Spend, Save, Skip: What Writers Should And Shouldn't Buy

Notes from a writer on a budget

It’s that time of year when everyone is thinking about their goals, including the writing coaches, experts, and influencers whose goal is to make lots of money or build a following by preying on the insecurities of writers. It’s also that time of year when writers are thinking about how to improve their writing and build a career. And buying that course or book or conference looks like an easy way to “take the next step,” as those writing gurus like to say.

On my own path toward publishing novels (I have three books out with major publishers), I’ve found only a few tools that have helped me improve my writing and start a career, and most of those tools were free. Some of them were worth spending money on—but only with tempered expectations. Here are my thoughts on when to spend a lot, spend a little (“save”), or skip buying altogether (with the caveat that this advice doesn’t always apply to self-published writers).

Conferences

Skip. As career-builders, writing conferences are a waste of money. There is nothing you can learn at a conference that you can’t learn online (unless the conference provides specific feedback on your work). And you are not going to get an agent or a book deal by attending a conference, except on a very, very rare occasion.

Spend. At the same time, writing conferences are motivating and inspiring. Writing is a lonely business, and conferences can be sociable. If you’re having a hard time connecting with writers in person, it might benefit you to spend money on a conference.

I’ve attended exactly one writing conference that I thought was worth the money. It helped me think about what I wanted in a writing career, and it introduced me to new friends. The experience was inspiring, uplifting, and validating. (Sadly, this conference no longer runs.) I’ve also attended a handful of other conferences that were pointless, frustrating, and lonely (not to mention expensive). Most of the time, conferences are geared toward making money from new writers and providing a place where published writers can enjoy being the center of attention. I regret spending money on most of the writing conferences I’ve attended.

Look for small conferences that facilitate connections and feedback, or skip conferences and learn online for free.

In-Person Workshops

Spend. I’ve heard many writers say that other in-person workshops helped them improve their writing and taught them a lot about the breaking into the industry. I sometimes see ads for writing workshops that seem dubious, but if a workshop has a great reputation for helping writers get published, it might be worth attending.

Save. To my mind, though, workshops are shockingly expensive. You have to pay for tuition plus room and board, which adds up to thousands of dollars. They usually require you to take weeks or months away from your job and family (which I just can’t do). The only workshop I’ve ever attended, the Launchpad astronomy workshop for writers, was funded by an outside organization, meaning I didn’t pay to attend. It was a fantastic experience; I learned a lot and made friends I still keep in touch with. But I wouldn’t spend time and money on a workshop that wasn’t funded. I’ve learned just as much about writing and publishing through cheaper means and made friends elsewhere.

If you have plenty of money, attend a highly reputable workshop. Otherwise, attend only a fully- or partially-funded workshop.

Me and other lovely writers at Launchpad (I’m in the front row, red jacket)

Online Classes

Save. Don’t buy expensive writing classes. Every time I see an ad for a writing class that costs more than a few hundred dollars, I smell a scam. They’re usually sold by someone with a dubious track record of writing success who uses pressure tactics to get you to sign up. Meanwhile, you can buy writing courses from published authors for under $100. (Most of my self-paced writing courses are $50-$60. Maggie Stiefvater sells one for around $30.) If a course involves a lot of interaction with a teacher, it might cost $200-$500, and if the teacher is skilled, that might be worth your while.

Skip. If you have limited funds, I wouldn’t put a writing class at the top of your purchase list. I’ve personally never attended a writing class that I thought was more helpful than a paid critique. And I’ve learned more from reading books on craft that I have from taking classes.

Buy reasonably-priced classes taught by proven teachers, but prioritize spending money on critiques.

Critiques

Spend. Out of every writing resource I’ve ever spent money on, professional critiques of my work have been the very best value. In fact, if I could go back, I probably wouldn’t spend money on anything else, just because a critique is that much more helpful than any other resource. I’ve never regretted paying for a critique, even when it was expensive.

I’m often asked for recommendations for a good paid critique, and I’m sorry to say that it’s been so long since I have gotten a paid critique myself that I don’t know where to send you. (I now have excellent critique partners I exchange work with.) I very occasionally offer paid critiques, but for the past year and a half, I’ve been too overloaded to offer that service. I often see industry professionals offering critiques as part of charity auctions, but don’t feel like you have to spend thousands of dollars to get a critique from an agent when you can spend half as much on a critique from a writer, who will likely be just as good at giving feedback. But if the charity is one you value, spending a lot on a critique can be doubly meaningful in this situation.

