What Does Your Writing End Game Look Like?

by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer

We’ve been hearing those words a lot lately, with a book of that title making news. But it made me ask myself about my own “end game.” What exactly do I want in my writing? And, ultimately, my life?

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as “the final stage of a game such as chess or bridge, when few pieces or cards remain.” Writing isn’t necessarily a game and, of course, we have endless choices for what we want to accomplish, but what is it that we really are striving for?

In so many words, what does writing SUCCESS look like to you?

There are many layers and options in our writing profession:

• Just writing. Only a tiny proportion of people actually write. I found half a dozen statistics online but the consensus seems to be that maybe 80% of humans WANT to write but only about 3% actually do. So, if you sit down and put words on paper or a screen, you’re ahead of 97% of the rest of the world.

• Finishing a book. Of that 3%, maybe 10% finish it. Finishing a book is only the beginning of the race, of course, but writing “The End” only happens for that small percentage.

• Editing the darned thing. My guess is that only 10% of the people who finish a book get it edited. (Hence the huge number of poorly written books available for less than $.99 on Amazon.) Without editing, at least in my humble opinion, a book often doesn’t reach its full potential. (Caveat—I am a book editor, so I am very picky. Not all unedited books are poorly written, no matter what they cost, and not every book needs editing.)

• Publishing the book. It used to be that publishing meant a commercial publisher with money to the author up front. That isn’t the case any more—ANYONE can publish a book at almost no cost. Which has changed the game immensely, and may not be for the best. In today’s world, commercial publishing is not always the first, or the best, choice for many writers. Regardless of how someone publishes, holding a copy of your print book in your hand is an amazing thing and something not very many people ever do.

• Making money at writing. Ah. That’s the $64,000 question, isn’t it? How many writers actually can completely support themselves through writing? In 2018, the latest numbers I could find, only 21% percent of full-time published authors were making a living at writing. That doesn’t include the millions who write in spare hours.

Does that make you cringe? It does me. After all, there were 32.8 million books listed for sale earlier this year on Amazon, which sells about 80% of all books in print. How can we compete? 

So, my real question is: Do we need to compete? 

What if, instead of jumping into that horse race, we ask ourselves why we’re writing? 

Many of the people reading this post WANT to write. Why would you read it if not? Some of us have actually written something and a bunch have finished a book. Several of you may be making decent money, even if you’re not completely supporting yourself. But probably every single one of us is writing because we love it. Or, so I hope.

I’m passionate about writing. Which doesn’t mean that I write all the time or that it supports me or that I don’t walk away from it periodically. But I can’t NOT write. I am compelled to read or write every day to keep my sanity. It’s a large part of my happiness. So, even though I can aspire to any one of the levels I’ve mentioned above—and have reached all of them except the making-a-living-by-writing one—I do it because I love it.

What about you? Do you love writing? Are you compelled also? Do you know what your end game is?

For more ideas about why we write and self-care for writers, join Sally and six amazing experts to discuss all this on March 23-24, 2024. Check it out at www.mindpotential.org

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What Does Your Writing End Game Look Like? Thoughts from @SarahSallyHamer on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Sarah (Sally) Hamer, B.S., MLA, is a lover of books, a teacher of writers, and a believer in a good story. Most of all, she is eternally fascinated by people and how they 'tick'. She’s passionate about helping people tell their own stories and has won awards at both local and national levels, including two Golden Heart finals.

A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twenty years, she also teaches online for Margie Lawson at www.margielawson.com. Sally is a freelance editor and book coach, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors. You can find her at sally@mindpotential.org