Stop Telling Writers They Don’t Have Real Jobs

"That's nice that you have a hobby."

That's what the lady at the gym, a woman using the adjacent treadmill, said when I told her I was a full-time writer, working for myself at my desk in my spare room. She asked me what I did for work, and I answered honestly. 

Not "that's interesting" or "how's it going?" Just a dismissive pat on the shoulder and the assumption that I spend my days sipping coffee and waiting for inspiration to strike.

Her response, the way she reframed my answer, wasn't entirely surprising. I've done this dance before. When people find out I'm a writer, I get the same reactions on repeat:

"Must be nice not having a real job."

"So you just write whenever you feel like it?" 

"But how do you actually make money?" 

"What do you do the rest of the time when you're not writing?"

Here's what I want to say: Being a full-time writer is a real job. It's actually several jobs rolled into one, and the pressure is relentless because there's no safety net, no guaranteed paycheck, and no one else to blame when things go wrong.

Let me show you what I actually do all day by walking you through the first 90 days after I published my book, 1 Lovelock Drive. Because spoiler alert: very little of it was "creative."

"You Don't Have A Real Job"

I got into a heated debate with a loved one the other day about this topic. This person said to me, "I don't have a job."

I debated this. "Yes, I do. I'm a writer."

They rebutted, "No, you have a career, not a job."

This didn't sit well with me. "Do you mean I don't have a job because no one employs me?"

"Yes, that's correct. But I still have a job."

The writer in me became fixated on the terms being used to describe what I do. We tend to think of jobs, careers and employment like this: 

• A job focuses on tasks, specific hours, and immediate income. It is usually a single position and held by a single person.
• Your career involves a long-term strategy, skill development, and professional advancement. It's something that evolves over time, rather than something you apply for like a job. 
• Being employed means you've been hired to work for a specific person/company, and that could mean part-time, casual and full-time careers.

Whilst there is a difference between all three, there is one commonality. A job, career or employment is designed to do one thing: earn you money to pay your bills. 

I go to my desk every day to write, as that is my job that pays my bills. It's how I earn a crust. It's how I get from A to B in my financial life. 

To say writing isn't a real job because someone doesn't employ you and because it's your career is naive and insulting. 

If you're making money from it, earning your primary source of income from it, it's your job. And if it's not your job, then what is?

You wouldn't tell a doctor they don't have a job

The nitpicking bothered me, as you can tell. 

But what's more interesting is the attitude towards writers, an attitude you wouldn't dare harbour with a doctor, for example. The surgeon who recently helped my cancer-stricken step-father isn't employed by any hospital. He is a consultant, operating out of five different hospitals and medical suites. 

The doctor isn't employed by any hospital. Being a doctor is his career. 

Would you tell the doctor he doesn't have a job? No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't dare, actually. 

So why do it to writers? 

"All You Do Is Write All Day"

Assumptions are the mother of all stuff-ups. When it comes to being a full-time writer, the assumptions are out of control. 

When I tell people I'm a writer, they imagine this:

• I wake up when inspiration strikes, make myself a lovely coffee, and spend a few hours writing beautiful prose. 
• I'll go for a walk to clear my head. 
• Perhaps I read for a while. The words flow effortlessly, and when I'm done for the day, I close my laptop feeling fulfilled and creative.

Here's what actually happened during my first 90 days as a published author (as an example):

• Woke up at 6 AM to check the sales dashboard before my brain was fully awake
• Spent three hours trying to figure out Amazon's advertising platform
• Wrote marketing copy for social media posts
• Agonised over each post for 45 minutes
• Updated accounting spreadsheet to track money hemorrhaging on ads
• Researched book promotion sites and their submission requirements
• Sent follow-up emails to people who said they'd review my book
• Analysed why my conversion rate was 0%
• Had a minor breakdown when I realised I'd wasted another $35 on ads and planned how I was to restrategise my marketing plan the next day

That was a Tuesday.

Zero creative writing happened that day. Zero inspiration. Zero flowing words or artistic fulfilment.

But I worked a full day. Actually, I worked longer than most people with "real jobs."

"But You Write Most Of The Time"

I wish I spent the majority of the day doing what I do best and enjoy most: writing. But like every other job, career or employment, the primary skill I have is only a portion of what I do. 

Writing is maybe 30% of the actual work.

The rest? That's business. That's real work with real pressure and real consequences.

I wish I could convince the doubters of everything involved in writing that has nothing to do with the creative process. I'm also the Admin Manager. Accountant. Customer service manager and staff. Cleaner. General dogsbody assistant. Researcher. Appointment setter.

If there is something that needs doing, I do it. I wish all I had to do were write.