Save. Before you ever get a paid critique, find a critique partner with whom to exchange your work for free. This isn’t just a money-saving measure; critiquing someone else’s work often does more for you than receiving a critique on your own work. It sharpens your eye and helps you articulate what makes for good writing. I found my earliest critique partners in college, by making friends with other new writers. Later, I used social media to reach out to writers who were in the same phase of their writing careers that I was in with my own. Finding a good critique partner can be tricky, but giving a critique is a crucial way to improve your own writing.

Start by exchanging your work with a critique partner. Then, if you never buy anything else on this list, find a way to pay for a professional critique, even if just on a few pages of your work.

Editing Services

(Just a reminder that this advice might not apply to self-published authors.)

Skip. I’m a huge fan of paid critiques, but editing services are usually much more intensive and therefore much more expensive. If you’re not under contract to publish a novel, it seems to me a waste of money to pay to thoroughly edit a manuscript, since that manuscript might never get published. And I’m not convinced a paid edit will be more effective than a paid critique at helping you get a publishing deal.

Spend. It might be a different story if you have a publishing contract. I know authors (very successful, popular authors!) whose editors don’t edit. Their editors are very good at acquiring books for their publishing companies, but they either won’t edit manuscripts or don’t offer very good feedback. I’ve also heard from one writer that her editor declined to edit her sequel because her first book hadn’t met sales expectations. Many editors aren’t given enough time to edit, and the result isn’t always fair to writers. In these cases, I would pay for an outside edit.

Two of my author friends have paid for independent editors to help them prepare their novels for publication, and while it was expensive, both of my friends thought it was worth the money. And I’m guessing you would agree, too; their books are widely read and loved, including, I’m sure, by some of my substack readers.

Opt for a paid critique instead of a full edit, unless your novel is under contract.

Reading Fees

Skip. Some contests or publishers require writers to pay to submit their work for awards or publication. Generally, if an award is well-respected, a publisher will pay these fees and enter your novel for consideration. If you have to enter your own work and pay your own fee, that award probably isn’t reputable enough to do much for you. And I’m not a fan of paying to submit a short story to a magazine, or to enter consideration for a mentorship program, or really to pay any other fees at all. It feels unethical for people to accept my money without rendering a service. And oftentimes, reading fees are a mark of a scammer: if an agent ever charges you a fee for anything (instead of taking a cut of your royalties), run. If a publisher charges you a fee, you’re probably better off self-publishing.

Money flows toward the author. Don’t pay for publication.

Craft Books

Save. When I first wanted to learn how to improve my craft as a writer, I went to the library and checked out each of their books on writing, one at a time. I learned so much! I also studied the advice on writing websites and blogs (the current equivalent being newsletters, I guess). I now listen to podcasts, and buy or borrow books on craft. It’s easy to get great writing advice for free or cheap, as long as you remember that not all advice works for every writer.

Spend. A few books on craft I revisit again and again, and I love having these on my shelf. I didn’t use to have much money for books, but now that I do, I’m happy to support writing teachers in this way.

Skip. So many books about writing will tell you that their way is the only way to write. That would only be true if every writer’s brain worked the same way, and if every writer were writing the same kind of story. If a book gives you a bit of helpful advice on how to improve your craft or writing habits, great, but if the advice doesn’t ring true for you, just toss the book aside and carry on with your own way of writing.

Books, newsletters, and podcasts are some of the best tools for improving your craft and learning how to publish your work, and you can usually access them for free or cheap.

I recommend the books and podcast of Matt Bird.

Bookstore Events, Tours, Giveaways, and Swag

Save. I used to run events at a bookstore, and sales at those events rarely surpassed the money publishers spent on the authors’ travel costs (unless those authors were already mega-bestellers). Most authors I know who have gone on tour have funded those tours themselves with the expectation of losing a lot of money; a few have had a publisher willing to pay travel costs, but I hear that’s far more rare these days. Throw an event if you want to have a party; fund your own tour if you want to visit friends.

Giveaways and swag are also money sinks. At the bookstore I worked at, publishers would sometimes send swag to give away with book purchases, but it rarely tempted buyers and usually only if they were already familiar with the author or series. Still, I’ve really ejoyed coming up with creative swag to give out at events for my own books, with full knowledge that I was buying party favors, not sales tools. And I haven’t hosted a giveaway in years because I’ve never known them to accomplish much. The most effective giveaways are probably those done by publishers looking to spread advance copies of your book far and wide in attempt to create word-of-mouth marketing; I’m not sure an autor’s own giveaways have much reach.

