I realize that I am fortunate to be doing the job I do. It’s hugely interesting and fun. But there’s one question that people I meet always want to ask me: how is it that you earn a living?<\/p>\n
First, let me say that it is a living. I don’t have a private income (that would make life a lot easier). I didn’t make a fortune in my 15 years as a science editor that can subsidize me now. My significant other doesn’t have a high-paying job (indeed, when I started out wine writing we had young children and mine was the only income). And we live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Beyond that, I won’t say what I earn, other than it is just enough.<\/p>\n
Second, the glory days of wine writing are long gone. Back in the day, specialist writers on newspapers were paid a proper salary. So a column with a national newspaper might have paid, say, \u00a340k. Add on to that regular magazine work, and payment for gigs, plus the odd book here and there, and you have a tidy salary coming in.<\/p>\n
In the internet age, newspapers simply can’t afford to pay this much for specialist wine columns. So many have disappeared, or writers are doing them for much less money. Also, the rate for magazine work hasn’t changed since I was first commissioned in 2002. Then, the pay was \u00a3200-\u00a3250 per thousand words. It’s still the same, and with few commissions over 2000 words, you’d have to write a lot of articles to make a living this way.<\/p>\n
So, my income comes from several streams. I have a weekly Sunday Express column. I write articles for a range of magazines, which is something I’d like to do more of. The frustrating thing is that there are hardly any publications who can afford to commission you, pay for your travel\/research, and then give you a decent enough rate that you can justify the time it takes to write a really serious article. And then I make money on advertising on this site, something that’s only possible because it’s been around a long time and gets a lot of traffic.<\/p>\n
So that’s he writing bit. In addition I get paid to judge wine on a regular basis. Decent wine competitions pay their tasters because they know that without experienced, able judges the results will be simply noise. And I get paid to give talks and lectures, lead seminars and run tastings. This is a particularly fun part of the job, because it involves connecting with people, and it is of the moment.<\/p>\n
Then there are books. These pay less well than you might think, even if you sell quite a few copies. I still use mainstream publishers because they add credibility to book projects, even though there’s money to be made from self publishing. But it’s worth doing books because they bring reputation, which then brings more work.<\/p>\n
Finally, the C word. I do day rate consulting to companies who think I have expertise that they can tap into. The challenge with this is to avoid compromising yourself with conflicts of interest, and you have to consider what the expectations of the client are, and whether they are ever going to be someone you might cover journalistically.<\/p>\n
So, if you are considering making wine writing your full time gig, it’s worth going in with your eyes open. You’ll likely need several income streams, which hopefully will add up to an income. The days of the professional wine writer are numbered, but if you are able to add elements other than just pure writing to your work, then it’s possible to make a living from it. But not easy. My one bit of advice though: don’t put yourself in a position where you are desperate for money. People scrabbling around for cash end up taking bad gigs and making poor choices, which then has an impact on their future career development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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