Hey, Creator: the money thing

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Why do we create? To share a thought: an idea, a story, a paradigm. To help another person. Maybe to feel a little more understood, a little less crazy. I like what Steven Pressfield says about the work of an artist: “The artist doesn’t create to express herself; she creates to discover herself.”

The act of creating shows me who I am

That’s true for me, at least. Through my work, I am always trying to figure out who I am. Or, as Flannery O’Connor once said, “I don’t know what I think until I read what I write.”

One thing is for sure: when you ask a creative person why they do what they do, their first response is almost never, “I do it for the money.”

That would be absurd. Why? Because that’s not how art works. It is, in the words of Lewis Hyde, a gift. Something special and generous you share with the collective meant to be passed on to others. And gifts aren’t given with an expectation of reciprocity.

Nonetheless, we all have to eat. And who wouldn’t like to be paid to do what they love, to share their work with the world? It would certainly make some things easier.

Two lessons of being paid for creative work

I’ve been doing my own creative work of writing, speaking, and creating online courses for ten years now, and for ten years, I’ve been paid to do it. From my own experience of working with over 20,000 creators (writers, artists, musicians, and more), I can tell you two things:

First, the most successful creative people don’t do their work to get paid. Money, I wrote in my book Real Artists Don’t Starve, makes a better means than it does a master.

Second, the most successful creative people have found a predictable way to get paid to create. For some, it’s a considerable income, even a substantial business. For others, it’s a decent living wage. But most who have made a career of making things have found a consistent way to make money off their work.

My hope for creative artists (yes, that's you)

I hope the same for you. Because it’s no fun to eke out a creative existence wondering when or from where your next meal is going to come. It’s not very fulfilling to constantly question if there’s any value in what you’re doing. You deserve better. Or better put, your work deserves better.

So let’s get on with it.

Greedily yours,

Jeff
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The latest episode of the Hey, Creator podcast goes live today. We’re talking about category, genre, and why all creators need to belong to something before they can leave it to make their own way. Come create with us!

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"I finished Real Artists Don’t Starve and have to say, thank you very much for writing it. Right now I am an artist who, while not starving, is on the way to starving. Most, if not all, the choices are on me.

I had plenty of opportunity to make it as an artist for years, but chose to fritter it away. I was taken care of for years, and managed to waste time and money on things like video games, and endless hours of consuming entertainment without adding to it.

There was about a ten-year gap when I didn’t draw much at all. I did write, I did do some other things, but still I think I wasted way too much time. You could say that I was afraid to make art, to succeed, or to fail, and yet I failed because I didn’t try. I liked your book because it was a good, entertaining, and informative read. It touched on the very things I am working on.

The main difficulty I have is discussing money with people. I run across some who think that my art is to be given away (and it is) but without any compensation at all. I run across others who want to pay for my work, but even now, in my 50s, I find it a daunting task to determine to charge.

After all, my work is something that has always been, in some form, for most of his life. At least for a mechanic, or house painting, or plumbing service, there is a continuum on what to charge.

Your book provides a good mindset to have. That money is needed to create more art. It is not an end to itself. Would I create art if money was no object? Yes, I would. Especially now that I know it is an imperative to share it, to put beauty back into the world, or at the very least, to cause others to think." —Jim

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Last call! Our team of creators is growing fast, and we’re currently looking for talented ghostwriters, book proposal writers, editors, and copywriters. If you’ve done any of these things before and want to do more as part of a dynamic remote team, we want to hear from you. Fill out our application here.

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“We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.” —Walt Disney

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Jeff, who wrote a whole book about this issue.

Chantel, who edited that book, and this issue.

Matt, who has an exciting offer for creators who want to launch a course (and make money) by Labor Day.

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