Pay Yourself For Your Book Before It's Published
You get paid for the work you do, so why should writing your novel be any different? Why wait years to get paid? Why feel like your work isn’t valuable now? Here’s a thought: Start paying yourself for writing—even while your book’s still a draft.
Paying yourself as you write reinforces that your work has value now—not just after it’s 'done'.
It builds a habit of taking your writing seriously, creates positive reinforcement, and can reduce guilt around spending time on creative work.
It’s easy to undervalue your time, delay investing in your work, or quietly deprioritize your own creative goals—especially when no one’s paying you yet.
I created a separate savings account, called it ‘My Novel Account’ and set up a spreadsheet tracker to log my writing hours and calculate my pay each month. Every month, I transfer that amount into my account.
It’s been so rewarding to watch this proof of my creative work grow over time, especially during dry creative spells.
The work that I log includes:
– Drafting
– Brainstorming
– Outlining
– Revising
– Admin work related to the project
It doesn’t cover every minute I spend thinking about the story outside of my sessions (which, let’s be honest, is constant), but it gives me a baseline.
If you want to try this, you can bill yourself by:
✔️ Hours logged or
✔️ Words written or
✔️ Sessions completed (define what a writing session means to you)
Choose what works best and assign a consistent rate—something symbolic or practical.
Follow me on Instagram for more practical writing-life strategies.
Click this link to grab your free writer tools - Worldbuilding worksheets, Form, Style, & Voice Sheets and more.
A question for you: How do you stay motivated to invest in your creative process?
