Every Writer Needs a Budget – A Guest Post by Marcela Landres

Writers take heed: If you are not making money from your writing, it is probably because you are not putting money into your writing. In my experience as an Editorial Consultant and former Simon & Schuster editor, writers whose writing-related expenditures consist solely of paper and toner are invariably unpublished writers.

What you give is what you get. In other words, if what you want is not flowing to you, it is because it is not flowing from you. For example, the best way to get love is to give it. This is also true of trust, respect—and money. Don’t have enough money? Chances are you are not spending enough money.

A powerful tool to help you get exponentially closer to landing a book deal is a writing budget. Depending on the genre(s) in which you write, a writing budget will look a little different from writer to writer. For instance, a budget for a literary fiction writer could include the following:

Tuition for writing classes
Subscriptions to magazines like Poets & Writers
Entry fees for contests
Postage and envelopes for submissions to literary magazines and journals
Admission fees to writing retreats such as Bread Loaf

During tough economic times like the current recession, your instinct may be to cut back costs or eliminate expenses altogether. Don’t. Abundance, like water, must flow or risk stagnation.

Instead of shutting down spending, make conscious and strategic substitutions. Will your subscription to O magazine provide timely information about writing contests, residencies, and conferences? No, so cancel your subscription and replace it with one for Poets & Writers. Is going to the movies with your significant other going to garner you critical acclaim? Not a chance, so take the $20 or so you would have spent on tickets, popcorn, and soda and invest it in writing contest fees. Does your daily cup of gourmet coffee get your short stories published in a litmag? I think not. Brew your caffeine fix at home and use the savings to buy postage and envelopes for submissions mailings.

Are you flat broke? Spend other people’s money. Once a year on your birthday the people who love you give you presents. Instead of buying you the usual movie DVD or music CD or iPod—none of which will help you be published—ask them to contribute to your “Help Me Get Published!” fund. Be sure to thank them by including every donor in the acknowledgements page of your book.

Money is not just pieces of paper or metal—it is a form of power. Wield yours wisely.

About Marcela Landres

Marcela Landres is the author of the e-book How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You, publishes the award-winning e-zine Latinidad, and is an Editorial Consultant who helps writers get published by editing their work and educating them on the business side of publishing. A member of the Women’s Media Group, she has acted as a judge for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and was formerly an editor with Simon & Schuster. For more information, visit www.marcelalandres.com/