Writing: Hobby or Career/Job?

1. 0

   TrinityCatposted 12 years ago

   In mine, I am looking to improve my writing skills in the English language. I don't get paid by writing. So yes, it can be considered a hobby. What's your case? Do you earn money here, have you published a book, do you write for pure fun...Tell us your story!
   
   I know the question may look inflexible, but that's not the intention. I just want to see what writing is to you as an individual hubber.

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      FatFreddysCatposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't made doodly-squat from my writings here, but I'm having fun with it, so I guess it's officially a "hobby" for me.

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      sparksterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When I 1st joined HP I wasn't active for the 1st year or so but I had built up quite a following in the real world from my writing.  Basically I would scribble down silly/funny ideas on paper then read them out loud and I would get crowds of people gathering to hear them and requesting more and more so my writing pretty much stemmed from that.
      
      My main passion was music and so starting in 2007 I started making money from music A&R, licensing, songwriting, etc but writing was another of my passions which I hadn't started taking seriously until about 3 years ago.  However, as I have continued to write I have built up a strong following and am soon to publish my first official book (I have already published a mini e-book).
      
      Although both my music work and writing work started off as hobbies they have got to the point now where I seriously believe that with dedication, hard work, ambition and determination and a couple more years than they can be established to form a full-on career.
      
      So, if you're looking for a career in writing and/or music from my experience and in my opinion yes, it's very possible but it's not that easy and it WILL take at least a few years hard work before you start seeing success.

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         TrinityCatposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That's fantastic, sparkster! Congratulations on your e-book!

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            sparksterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you TrinityCat!

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      lady rainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Writing is both a hobby and part-time career for me. It is greatly dependent on my mood and inspiration

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   habeeposted 12 years ago

   I write for both reasons. I earn money from writing, but I'd write somewhere, in some form even if I didn't earn a cent.

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3. 79

   divacratusposted 12 years ago

   I'm in for both. I have a number of blogs wherein I write just for fun, but I write for Hubpages and Squidoo for the monetary benefits they bring as well. I also like hub hopping. It's wonderful how much knowledge you can attain from reading hubs of various topics here. Knowing what people do in other cultures is always intriguing for me, and that's what I like about HP. I don't know if that classifies as a "hobby".

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   daisydayzposted 12 years ago

   My aim is definitely for my writing to become a full time job, but at the moment it is simply because I love it and it adds a little to my savings pot, I have a regular job with the council at the moment. I'm a trained journalist, so writing is always what i wanted to do, but i rather lifestyle and womens features over news, and I would rather be freelance than tied to a company. At the moment I do write for a single magazine monthly, which pays very little but gives me a lot of satisfaction. I blog, again very little, if any pay from that, but I love it so. Hubpages is new for me, but i should reach a payout soon, which is exciting. I think with dedication here, if you could write full time, you could really make a living off it. I also freelance doing editing and proofreading jobs on mini sites like fiverr, which although pay little, can really add up fast sometimes.
   
   Good luck with your writing here

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   Dame Scribeposted 12 years ago

   I like writing mainly for the sharing part of it all the money is just a extra though not a big motivator since it's so tiny. I enjoy learning from a objective POV over all.

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6. 64

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   I make 10-20% of my income from writing, it varies year by year.  So I guess that would be somewhere in between hobby and career.

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7. 60

   Hollie Thomasposted 12 years ago

   50% of my income is earned entering social research data for variables into SPSS at my local university, the other 40% is earned from 6 clients for private writing jobs, and the other 10% from my online writing endeavors. Ninety percent of the time I'm bored to tears.

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8. 78

   Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

   Writing has been my hobby since I started writing horrifically bad fanstasy stories and Star Trek fanfic under the covers by flashlight.
   
   It sustained me through several humanities degrees. Throughout college, I continued writing mediocre fantasy and fanfic as a hobby. Once the web started, I began posting my writing online, including more academic and educational work.
   
   Writing online was a guilty pleasure from 1993 until 2007, when I began posting my writing on money-earning sites. By 2010, my hobby was making $500 a month. A friend pointed out that (a) I enjoyed it and (b) I was good at it, so in 2011 I decided to turn the hobby into a career.
   
   I write on topics I enjoy, but I've cut back on creative writing, since it's harder to earn money with a piece of imaginative fiction than it is on topics that other people also enjoy and look up online.
   
   Online writing is not quite covering my bills, but I am at least up to minimum wage. In a year or two, I hope that my passive income will reach a threshold such that I can return to more creative writing and try to get some of it published.

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   Sapperposted 12 years ago

   I don't consider myself a writer, I look at me more as a internet marketer who doesn't outsource his writing.
   
   I have never like writing, nor have I ever been that strong at it. I really struggle at writing. Where some people can easily pump out 1000+ words on any topic, I have a hard time getting 700, and most of the time it's sitting between 300 and 500. Basically when I write something, I type the immediate thoughts that pop into my head, and if there are no red squiggly lines when I'm done, I post it.
   
   So I think of my online writing like a job. Not a job in the sense of getting paid, a job in the sense of being forced to do something I don't want to.

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    CrisSpposted 12 years ago

    Writing is my breathing space and I enjoy it. Not thinking much about the money but of course, it'll be nice if they'd appear. Meanwhile, my cyber friends are growing and so hopefully, the dough will grow as well,  as the network becomes openly wide. Happy writing to you.

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