude names simply because they don't agree with you expecting a handout.
Ernest Hemmingway once said, "There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."He didn't say that to be dramatic. He said it because it's the absolute truth.
We all have day jobs and/or families that we have to spend the majority of the time taking care of and dealing with.
REAL WRITERS make time to write because it's important to them, even if that time is ten minutes while you wait to pick up your kids from school, or in the dead of night.Why? Because it's our passion, our dream, not our "Thankless non-job".
Pay your dues. Write when you have time. Even if it's one page a day. One page a day for 365 days equals 365 pages which is, you guessed it, a book! Write queries, synopsis', submit to every reputable publisher you can find, accept the rejections, and move on to start the routine all over again.
I understand helping those in need. Those losing their homes. Those with massive medical bill. Those who've lost a loved one. Wanting to sit on your ass at home while you work on your "non-job" is not acceptable and I can't imagine any intelligent, sane person wanting to donate to such a cause. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with donating to the homeless, the ill, the deserving.
I'm not sure why Ms. Hawthorn feels that she's entitled to our hard earned money, but she isn't, and her approach isn't the way to achieve her dream or attract readers.Hard work, dedication, and a passionate desire to succeed are the only way to get anywhere in this life.Not handouts.
I'm thankful for each and every single reader, blogger, publisher, editor and cover model who supports my dream of writing.
date
newest »
newest »
I consider myself lucky to have even a slither of income from it, because it's a personal hobby rather than something I'm doing just for commercial gain. It would be the dream of course to be able to earn a living like a Kelley Armstrong or the like, but I can't help but agree Hawthorne's approach screams of arrogance (whether intended or not), but can't help but admire the balls to it either.