In-depth Budgeting Tips for Writers

I know very few writers who are good at budgeting - and I'm not one of them. This is why most writers drive editors nuts - they want to be paid now, right now, this second, and don't understand what net 30 means, or why the publisher can't cut a special check right now. Guess what? Your editor isn't responsible for your financial woes, and probably isn't very sympathetic either.

For this reason, it falls to us writers to take care of our own expenses. This is the real reason the writing life is hard. It's easy for most writers to squeeze words onto the page. It's much harder to understand how to turn those words into cash money.

Time Is Money. Your time slips away, like water down a leaky kitchen drain. How many days have you gotten up, piddled around, and then realized that you had nothing but suds left? But your time is also money - when you write, you are directly converting time into money-making articles and books. Learn about time management (I have another article about that here). When you find yourself daydreaming in line, get out a notebook and start writing down your thoughts. Sell articles three, four, five times. Learn to research several topic at once. Know what you're going to accomplish today, and then accomplish it.

Plan for taxes. Taxes turn everyone into a Republican, even if only temporarily. You need to sock away 35% of what you make - no less - for taxes. If you have trouble doing this, talk to your bank. They'll have ways to make this easier for you. If you're making a living writing, you may want to see an accountant, who will help you pay quarterly taxes. If it's more a part-time or supplemental thing, paying your taxes at the end of the year should be fine, provided you've saved enough.

Money left over out of that 35% can be reinvested in your business - travel funds, a better computer, etc. That way you can use it as an expenses deduction, make more money the next year, and have a lot more fun writing.

Write smarter, not more. Why write something you can't sell, if you're planning to be a professional? Sure, there are stories and poems all of us have laying around that we're just doing for the fun of it. That's normal. But these things do not belong in your business time. If you have a great idea about Elhadar the Mage while you're in the middle of writing that article about the genome of the botulism bacteria, that does NOT mean stop writing your paying article to write about your mage. You are allowed to jot down the idea - nothing more. Write your nonpaying fiction later, instead of reading that novel you're in the middle of.

Also, look for ways to resell the writing you've already done. If you can turn your articles into ebooks and sell them again, you should do it. If you can take the technical article you just wrote about breast cancer and rewrite it so it's easy for a layman to understand, you've just opened yourself a new market - and places to resell your earlier work without doing a lot more work. If you have articles that are nonexclusive, by all means look to sell them in other places.

Give yourself a supplies budget, and abide by it. Here's my bete noir - I love writing books, pens, and writing supplies. If left to myself, I'd have a houseful of pens. I have to force myself to abide by a budget: about enough to buy one or two writing books every month or so, a few pens, office supplies, etc. I stick to the budget, and I don't waste money.

Instead of living day to day, save money and pay yourself. My other problem is wanting to spend money because I know it's there. Not a good idea! Instead, keep all your writing income in a special bank account, even Paypal if that works for you, and don't allow yourself to spend directly from that account. Instead, transfer money to yourself as a regular paycheck. Don't cheat because you have a late bill; instead, find ways to not have a late bill.

This is really hard to implement at first, but after about six months of practice, you'll find it easier to budget your daily life as well as your business life. You'll also have cash in your business account to take care of you during those dry times - in effect, you normalize your income.

Treat your writing as a business, not something you just do. This is what marks the difference between an amateur and a professional. Your writing, if you're making money on it, IS A BUSINESS. It is no longer a hobby. Keep business records, have defined goals and even a business plan, and act as a professional at all times with everything you do. Don't think you're a pro? Fake it. It will become natural to you over time.

Set financial goals, and plan ways to achieve them. Writing is an iffy business, and it's often hard to set out a decent plan for your financial goals. That's why the Internet is such a blessing for all of us - thousands of sites out here are hungry for new writers who will turn out good work at a reasonable price.

Find a financial core - a client who faithfully gives you work, or who buys everything you do - and plan financial goals around that core. Track what other clients typically give you, and plan for an average of what they typically pay. Round down - secondary clients often disappear on you.

From these numbers, look at what your monthly business income is, and seek ways to maximize or expand this. For instance, if you have some free time, you might want to ask your core business to give you a little more work. Or you may want to develop a second client to create a second core business so you don't have to depend so much on just one client. Or you may want to cut loose a couple of secondary clients who don't send you much work but who do cost you a lot of time. All these things need to be looked at.

Once you know where your money's coming from and going to, you'll have a much better idea of how to get more money to flow toward you. If you have trouble, do some research on how to create a business plan. This will tell you everything else you need to know.