In a writing career, there are a million people who stand ready to tell you what to do. Some of these people want money, in the form of up-front cash for advice, or for the cost of how-to books, or the cost of conventions, or the cost of workshopping, agenting, mentoring or critiquing your work.

When is it worth it to pay? When are you getting scammed? When are you laying out money for something you could get for free – and when are you passing up an opportunity that would repay itself tenfold?

It’s not easy to tell, and everyone will tell you something different. The only hope is to steer by your internal star: what feels true to you and what feels wrong? Here are the three things that seem the most true to me.

ONE: YOU ARE IN A BUSINESS
In other words, you are the supplier of a product (fiction) and everyone else in the business (publishers, agents, editors, readers) are distributors and/or consumers of that product. If you keep your eye on that simple fact, you will realize a number of things that proceed directly from it.
- Most of the money, over the course of your career, should end up in YOUR pocket
- You have to learn, struggle, work and fail and learn some more to succeed – no easy answers
- You must handle your own money and business matters – no one else can do it for you
- People (even agents and publishers) can choose whether to buy your work or not, and that is ALL the judging they can do – no one can tell you what to write or not write but yourself

TWO: YOU NEED INSTRUCTION
If ever you feel that you don’t need to learn any more, stop. Your career is over. There will always be things to learn. The business changes all the time, the craft changes all the time, and you change all the time. Everything is fluid, and nothing is fixed. Not even the language! This has several implications as well.
- Writing comes first – don’t buy workshops, conventions or how-to books you haven’t got time for
- Strive to make your time do multiple duty: conventions can be part of self-marketing and networking as well as instructional
- Don’t do things you’re not ready for – get your product ready before buying marketing courses, etc
- Before you spend money, check with yourself: is this about the writing, or about the socializing – and is it necessary?

THREE: YOU ARE NOT ALONE
There are many writers in the world. Most of them have been where you’re standing, and most of those have empathy and understanding – though few have much free time. Band together. Share the cost, share the ability, share your work, and remember that all writers are readers. This is really the most important of all.
- Much advice is free on the internet – check that it’s from authors and editors you respect and that it feels true to you – no need to pay for 99% of advice, especially for beginners
- If you have a critique group and use them well, they are invaluable; if they are nonhelpful, primarily social, or mostly build you up OR mostly cut you down… drop them at once
- Most of the truly helpful stuff to pay for involves other people – groups, conventions, and workshops are OVERALL more helpful than how-to books, paid mentors, online classes or paid critiques

I hope this free advice has been helpful. The gist of it is really said in two easy lessons: be cautious with your money and follow your own sense of what is true. Neither is easy. Sorry. It’s not an easy thing to be a successful writer – if you’ve been told that, you’ve been told lies.

Fun, satisfying, creative, adventurous, ever-changing, powerful, astonishing and wondrous – but not easy.

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