The Not-Quite-So Starving Artist
By Sarah Callender | June 1, 2012 |
You know what I’m really good at? Landing jobs that pay roughly zilch per hour.
Seven years into my career as a high school English teacher, for example, I calculated (based on the hours I actually spent on lesson planning and grading) that I earned $7.00/hour. That hurt my feelings.
As a new fiction writer, I earned even less. “Less,” meaning “Nothing.”
Early on, however, I knew I didn’t want writing to be my hobby. I didn’t even want it to be my jobby, the hobby-job hybrid. I wanted writing to be my full-fledged job. Which meant I needed to generate some dough.
Well. You may have heard that it’s tough to make significant (or insignificant) money as a newish writer who is still practicing her craft. And it is. Really tough. So I took the hodgepodge approach: tutoring and editing and writing copy and selling my plasma and stealing money from my kids’ piggy banks, all while working on my novel.
Those are all fine ways for writers to generate income, but today, I’d like to share another way to make money, one that doesn’t involve needles or stealing: applying for grants.
First things first. You do NOT have to be a fancy, published writer in order to be awarded a grant. I am neither. I tried to be fancy once back in 2004, and it did not go well. I’m just a regular person who happened to be in a professional writers’ program where I learned boatloads about grants from (among others) the lovely and wise Wendy Call.
I’d like to pass that knowledge on to you friendly folks, because, while you don’t need to be fancy or published, you do need a few key traits . . . all of which I’m sure you already possess.
Dedication
Sometimes finding suitable grants requires some digging. I am lucky to live in Seattle where writers and writerly support abound. But should you live in a state that’s less supportive of writers, don’t despair. There is a grant for you.
I have stumbled upon grants for writers with young children, grants for Latinos, grants for gay writers. Local grants and federal grants. Grants for a WIP and grants for completed work. Grants funded by famous writers and grants funded by foundations.
Dedicate yourself to finding a grant that suits you.
Once you do, be prepared to work your tail off. After all, preparing a grant application is about as much fun as prepping for a colonoscopy. I’m not kidding. Try writing a grant application and then try the colonoscopy prep, and you’ll see.
That said, once you have applied for one grant, you can typically tweak and reuse those pieces for future grant applications. I applied for three grants this spring, and the applications were far less painful (more like the colonoscopy itself, which, thanks to a dose of some fabulous drug, happened whilst I dreamed of puppies and rainbows and Steven Tyler). Do the hard work now–we’re back to talking about grant applications–and you’ll be set for a long while.
Creativity
Most grants require all or some of the following: Resume, Artist Bio and/or Narrative Bio, Artist Statement, Work Sample, Work Sample Description and Budget.
But remember:
1. Grant panels have very little time to review applications; therefore, a creative application stands out in a sea of watery applicants.
2. Funders want to give their money to someone who creates fresh, amazing work. Be that creative, fresh someone.
Some grant recipients are also asked to “give back” to the community in some way. Use your creativity here, too. In a 2010 grant application, I asked for $3,000 to cover the summer childcare that would allow me to complete a round of book revisions. In exchange, I taught a three-class series on the poetry of Pablo Neruda at the local elementary school, during which students generated Neruda-inspired poems. I then collaborated with the school’s art teacher to create a “Poetree,” a huge paper tree where each of the students’ poems became a leaf of the tree. The Poetree was on display for the school to see.
Yes, it’s a lot of work to make a tree out of paper and poems, but I got $3,000 for my time AND as my novel relies on Neruda’s poetry, it was a unique marketing opportunity. Don’t be afraid to do something different and fresh in your application.
Skills
If you already have the fiction writing skills to demonstrate in your Work Sample, build your skill as a knowledgeable grant applicant. Say, for example, you don’t know how the Artist Statement differs from the Artist Bio, call or email the grant funders and ask. Say you have concerns about the appropriateness of your budget, ask the funder for feedback.
You can also ask funders for examples of applications from previous funding rounds. Before submitting one local application, I moseyed down to the foundation’s site and paged through thick binders of applications, studying which applications had and had not been funded. Funders respect and appreciate a conscientious applicant. Be that applicant.
Belief in Yourself
Many of us choose to write even when no one’s paying us, but if we want to earn money for our work, we need to present ourselves as professionals.
In the Budget portion of the application, therefore, do NOT value your time at $10/hour. The grant panel wants to know we respect ourselves and our craft enough to value our time at a professional rate. Maybe this is $45 or $50 or $60 per hour. Pay yourself what other professionals in other professions (i.e. professions other than teaching) are paid. Garnering the respect of others starts when we respect ourselves.
A Few More Thoughts . . .
Grant writing is an art. Taking the time to provide a thoughtful, careful, type-o free application will show the panel (usually volunteers) that you respect their time. If you aren’t awarded a grant, don’t get discouraged. Call the funder and ask (politely–the writing world is small!) for some feedback. If you can glean something about the panel’s choices and decisions, use this feedback for future applications.
Also keep in mind that panel members often change; different panels view applications in different ways. If you learn that a spurned ex-girlfriend is sitting on an application panel, perhaps consider applying the next year. Perhaps also consider doing less spurning when you break up with your girlfriends. Have I mentioned the writing world is small?
Finally, here are some great grant-related resources:
- Artist Trust (in Seattle)
- Chicago Artists Resource
- Creative Capital
- Foundation Center (a database of funding opportunities)
- The Fund for Women Artists
- New York Foundation for the Arts
- Mira’s List
- Puffin Foundation
Your turn now . . . what experiences, good or bad, have you had with grant applications? Is prepping a grant application really as bad as prepping for a colonoscopy? What have you learned from sitting on a grant application panel? Please share your wisdom so that, in 2013, we can be grant winners rather than plasma donating, piggy bank burglars.
Photo courtesy of Flickr’s JBCurio.
Grant knowledge courtesy of Artist Trust’s amazing EDGE Professional Development Program for Writers.
A Middle Grade novelist (and Middle School English teacher), Sarah Callender lives in Seattle with her family. Because Sarah dislikes cleaning anything that will just get messy again, she tidies the house and weeds the yard only when absolutely necessary. This allows her time to focus on her true–and somewhat fraught–passions: writing, Abe Lincoln, and Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate bars. Equally passionate about mental health advocacy, Sarah is a member of The Stability Network. Sarah’s first novel, LUCY IN BETWEEN, will be published by Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House in 2026.
Sarah,
This is so helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and these grant resources. I’ve been on both sides. I have prepared grant applications and served as a reviewer on a grant-giving body (not for writing grants). I would add a couple of points to your excellent advice. First, read the application materials carefully and provide only the information requested. Be brief, to the point, and brilliant. Reviewers often must wade through numerous applications. The biggest turnoff is an application with pages and pages of detail, but little that relates directly to why the applicant should receive the grant. Thanks again and I wish you the best in your writing endeavors.
Excellent, CG! Thanks so much for sharing these tips. These are both so valuable. No one wants to read a meandering, aimless application, especially one that doesn’t address the requirements.
Thanks for your time and your insights, CG. Best of luck to you, too!
What a fantastic post, Sarah, rich with ideas and resources. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank YOU, Therese!
Thank you for this priceless information! And BTW, love the word “jobby.” It’s spot-on.
Oh, thanks, Sharon. Yes, I like the taste of the word, “jobby.” It feels like marbles in my mouth . . . not that I often have marbles in my mouth . . . maybe only once or twice a week.
Thanks for your kind comment!
Steven Pressfield writes about ‘going pro’ in The War of Art. I consider myself a pro by those terms (not just in it for the love of it, but because I love it so much I’m in it for keeps). Haven’t had a payday yet, but I keep the faith. You’ve got me wondering: are there funders out there for historical fantasy? Is Hogwarts awarding many grants these days?
Perhaps I’ll have to continue plasma donating. I’d better get some sun, too. I’m starting to look a bit pale (no access to piggy banks). Thanks for sharing, and sorry I wasn’t much help today, Sarah!
What? Not a help? I LOVE the phrase, “going pro.” That’s such a huge part of being a successful writer . . . considering ourselves professional, even when we’re not yet getting paid. As long as we treat our writing as a job, something to which we dedicate our time and energy and passion on a regular basis, we have “gone pro.” I love that.
Perhaps, Vaughn, you and I are simply pro bono professionals. For now!
:)
I should also add this bit of humbling (and ironic) news . . . yesterday afternoon, a letter arrived in my mailbox:
“Dear Sarah,
______ greatly appreciates the time and effort you put towards your application to our 2012 grants program. Unfortunately, your project entitled ______, was not recommended for support this year.”
The very nice, very thoughtful rejection letter went on to explain there were 295 applications and 66 were awarded grants. Sigh.
But we writers are tough. We soldier on, in spite of rejection, continuing the work that we know we need to do. Right? Right!
Happy grant application-ing to you all!
wow, didn’t realise this was a viable thing to pursue. some great info
I wonder if England has any grants? hmmmm, I wonder
Thanks for sharing this info and tips. Food for thought
Matthew (Turndog Millionaire)
Yes, Mister Turndog . . . a quick Google search led me to this:
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/
It’s a place to start, at least. Thanks so much for your comment!
Sarah, thank you so much for this funny and informative post!
Applying for writing grants was something I’d considered briefly many moons ago, but haven’t thought of since. It seemed too overwhelming and like such a long shot. And perhaps all of that is true, but it sounds like it is certainly worth the effort.
By the way, the motivational sign I’m putting up in my office this month: “Writing is my profession, not my jobby.”
Thanks for the fantastic tips and the resources!
Roxanne,
I would love to buy one of your motivational “Jobby” signs! Forget applying for grants; just sell your Jobby posters, and you’ll be a wealthy woman.
Thanks for your encouraging words. Have a great, colonoscopy-free day.
:)
Hi Sarah,
I will add my heartfelt thanks as well, and offer to you that your post today may be recycled to use in a grant application to fulfill the required contribution to the (writer’s) community. If you haven’t already thought of it, I hope you consider this very useful post as your “donation”. Many have already vouched for its value!
