Being a writer is a risky business. It’ s gambling really. As a long term, self-employed author, my expectation is a 1 in 5 publication or performance rate.

Instead of feeling resentful, about the loss of income from projects that didn’ t get up, but took hours of creative concentration, I decided to‘ account’ in a different way. Accountants talk of balance sheets, profit and loss or cash flow. For a writer, returns are often delayed and don’ t always equate to hours spent. Then there are the intangible benefits of the curl of pleasure in crafting well or creating a story, which significantly affects certain readers.

Variables such as timing of proposals, markets, collaborators, formats, fashions, contacts, rewriting, corporate publishing mergers and even your title affect your publication chances. Not all changes are under your control. Sometimes correlation between your effort / return is hard to assess and it’ s difficult to remain motivated. That’ s the real issue.

Here’ s what I’ ve learnt:

1. Nothing is wasted: parts of projects can be cannibalized and used later even in an article on‘ what not to do’. Acquired skills can be applied when negotiating the next project. Recycling into other mediums can improve the 1 in 5 gamble.

2. Keep records of your own ideas and agreements, as often others forget who contributed what. You may know it is legally and morally yours, but finding the right files or contracts from five computers ago to prove it, can be VERY time consuming.

3. You need advocates who support your project within the bigger organization. Don’ t put your own money into the project, unless prepared to write it off as experience. Your investment is time and intellectual property. If they have‘ & associates’ on their business card, it’ s just them.

4. Update consistently. Go to digital‘ Dummies’ classes, which are offered free by sellers of equipment.