The first
thing you have to remember about surveys is that the data
may not be a totally accurate reflection of reality. Most
surveys are, in fact, just a reflection of the kind of
people that fill out surveys!
For
instance, this survey was sent out to thousands of
writers, of whom only 10% responded. Therefore the views
of this other 90% might be completely different from the
hundreds that took the time to mail me their answers.
Having said
all that as a qualifier, here's what I discovered.
Only 14% of
people who considered themselves writers had ever got
paid for what they'd done. 7% considered themselves a
professional. Just 6% said it was their goal to write for
a living. A whopping 51% considered themselves to be
enthusiastic amateurs - the rest wrote only occasionally.
61% said
their main interest was in fiction, 33% non fiction and
10% picked out poetry as their main focus, with smaller
percentages spread over a wide range of areas.
A fact that
shocked me was the genre most respondents were interested
in was Children's and YA fiction - at 21%. Romance came
in second - 16% with Mystery and Suspense third - at 14%.
Only 4% said they were interested in writing Thrillers.
Smaller percentages were recorded over a wide range of
genres - everything from Horror to SF to Fantasy to
Biographies. It surprised me that only 7% were interested
in writing anything they considered 'literary'!
44% had
never taken a writing course. Only 6% were involved in a
writer's group and only 6% had ever used the Internet to
find writing help. What I found particularly interesting
is that almost to a man, all of the professional writers
had paid for writing services in the past, from Net
courses, to correspondence, to MS assessment or even
mentoring.
That
confirms my experience though - the writers most likely
to succeed are those that actively seek out - and pay for
- resources designed to help them.
Also
fascinating was that 51% said they wanted 'advanced
writing tips' while only 26% wanted help with the basics.
Curiously, it was mostly the 'enthusiastic amateurs' that
wanted 'advanced tips' whilst the professionals still
wanted help on the basics!
Bearing in
mind that most of these respondents had never used the
Internet, it was interesting how much respondents were
willing to pay for writing courses. 35% said they would
pay up to $500 for a good course, 33% up to $200, and 17%
up to $100. 17% said they'd be willing to spend over
$500! A mere 1% said they thought writing courses should
be free.
Finally,
46% of writers said they wrote purely for pleasure. 42%
said their main goal was publication and, also
interestingly, 13% said they were writing for posterity.
Well, I
hope you've found these results as fascinating as I did -
it certainly provides real insight into how writers - as
a community - see themselves.
Feel free
to pass on this article to anyone you think might be
interested. Just remember to keep my website URL at its
base!
