For Love or Money

First, an apology to regular readers for missing last week. Second, an apology to this week’s readers for today’s rather brief post. The day job and other writing commitments have meant that the blog has been the thing that had to give. But I hope you’ll be interested in the mini-series of posts that I’m working on at the moment. See trailer below –

The trailer:
Writing creatively is a profession for some and a hobby for many. But professional or amateur, it’s probably true to say that anyone who spends time producing pieces of written work will be passionate about what they do. I would go so far as to say passion is a prerequisite for any writer. So it’s most likely a given that all of us who write do it for the love of it, and for some of us it’s also a way of earning a living.

Writing – its forms, methods and means of distribution to its readership – is going through (and has already gone through) significant changes. The existence of the internet and social media has made it possible for writers to become their own publishers and publicists. The mass market of traditional publishing now co-exists with the myriad niche and alternative markets of the ‘indie’ or self-publishing sectors. Real books vie with e-books. Now, more than ever, it’s possible to write for love and for money.

I’m planning to do a series of three posts under the heading of ‘For Love or Money.’ In the series I want to explore why writers write, how they go about writing, what forms writing can take, and how writers get their writing published – if indeed that’s what they want to do with their end products.

The first post – next week – will look at how to become a writer. The second one will look at publishing and publicising. And the third one will (I hope) be spread over a set of weekly guest posts from a variety of authors who I’ll be inviting to address the ‘Love or Money’ question as it applies to them.