The writing gig is weird. All I really want to do is create art (I mean, mostly I want to write, but I also want to shoot movies and play music, but mostly write), but in order to do so I have to make enough money that I can write. As it stands, I make about $100/month from my writing, all told, and my advertising expenses are about $400/month. Don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that math doesn’t work so well.
But part of becoming a full-time writer is thinking about “Brand.” What do I want people to think about when they see one of my books? When they see my name pop up on one of those extremely expensive ads, or when they see my name somewhere. Mostly I want them to think “Ooh, fun little story on its way!” because I think that’s what I write. I write escapism because I want to forget how awful everything is, and I hope that by doing so I can help other people forget how awful everything is.
I work a muggle job right now to pay the bills, and I am frequently asked if I have a YouTube channel. I technically do (I have a few short videos on the craft and one LEGO stopmotion movie), but that’s technically not “me.” It’s just part of what I’ve done, if that makes sense?
So I don’t know about a brand. I really need to think more about it… maybe I’ll start just copying whatever Scalzi is doing (not plagiarizing, obviously, but if he posts about the State of Sci-Fi one day, maybe I’ll do it on the next? Take topic ideas from him… I dunno, I’ll have to think about that). It’s just not something I thought I’d have to think about when I started writing.
Life is full of surprises.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!