During the course of a normal month of being a full-time writer, I have to do any or all of the following: 

• Business administration takes up significant time. You're invoicing clients, tracking payments, chasing down late payers, managing contracts, and keeping financial records for taxes. Self-employed writers need to handle quarterly estimated taxes, track deductible expenses, and possibly manage sales tax if selling books directly.
• Marketing yourself is essentially a second job. It means maintaining a website, being active on social media, sending newsletters, networking with other writers and potential clients, attending conferences or virtual events, and pitching to editors or publications. For self-published authors, this extends to running ads, managing book promotions, coordinating blog tours, and seeking reviews.
• Client management for freelancers involves a lot of communication: responding to emails, having discovery calls, providing updates, managing revisions and feedback, and nurturing relationships for repeat work. You're constantly prospecting for new clients while keeping current ones happy.
• Technical work includes formatting manuscripts for different platforms, creating or commissioning book covers, managing ISBNs and distribution channels, troubleshooting website issues, learning various publishing platforms, and handling file conversions. Self-published authors often deal with print-on-demand services, ebook formatting across different devices, and audiobook production.
• Administrative logistics, such as scheduling, time management, organising research materials, backing up work, and maintaining professional development, also eat into your time. Many writers also handle their own customer service (as I do), responding to reader emails or managing book orders.

All of these roles come with a lack of training, by the way. We have to learn this on the fly because we've been taught how to write, not to be business owners. 

Other jobs have these processes too

Every other job, career or employment involves more than just the core skills. 

• Surgeons have paperwork to complete for their patients. 
• Lawyers have boring forms to fill out. 
• Firefighters have equipment to clean. 

I could keep listing, but you get the gist. 

It always baffles me that the world thinks full-time writing involves just writing. Why would writing be an exception to the rule? Even Carrie Bradshaw had to take meetings at Vogue (and her glorified, fictional portrayal demonstrates that you're not always glued to your keyboard when you're marketing yourself as a writer). 

"Being A Full-Time Writer Isn't Stressful"

I genuinely believe a portion of society thinks the creative space is like a permanent day in the art room at school. Or playing games during drama class. You laugh, you express yourself, and you leave your day feeling elated. 

Part of me wishes school didn't sell the creative world this way, because the most stressful job I've held has been as a full-time writer. 

There is pressure. Sure, I'm not saving lives, but I have pressures that those in traditional jobs and streamlined careers won't ever understand. 

When you have a traditional job:

• You show up, you get paid
• You can have a bad day and still get your salary
• You can be sick and use sick leave
• You can take a vacation and come back to your job
• Your income is predictable

When you're a full-time writer, working for yourself:

• You work for months with no guarantee of income
• A bad launch means months of work generated zero return
• If you're sick, nothing happens - no work, no progress, no income, no sick leave. There are also no health benefits; you have to provide them for yourself. 
• Taking a vacation means falling behind on the work that might eventually pay you - there is no holiday leave or paid vacation days
• Your income is entirely unpredictable. You are also solely responsible for retirement planning and contributions. 
• You don't have a boss to blame when things inevitably go wrong
• You don't have a team to share the workload unless you pay them to help you
• There is no safety net whatsoever

There's no HR department to handle problems. No IT support when technology fails. No accounting department to manage finances. No marketing team to brainstorm campaigns.

It's all me, all the time, with all the responsibility and all the risk.

That pressure is constant. There's no clocking out. There's no "not my problem." Everything is actually my problem. 

And that's stressful. 

"You Don't Earn Any Money As A Writer"

Another loved one tried to tell me that because there is no money in writing, and writers don't earn much, it's not a job. 

I remember curtly asking this person, "Why would I do it if there's no money in it?"

And why would I forsake all other paid employment if I didn't earn anything? 

I felt insulted by the question because I wasn't sure what they thought of my decision-making. There is no way I would put myself in that kind of financial risk. This person knew I had been working since I was fourteen and eleven months old, for the last twenty-four years. 

What did they think was going on? 

There is money in writing full-time. I'm not doing this as charity, as much as I love the small portion that is a creative outlet. 

Successful indie authors make $30,000, $50,000, $100,000+ per year. Some make multiple six figures. They're running legitimate businesses with real revenue.

The problem is that how much writers earn is the length of a piece of string. It's immeasurable, which often confuses those outside the industry. It also doesn't help that writing can be a hobby, where people take to the written word for fun. 

Of course, there is no money in it if you don't pursue financial remuneration from your words. 

And whilst my first book wasn't an economic success, I have managed to earn a living as a writer for the past decade. 

If someone opens a restaurant and it fails in the first three months, nobody says, "Restaurant ownership isn't a real job." They say "that restaurant failed." The job was still real.

The "Writing As A Real Job" Bottom Line

Being a full-time writer means I'm running a one-person business where I'm the CEO, CFO, CMO, and entire workforce.

I work 50–60-hour workweeks with no guaranteed income, no benefits, no safety net, and 100% of the risk on my shoulders.

I do marketing, advertising, data analysis, accounting, customer relations, project management, and administrative work - all while actually writing the books that are supposedly my "hobby."

If I don't work, I don't get paid. Even when I work, I might still not get paid. And when things fail, as they did in my first 90 days, I absorb the entire loss.

Because this is my job, it's a real job with real pressure, real work, and real financial stakes.

Next time someone asks what I "actually do all day," I'll tell them: I work harder than I ever did in any traditional job, with more pressure, more responsibility, and less security.

And yes, I happen to write, too.

For the writers in the room, feel free to send this to the person who needs to know what you really do. 

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I write about the emotional and practical reality of being a writer - drafting, doubt, discipline, and publishing while still figuring it out.

Mostly for people who write because they have to, need to, want to | https://linktr.ee/ellenfranceswrites