Brother, can you loan me a dime?

Has anybody seen this list of jobs for people who don't like people? Writer made the list, of course; it is one of the most perfect ways for an introvert to keep busy. But the thing that unsettles me about this article is the salary listed below Writer/Author. According to this list, the average Writer/Author makes $53,070. The reason this is unsettling: I don't think this figure accurately represents what the average writer makes. Or maybe I should rephrase that. I think the spectrum of different kinds of writers is too wide for them to be lumped together in this one category.

The writer working for a marketing or ad agency might make close to that figure. A journalist who has been working in the field for many years (and at a major market paper) could make that much, sure. But to include Authors in the group is where I think the disparity grows too wide. On one hand, you have a writer like Tom Wolfe who can get a $7 million advance for a book he hasn't finished; then you have a writer like David McGlynn who sold his already-written book for $500 and a box of contributor's copies. And maybe, if you add up all the advances and royalties from authors, combine that with the highest and lowest paid copy writers, journalists, and marketing/advertising/technical writers the average salary does come up to $50K a year.

My point here isn't to (poorly) display the financial injustice that plagues the American writer. What I want to point out is that that figure listed under a category that includes Author could give teens and young adults the wrong impression of how much writers make. Most authors in America have day jobs--like the "Ponzi Scheme" relationship between writer and teacher--in order to make money. Often, writing literature alone doesn't pay the bills. I worry that students might see this list and get the wrong idea about how easy it is to make money as an author or poet. Sure, it can be done, but the odds are against you. I'm glad my writing professors in undergrad reminded their classes of this constantly. I'm not so glad that I ignored them completely.