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I wonder to know how much I can earn if I were interesting in writing career?
I am a high school student. I like to writing a lot during my free time. I had taken a lot of writing class while learning in high school. #writer #writing
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4 answers
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Rick’s Answer
I am currently a staff writer for a large company. I am able to make a good living because I have two skills my company wants:
--I can write news and feature stories. I learned that as a general reporter on a newspaper and then as a tech reporter for a trade publication.
--I have a basic understanding of the technology the company is in. I learned that from working as a tech reporter for many years.
Caution: Years ago, I was able to make a good living as a tech reporter. But since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s the companies I worked for had increasing difficulty finding ways to make money. I know people who still make their living this way but far fewer than in the past.
Good luck!
--I can write news and feature stories. I learned that as a general reporter on a newspaper and then as a tech reporter for a trade publication.
--I have a basic understanding of the technology the company is in. I learned that from working as a tech reporter for many years.
Caution: Years ago, I was able to make a good living as a tech reporter. But since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s the companies I worked for had increasing difficulty finding ways to make money. I know people who still make their living this way but far fewer than in the past.
Good luck!
Updated
Fernando’s Answer
It all starts with what style you want to go for. Is it prose, script writing, game writing, comic book writing, commercial writing, novel writing? These are the a few of the many writing styles out there. The best way to see which one fits you is to experiment with any style that catches your attention. Practice the style and be sure to have someone to give you feedback, it's important to have an outside perspective in order pick up on the flaws you'd otherwise look over. Once you've found your groove, you can research what colleges offer the writing courses that fit your style of choice. Getting a degree isn't mandatory, but it can help you at refining your craft and learning the ins and outs of the writing industry.
Updated
Christy’s Answer
That depends on a number of variables:
-- What type of writing you want to do.
-- How good you are.
-- How lucky you are.
-- How persistent and determined you are.
It's possible to have a career in journalism and writing non-fiction. I'm not sure what sort of money you'd earn doing this, but you might be able to earn a living.
A tiny percentage of book authors make enough to live on from their books. Many authors have full-time day jobs and write books in their spare time. Most book authors would advise you to have a stable, but not demanding day job.
Then are are other fields of writing: scriptwriting for tv, film, and animation. Writing for comics and graphic novels. Writing for videogames.
Each of these fields requires specialized knowledge and are extremely difficult to break into. You could potentially earn the most money writing for tv and film, but you'd have to be very, very good, able to pitch in Hollywood, and have a large amount of luck.
Animation writing doesn't pay as well as live-action and is also hard to break into, but can pay enough to live on with hard work.
Comics also don't pay a lot of money, but again, with hard work you might make enough to live on IF you can get enough jobs. That is hard to do.
Other fields of writing would include technical writing or marketing and advertising. I don't know enough about those fields to advise you.
I have had a successful career supporting myself as a writer, but I did so by writing in more than one medium. As a freelance writer, I was subject to a feast or famine cycle that is common to freelance writing. I had good years and terrible years, but I never had to take a non-writing job.
Step #1 is to experiment and discover what type of writing you most want to do. It could be in more than one field, but focus on one to begin with.
Step #2 is to research how you learn to write for that medium. Writing prose for books is entirely different than writing an animation script or a comic book script.
Step #3 is to research what a writer can earn from writing in that medium. The information is out there if you search widely enough. Don't be fooled by the extremely large figures for certain novelists or screenwriters. That is one in a million.
Step #4 There is a great deal of the kind of information you're looking for in my book: Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games. If one or more of those fields of writing interests you, my book will give you a good start in what you need to do.
Step #5 Keep writing! Keep reading! If you want to write novels, read tons of novels. If you want to write comics, read lots of comics. If you want to write animation, watch a lot of animation. But mainly, write and write and write.
-- What type of writing you want to do.
-- How good you are.
-- How lucky you are.
-- How persistent and determined you are.
It's possible to have a career in journalism and writing non-fiction. I'm not sure what sort of money you'd earn doing this, but you might be able to earn a living.
A tiny percentage of book authors make enough to live on from their books. Many authors have full-time day jobs and write books in their spare time. Most book authors would advise you to have a stable, but not demanding day job.
Then are are other fields of writing: scriptwriting for tv, film, and animation. Writing for comics and graphic novels. Writing for videogames.
Each of these fields requires specialized knowledge and are extremely difficult to break into. You could potentially earn the most money writing for tv and film, but you'd have to be very, very good, able to pitch in Hollywood, and have a large amount of luck.
Animation writing doesn't pay as well as live-action and is also hard to break into, but can pay enough to live on with hard work.
Comics also don't pay a lot of money, but again, with hard work you might make enough to live on IF you can get enough jobs. That is hard to do.
Other fields of writing would include technical writing or marketing and advertising. I don't know enough about those fields to advise you.
I have had a successful career supporting myself as a writer, but I did so by writing in more than one medium. As a freelance writer, I was subject to a feast or famine cycle that is common to freelance writing. I had good years and terrible years, but I never had to take a non-writing job.
Christy recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Farhan’s Answer
As Christy stated, it depends on many things. I personally write books and make a little money on the side with it, but I also have a full-time corporate job. It's not easy making it big like JK Rowling, so for me it's more of a hobby than a living.
Also, you didn't indicate what kind of writing you like to do or want to pursue as a profession. Are you interested in writing fictional novels? If so, you could consider self-publishing books via Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or through IngramSpark. If you're more interesting in journalism or blogging, perhaps you can begin by writing on a platform such as Medium and see if you can build up an audience. That could net you some income, but also helps add to your portfolio in case you decide to apply for writing jobs with, say, a magazine or news company.
Begin by blogging and see if you can build up an audience
Apply for writing jobs
Also, you didn't indicate what kind of writing you like to do or want to pursue as a profession. Are you interested in writing fictional novels? If so, you could consider self-publishing books via Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or through IngramSpark. If you're more interesting in journalism or blogging, perhaps you can begin by writing on a platform such as Medium and see if you can build up an audience. That could net you some income, but also helps add to your portfolio in case you decide to apply for writing jobs with, say, a magazine or news company.
Farhan recommends the following next steps: