As I write this, the World Series is a few hours away. For those not familiar with American baseball, it’s like the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the gold medal games for American baseball. For long suffering Chicago 
Cubs fans, there is the ever recurring cry of next year. New York Mets fans (of which I count myself one) are suffering too as our team has been dreadful in for quite some time. Our pain, however, is measured in years, not decades. (It’s been 70 years since the Cubs have been to the Series, the longest drought in professional sports.) So what the hell does that have with writing? Nothing really, (aside from my being a huge baseball fan and this is my guest post) and everything. It will serve as a backdrop for the rest of the post.
Writing is a bit like baseball, well all sports really; many people enjoying playing some sport at some level. Most people who don’t play still find entertaining watching sports. Players enjoy watching also. A lot people wanted/want to be professional sports stars. There are a host of people who are not players who make money off of the game. And while some players make scads of money, most players don’t make a living wage.
The pay for the average major league players hit something crazy like $4.25 million per year. Of course, that is skewed by the top earners, as the majority of players earn at or near the league minimum of $507,000. (Which is a nice number most of us would he very happy to ‘settle’ for.) But that is for the 25 guys who make one of the 29 major league teams. Only 725 make the major league. The millions of kids who played little league get whittled down to several thousand who make the minor leagues.
For those who care, and for a bit of context, most professional baseball teams have nine (9) minor league teams: one Triple A (the top) team and the average salary is about $2000 a month and the work ‘year’ is only six months long; one Double A (the second highest) and seven lower levels. Those who play at those levels start at the league max of $1,100 a month for their first year and then scale up as they rise in the ranks. Many of those lower leagues are only three months long.
Eyes glazed over yet? Sorry. Context is important. So as we see, a few players make lots of money (Alex Rodriguez made $30 million this year), some do well (the $4.25 million average), and most barely get by. (Did I mention minor leaguers get the princely sum of $25.00 food allowance when they’re on away games? What active 19 year old can live on that eating out for a day?)
Writing is very similar. (See? I told you this would be relevant at some point.) Very few make Jackie Collins, Stephen King, or JK Rowling money. There are some who make a lot of money and most don’t make a living wage. So the question becomes, why write? Well for many, there is the dream of making that top salary or even the league average. Some love it enough that they are willing to work hard to get the league minimum try to make it to the ‘big show.’ And the rest just like what they do. These are the weekend softball players, the ones who play rec league games where no money changes hands, the players who love to play.
Unfortunately, much like baseball, writing has those who try to take short cuts. I won’t name names, but we all know about what happened this month. It’s a shame really. Players like Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez used steroids to get ahead. Most got away with it for a long time because there was no way to test the athletes for those performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Their cheating only came to light after their careers were over, but not before they made a lot of money cheating.
The days of easily hiding your transgressions, however, are long over. Jenrry Mejia, a relief pitcher for the Mets, was supposed to be a star this year, until he got caught using steroids. That cost him the first 80 games of the season (and the salary that went with it) and his starting spot. Then he got caught again just ten days after is return, and was suspended for a full year. His career is basically over.
Similarly, plagiarism that might have been impossible to catch a few years ago is almost impossible to hide today. It’s like presidential affairs. What might have been undetectable or the stuff of rumors 50-60-100 years ago, is front page news, and the top story on all day news programs. Why John Edwards thought he could have an affair, father a child and run for president without it coming to light is mind boggling.
I can’t defend steroid use or cheating in the writing world. It demeans those who work hard and do their best to get ahead. On one level you can understand wanting to do what you love so badly that you’d do something you shouldn’t so you can make a career out of it. But life is like that. You do your best and if it doesn’t work out, you move on. Just because you want something, doesn’t mean you are entitled to it. You wouldn’t dream of robbing a bank to get the money to buy a fancy house or new car would you?
Maybe the expectations game needs to be better managed. Maybe the writing world needs to lay out things like baseball does and show that of the millions of kids who plays little league baseball, only 7000 or so will get to play professionally and most of those won’t make enough a year to buy a car. That those big salaries of famous writers rare, like the top contracts in baseball; only a very few will be handed out each year. For most writers, we have to be content doing what we love for the sake of what we do. We might never get above Single A ball and spend the rest of our days playing on weekends for the fun of it.
It’s not a bad thing to dream big dreams and to chase them. It’s not a bad thing to take a chance and see if you have what it takes to make it to the top. But if it isn’t in the cards, be an adult and accept it, have a backup plan for how you’ll make ends meet and then go out and enjoy doing what you love.
I never made it to even the minor leagues. I wanted to – badly if I’m being honest. I tried, worked hard and never made it. I still love the game. I played in rec leagues for many years and enjoyed it immensely. I still watch the games on TV and take ‘lil q to see the local minor league team play. It is no less a passion now than it was when I dreamed of being a pro ball player. I may never make it to the top writing either, but I’ll still enjoy it. And that is how it should be.
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of twenty years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.
Follow Andrew:
On his website: www.andrewqgordon.com,
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon,
On Twitter: @andrewqgordon,
Or just email him: andrewqgordon@gmail.com
Books:
The Last Grand Master: (Champion of the Gods – Book 1)
The Eye and the Arm: (Champion of the Gods – Book 2)
Self published: