Would I Quit My Day Job To Write Full-Time?

"Don't quit your day job." is a quip typically hurled at folks pursuing an endeavor in the performing arts like music or stand-up comedy who haven't honed their skills in just yet. It's a well-meaning insult. The somewhat less blunt way of telling someone they don't have what it takes to make it in the industry. Right up there with the equally common, "What about a real job?"

For many artists out there, quitting their day job to pursue their craft isn't so much a pipe dream as it is a goal. After all, being able to make a living from something you're passionate about, something you feel called to deep in your soul sounds so much better than working a soul-sucking 9-5.

If you'd asked me even as recently as a couple of years ago if I would want to quit my day job to write full-time, my answer would have been a resounding yes without the slightest hesitation. However, that was back when I lacked a halfway decent understanding of how the publishing industry works, and my day job back then was vastly different from where I work and what I do now.

As it currently stands, I don't know if I would jump as readily to be a full-time writer and in this post, I'm exploring some of the reservations I have about taking the leap.

Inconsistency You Can Count On

As a reader and as a writer, there's nothing I love more than a jaw-dropping plot twist. But in reality, I'm not always a fan of the unknown. The example that gets brought up most often is that any time my family went on vacation, my first order of business was seeing our hotel room not in the interest of dropping off our luggage but my need to see my bed for the duration of our stay; once I had, I'd be totally fine to carry on with the rest of the day's itinerary. Even though I knew my parents wouldn't have booked the room if there wasn't a place to sleep, I needed to see it with my own eyes to be sure.

That want for certainty holds true to this day, and it contributes to why I'd probably shy away from becoming a full-time writer.

Writers get paid a little differently than other jobs. I have a post that goes into the specifics of royalty payments here if you want to learn more about them, but the main thing you'll need to know for this post is that the exact amount you'll be earning as an author will vary from one pay period to the next.

A typical quote-unquote "real job" has an hourly rate or annual salary that will stay consistent, like $16/hr or $45K/yr, and that will allow you to estimate your income. Let's say you worked 40 hours this week and are paid that $16 per hour rate. That'll have you earning $640 before taxes and whatnot, and you can expect roughly the same amount the following week if you work another 40 hours, or only $560 before tax if you only work 35 hours.

Writers aren't afforded that same consistency. You cannot always predict the advance you'll receive if you publish traditionally, nor can you predict the royalties you'll earn—provided you have already earned out (meaning you've made back the sum of your advance in book sales and are able to start collecting royalties).

The frequency of these payments will depend on your publisher, but let's say for this example it's on a six-month basis, January-June and July-December. You sell 15,000 copies of your book and have earned out. Your check for the first half of the year ends up being $15,347. Let's imagine your book is a spicy small-town romance and once August hits, spicy small-town romances are trending on BookTok, so you see an uptick in sales that nets you $28,795 for the second pay period. But what if it's not spicy small-town romances that are trending but dark paranormal romances set on cruise ships? You may not see the same jump in sales or even a dip and bring in $12,872—which isn't shabby but it's a pretty noticeable difference.

This inconsistency of book sales leaves me wary, as opposed to the easier-to-predict paycheck of a day job.

Nothing Happens Overnight

There are two main ways writers are portrayed in pop culture as far as I've seen. They're either bestselling authors—bonus points if they're an overnight success—who are not only making a living from their writing but are ✨thriving✨, or they're the starving artist archetype who's barely scraping by. There's not much of a middle ground.

I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that the in-between stages of writing and publishing a book are utterly boring. It's a lengthy ordeal with a lot of steps and even more waiting, no matter if you're traditionally published or an indie author, and that doesn't stop once your book is on the market.

It can take a while to see revenue as an author. It's not uncommon to see authors releasing their second or third book while they're still making back their advance from their debut. So even if I do publish one of my novels, there's a probability that I'll still be working at my day job while writing the next as many authors do.

Mental Health Matters

The Covid-19 pandemic was a learning experience in many ways, and one of the most significant takeaways for me was the importance of my mental health.

For the first couple of weeks I was furloughed due to a believed-to-be temporary closure of my day job at the time, I admittedly enjoyed my time in lockdown. It was like being handed a two-week writing sabbatical where I could focus solely on my WIP because, you know, I literally couldn't do anything else. But those two weeks became a month, then three months, and then a full out-of-business closure and subsequent layoff, and that isolation started to take its toll.

Having a day job that pulls you away from your writing can be frustrating, but having that forced break from my WIP and being made to get out of the house tends to be better for my mental health—plus I feel like I do my best writing at night, especially when it comes to fiction, so I might as well do something during the daytime hours that is less grating on my mental health than being stuck at home would be.

Granted, I'm sure I could find plenty of ways to get out of the house as a full-time author, but that brings me to my next point...

My Day Job Doesn't Suck

I'll just come right out and say it: I freaking love my day job. I currently work as a game master at an escape room, which means I'm running games and doing things behind the scenes. In other words, my job is locking people in a room just to see if they can find their way out in an hour.*

*We don't actually lock you in the room. You're safe with us.

It's such a weird little job, but I enjoy it so much—not to mention I'm damn good at it, if I do say so myself.

I'm fully aware that being able to say I love my day job is a privilege, and I don't take that lightly. I worked at plenty of places before ending up where I am now, and it definitely took a long time to get here. My coworkers are all incredibly supportive of my writing goals, too, which has only motivated me further.

As much as I love writing, I also love being a game master, and I don't see myself walking away from that in the foreseeable future.

It's not uncommon for authors to hold a day job and work on their writing in the nooks and crannies of their time. And a lot of full-time authors have another stream of income such as merch or content creation on social media or YouTube to supplement their earnings from their books; my blog is monetized thanks to AdSense, so I'm able to make a little here and there.

Becoming a full-time author is a dream for so many writers at every stage of the process. If it's feasible for you and beneficial, I say go for it!

However, I imagine I'll be staying at my day job because that's what works for me. In all fairness, my answer to being asked where I see myself in five years and whether I'd want to write full-time has changed and may very well change again in the future.

But as it stands, I'm more than content with balancing writing and my day job.