Events and swag are parties and party favors—fun you fund.

Website Design

Skip. Very few readers or industry professionals ever visit a writer’s website. Templates that come with website services usually look quite nice and are easy to read. I say this as someone who has had the very rare experience of signing with an agent who visited my website and read a story I had posted there. I used a template for that website.

If you get a lot of traffic to your website, you’ll probably want to use a designer, but odds are more people will look at your social media than at your website.

Social Media Management

Skip. I’ve personally never hired anyone to help me with my social media, so my knowledge here is limited. But I know writers who pay people to create posts for them, and I can’t say I thought their accounts benefited from that work. I’ve also heard from writers who have paid someone to help them design the look and “brand” of their social media, and while I thought the results were aesthetically pleasing, I didn’t notice an increase in engagement. One friend told me she paid for Instagram followers and felt this did help her account gain some traction, but I didn’t see a connection to a boost a book sales or even a permanent boost to her social media accounts. To be honest, I don’t think social media is a great tool for increasing book sales anyway, so I wouldn’t spend money on it.

If your social media is flourishing, paying to offload associated tasks might make sense. Otherwise, I doubt paying for help to build your accounts provides a decent ROI.

Publicists and Ads

Skip? I’ve never paid for my own publicist or my own ads, so I can’t say much about these. One of my friends spent thousands of dollars on a publicist who was able to have her book placed in a magazine with a very high circulation, and she felt it didn’t help her career at all. I’ve never had a writer friend tell me they benefited from a paid publicist, but I’m open to hearing from writers who feel this is money well spent.

I’ve heard from self-published writers that social media ads and Amazon ads boost their book sales, but I don’t know any writers with major publishers who have felt this was worth their while. Let me know if your own experience has been positive.

Publicists are usually very expensive, ads sometimes less so; I have no idea about the effectiveness of either.

Bestseller Lists

Skip. I used to work in a bookstore where I saw more than one author buy hundreds of copies of their own books (from my store and others) in successful bids to make it onto the NYT bestseller list. In fact, one of these instances was discovered and reported on mostly because of my attempts to make it known (although I shrank from credit and hated the cruel online backlash the author received, even if she was in the wrong). That author’s book was subsequently removed from the NYT list. But I saw another author buy her way onto the list without detection. (Or at least, that was the conclusion I came to after what I had seen at my own bookstore and what I had heard from other local bookstores—I could be wrong.) The result is that she has certainly benefited from using “NYT bestselling author” as a credential, but I’ve never seen or heard anyone talk about her book online or elsewhere. I’m sure many readers discovered her book from the list, but I don’t think she has a devoted readership. Her career has thus far been nice but not a smash success.

I suppose if you have money to burn, this option seems attractive, and the truth is that the NYT list isn’t as meritocratic as people think it is (you usually can’t get on the list without your publisher going to certain lengths), so why not game a faulty system? In the end, I think buying this particular bragging right would do more to damage your view of yourself than it would to help your career. Better to focus on writing well and connecting with readers than on purchasing the veneer of success. That particular veneer wears off too easily anyway.

Buying your way onto a bestseller list is incredibly expensive in terms of both money and self-respect, and the results are mixed.

Final Thoughts: How I’ve Spent My Money

By the time I published my first novel with Penguin, I had spent money on one writing conference (which hadn’t been helpful), two paid critiques (very helpful) and a handful of books about writing and publishing (also very helpful). I’d also enjoyed many free resources from the library and the internet, and attended a great conference that my mom paid for (I was 20 at the time. Thanks, Mom!).

Before publishing my next two novels, I spent money on a few more unhelpful conferences, a few tedious online classes, Scivener (which I don’t like and didn’t use for long), lots of great books on writing, launch parties and book swag (fun), a paid podcast that I enjoyed for a while, website fees to sell my own writing resources (fun, profitable), and a couple of nights in a hotel to focus on a manuscript (very helpful). I also attended a funded workshop (Launchpad—thanks SFWA!), and spoke at several book-related events for which my publishers paid for my travel.

If I had lots of money now, I’d spend it on a quiet place to write for a while and travel costs to see writer friends and conduct research. Maybe I’d throw a big book party just for fun.

How about you? What do feel has been the best use of your money in pursuit of a writing career? What wasn’t worth the price tag?