Thanks again,
Christine
P.S. I love your blog, too, laugh out loud funny!
What a great idea, Christine! See? Now THAT is creative.
Thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to comment. It means so much!
Thanks for the awesome info. And your students are lucky. The “Poetree” rocks. I think I might make one.
Thanks so much! Yes, the Poetree idea came to me in the middle of the night. With additional grant money, my goal is to work with artists and create Poetrees all over the city.
Everyone needs a pie-in-the-sky, middle-of-the-night idea, right?
And I thought I was the queen of hard work for no pay! Thanks for the enlightening post.
Getting grants can also be an aid to the unpublished writer when querying agents/publishers. To get a grant means someone, somewhere already believed in your work enough to pay you; this is a good, attention-getting precedent.
So, as another grant applicant/awardee, here’s the best advice I ever got (from a MacArthur Fellow) about writing grant proposals.
Whatever application format the granting agency requires, any grant application has to:
1. Explain what you want to do (clearly, concisely, and engagingly).
2. Explain why what you want to do is valuable (in the large scheme of things)
3. Demonstrate that you can carry through on what you want to do.
Happy grantseeking!
Yes! Excellent additions, Jeanne. Thanks so much!
Terrific post, Sarah. As someone who reviews grant applications from time to time, here’s something else potential grant applicants should know: granters WANT to give away their money. That’s what they’re in business to do and often have to report to their donors on what they’ve given out, to whom, and why.
So, given that that money is going to go to someone, why not apply?
Absolutely! We forget that it’s their JOB to give away money. We can’t get it if we don’t apply.
Thanks for the great thoughts and feedback.
Thanks so much for this post! I have to admit I never considered this something I could do as an unpublished author. I will definitely be looking up resources in my state now that I know that this is an option.
I know! It never would have occurred to me either. I’m so glad it was helpful to you, Marie.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
[…] Callender describes a method for becoming The Not-Quite-So Starving Artist on Writer Unboxed: apply for grants! This is another long-but-practical post and as someone who […]
Oh, I’m so glad you included Mira’s List, Sarah. Mira is wonderful—such a great heart.
And she just won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography for her memoir of her mentally-ill mother, The Memory Palace.
So cool about Mira’s success, Victoria. Thanks for sharing!
And, now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to mosey over to your Alan Rickman post.
Good tips, thanks!
I’ve been reading Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career, by Nancy I. Sanders. She starts by suggesting a three-pronged approach to writing — for publication (with little or no pay), for pay, and for the love of the project. She promises to explain how she gets contract before she actually writes the work, and did so even with no publishing credits, but I haven’t gotten there yet. So far, it’s looking like a great resource for those of us who need to make money off of our writing and can’t do it (yet) with fiction.
Great, Chris! This is such a perfect addition to our conversation here. Thanks so much for your contribution. :)
OK, people . . . FULL DISCLOSURE! A friend just called me (in reading the blog post, she had gotten to my mention of Steven Tyler and had to ask me why on earth I think about Steven Tyler while on a sedative). After we discussed the reasons why, she asked me what I was up to.
“Working on some free-lance copy writing stuff,” I said. “I got a gig writing copy for a property management start-up.”
She started laughing. “Ha!” she said. “You make it sound, from your blog, that you just sit around writing fiction all day, supported by your mighty grants!”
We laughed about that a bit, then she had more questions about Steven Tyler, and then I got back to work. Writing copy.
So let’s just be clear, friends, I do not earn six figures from winning grants. I once won four figures. Remember, I’m just a normal person who, like you, finds a variety of ways to make some extra money. While dreaming of Steven Tyler.
Thanks for this post, Sarah. Very interesting. My writing “career” has kind of taken a jump from hobby to jobby over the last year, perhaps existing somewhere in some hobby-jobby middleground funkland for the time being, but I have never really thought about applying for grants before. Thanks for the information. I may keep all this in mind.
Right on, Greg! Yes, do look into these opportunities.
As for “hobby-jobby middleground funkland,” you should file for Intellectual Property rights on that phrase. It’s a beaut.
And, you could totally multipurpose it.
The novel: Hobby-jobby Middleground Funkland
The band: Hobby-jobby Middleground Funkland
The new neighborhood hipster bar: Hobby-jobby Middleground Funkland
Thanks for your comment!
I really, really need to follow this advice! I’ve heard from a few author friends that there is still money out there for writers, but I’ve always assumed that you did need to be a fancy capital A artist to get it. Thanks for debunking and for breaking the topic down so well!
Thank YOU, Carleen for your comment (and for all of your contributions to WU!).
In my mind, you ARE a fancy, capital A Artist!
:)
Thanks for sharing your advice on this topic. I’ve only applied for one grant (didn’t get) but now I’m inspired to do it again!
This was an informative yet entertaining post! Keep ’em coming!!
Yes, Hallie. Keep at it! (That’s also my advice to myself after this week’s grant rejection letter.)
It’s not easy, but frankly, we writers seem to enjoy taking the uneasy road. Happy writing!
Thanks for sharing this really helpful piece of information. At least now as an artist, I have something to look forward to when it comes to finances.