I just recently caught up with an old friend of mine, who also used to want to be a writer. Back then, both of us only thought of fiction. Now, ten years later, one of us is a paid writer and the other is not. Why? Because for one of us it is a business, and for the other it is a hobby.

As you might have guessed, the paid writer is moi. I started writing professionally about four and a half years ago, when I took a job as a technical writer and started writing online marketing materials on a freelance basis on the side. Although I haven’t published much fiction, I am living my dream, earning my living by my pen (or, more accurately, by my keyboard).

A significant part of the difference between hobby and business lies in marketing. This old friend, the would-be writer, doesn’t really market himself or actively seek out business. He just writes, I guess with the hope that someday someone will notice his work and…??? Whereas I actively look for clients and try to sell my work.

This is a great way to look at the subject of marketing, to understand why it is so important in other business ventures. For instance, if you sell maternity clothes online, you have to market yourself constantly in order to get customers and keep your business going. In the real world, if you treat your business like a hobby — i.e., if you take the approach that my old friend has — you are dead in the water.

Technorati Tags: Business, hobby, maternity clothes