“Pay the Writer”

Holly Jahangiri
2 min readJan 13, 2023

Real writers don’t pay to publish; they get paid to write.

Photo by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash

Never pay for “exposure.” If you don’t want to listen to me, listen to Harlan Ellison:

Giving good content away for free is your right, but no one has the right to expect or demand it from you.

If you’re not profiting from your writing, no one else should be, either. Let me repeat that: If you are not profiting from your writing, no one else should be, either.

You do not have to be a writer. We all write; we write grocery lists, emails, instructions, notes for our kids’ lunch boxes. That does not make us all writers, nor does it it have to. If you hate writing, don’t do it. Yes, communication in all its forms is a vital part of being human and you may be called upon to write, now and then. But you do not have to be a writer. If writing’s not your thing, find something else to be.

Writing is not a way to get rich in your sleep.

Most writers never earn six figures, let alone six-figure book advances.

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