I Am An Author But Not Who You Think I Am!
A few years ago, someone commented on my Facebook post, “Sweta, you must be ready to retire now that your poetry book has become an Amazon bestseller”.
According to this person, my royalty payments, from my poetry collection, would keep me smoothly sailing for the rest of life. I laughed so hard at the irony of this person’s ignorance.
Media portrays both incredibly rich and realistically impoverished writers. People choose to believe what suits their needs. Truth is that we, the writers and poets, don’t have a wand that we wave to magically create money from a book. Words and writing take discipline, sacrifice, and many hours (often years) of rumination.
Completing a book and bringing it into this world takes persistence and years of hard work. Writing, sometimes, takes us into dark places and unknown emotional territories. What readers see is the final product with the book jacket; the journey to get to that point is hardly rosy. Most importantly, NOT everything we write gets published. Ask any writer, and they will point you in the direction of the dark corners in their homes stacked with unwanted manuscripts catching dust.
Writing and the arts in general don’t pay much. That’s why most of us in the creative fields have a day job or a side hustle to buy food, pay bills, and follow our creativity. We don’t become poets, novelists, and nonfiction writers for the money. As writers and poets, we write because that’s how we see, experience, and navigate the world. We definitely don’t get into writing because we aspire to buy a mansion in the Hamptons from the advance. Most of us wouldn’t turn down that offer, but the probability of such a deal is far and few in between.
But we also didn’t get into writing, so we would become an unwilling charity for those who don’t care or understand that writing doesn’t come for FREE and continue to ask for help without ever offering to pay. It’s not an easy task to work a full-time job, care for a family, keep your creative passion alive, and respond to preposterous requests.
Every FREE ask from you: “Take a look at my kid’s college essay or share some publicity tips or you should co-author this book with me or edit this article for me or how should I start writing or where should I get published or can you write a poem for my child’s first birthday party or become my mentor, so I can become a writer,” are insipid and insensitive requests. It takes away time from our creativity.
I am not sure how and when some people started to assume that writers would choose to help out for FREE? Will you go to the doctor’s office and say, “I have a cold and cough…can you examine me but not charge me a fee? It will only take 20 minutes.” Do traders, bankers, chefs, technology professionals show up to their jobs and expect to not be paid? How would you feel if your manager at work suggests that you do the work but not expect a week’s pay? Do you walk into a grocery or departmental store and expect to walk out with items without paying for them?
In case you need to know, writing is a job too. How is it that you expect a writer friend, colleague, associate, or connection to help you out for FREE? Do you realize that the same writer receives requests from a million other people on a daily basis? What might be one college essay or a poem or editing request to you…is those many unpaid hours for a writer.
Another important point: there are different kinds of writers and writing. Creative writing is different from business writing. I have friends who are business writers. What does that mean? They create content for other services and companies. When you walk into your doctor’s office, the pamphlet with all the helpful information…a doctor didn’t write that. Most likely a content writer did. Some companies have snazzy blog posts—if they can’t afford in-house writers, they hire freelance content writers. But if you ask a content writer to write a fantasy novel with you, you see how that would be an erroneous request? Or if you ask a poet or a novelist to create a birthday card for your puppy’s first birthday, it’s like expecting a trader to understand the math algorithms used to build his trading system.
I’d like to believe that there is goodness in the world, so some people might not understand what writing entails or the fact that writing isn’t a single vanilla flavor ice-cream that you serve with every kind of warm dessert. But there are many people who buy Gucci handbags yet make these requests for freebies yet don’t even bother to familiarize themselves with the writer’s work.
In all likelihood, they have never supported the writer’s endeavors. But they reach out with this sense of ownership because social media has dissolved boundaries and people assume they know a person and have access to them from reading their social media posts.
Let me reiterate again: Not all authors are book coaches or editors or mentors or book doctors or copywriters or copy editors or proofreaders. Not all of us ghost write for other people. For every insipid request for a freebie a writer receives, responding to them takes away time from their creativity. Time that they rarely have.
I was talking to SEO Specialist & Digital Strategist, Meg Casebolt, (more like sharing my frustration) when she suggested I write this article, so the next time someone makes a ludicrous request, I can send them the link to this article and, hopefully, educate them about the business of writing. People: writers don’t run a charity!
In case you are still wondering…yes, I am an author. Yes, I am a speaker. Yes, I am an Ayurveda-based health and mindset coach who writes at the intersection of culture, wellness, and women’s empowerment. What I am not: a book coach, publishing support, book doctor, editor, copywriter, proof-reader, or a birthday card specialist.
Pasted below is a list of people who can help you. Meg suggested a few of these names and rest are my colleagues. Take the time to familiarize yourself with their work, their offerings, and definitely don’t start your query with, “Just need 20 minutes of your time; can you do it for free?”
- Sophy Dale, Fully Booked Press– editor, publishing support & writing coach for authors
- Tanja Pajevic– book coach & editor for memoirs
- James Ranson– book coach for entrepreneurs writing business books
- Vanessa Soto– book coach for nonfiction authors, specializing in helping with book proposals
- Tonya Kubo– a social media & book launch consultant for authors.
- Elizabeth Wafler– editor
- Sheila Athens– book coach & developmental editor
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BIO: Sweta Srivastava Vikram is an international speaker, best-selling author of 12 books, and Ayurveda and mindset coach who is committed to helping people thrive on their own terms. As a trusted source on health and wellness, most recently appearing on NBC and Radio Lifeforce, Sweta has dedicated her career to writing about and teaching a more holistic approach to creativity, productivity, health, and nutrition.
Her work has appeared in The New York Timesand other publications across nine countries on three continents. Sweta is a trained yogi and certified Ayurveda health coach, is on the board of Fly Female Founders, and holds a Master’s in Strategic Communications from Columbia University. Voted as “One of the Most Influential Asians of Our Times” and winner of the “Voices of the Year” award (past recipients have been Chelsea Clinton), she lives in New York City with her husband and works with clients across the globe.
She also teaches yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence as well incarcerated men and women. Find her on: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Category: How To and Tips
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