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Ask HN: Has anybody successfully changed their career to become a writer?
- taprun 9y agoI've seen people move to technical writing.
- snowpanda 9y agoThis is my plan, how did they like it?
- zapperdapper 9y agoI love it. Check my website (see HN profile) or contact me if you want more info.
- mrep 9y agoAndy Weir was a programmer when he wrote the martian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Weir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Weir
- eyrarric 9y agoAnd he may have had more impact as a writer than as a programmer: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/achenblog/wp/2015/05/05/andy-weir-and-his-book-the-martian-may-have-saved-nasa-and-the-entire-space-program/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/achenblog/wp/2015/05/05/...
- ahdroit 9y agohttps://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/so-you-want-be-writer https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/so-you-want-be-writer
- gargarplex 9y agoYeah. I recently wrote a book and got most of it done within a few hours of morning + coffee sessions over a few weeks and one or two airplane rides. It made like $12K in its first year and it was really easy. Thinking this was an incredibly time-efficient way for me to earn money and contribute to society, I tried to write a sequel and have stalled. The initial book just poured out of me. I had an outline, I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I just wrote the content. In that way it was like tackling a college paper or trello board, but instead, a few hundred pages of text. Like I've said.. no other ideas have really coalesced into something outlineable and easy-to-market.. I have one manuscript that's 80 pages and sucks, another at 40+, etc etc. Reminds me of the hobbyist programmer population here with tons of unfinished projects. I really had something to say and felt entitled to say it.
- armenarmen 9y agoHow did you publish and promote? I’m sitting on a finished book now and I’m sort of at a loss for what to do with it. I put out some of the audio as a podcast that has done “ok” but haven’t pulled the trigger on actual publishing
- gargarplex 9y ago* Self-publishing was with Amazon, draft2digital, and direct sales (sendowl) * Did cover on Canva.com * Made a list of podcasts in the programming niche and emailed a bunch of the hosts with suggesting they invite me as a guest That's about it. I do some ongoing pay per click marketing too.
- t3h2mas 9y agoWas the subject of the book technical?
- gargarplex 9y agoWe wrote a book to help software engineers learn to become (and grow as) successful freelance consultants. https://engineersguidetofreelance.com https://engineersguidetofreelance.com
- gargarplex 9y agohttp://engineersguidetofreelance.com http://engineersguidetofreelance.com ^ https was not enabled :[
- rpschill 9y agoI went the other way. I was a writer, and now I'm a developer because having a family is expensive.
- stewofkc 9y agoI wouldn't say I've changed my career to become a writer. However, I've shifted directions and have began writing a ton more as part of my career. I'm in marketing, and before was focused quite a bit on social media content which was just quick little snippets accompanied with a photo. Now I write mainly long form content for blogs. I focus on digital privacy and security at: https://choosetoencrypt.com/ https://choosetoencrypt.com/ If you like writing, you can incorporate it into many careers, without having to quit your job and be a starving artist.
- billwear 9y agoChanged and changed back: I started as a programmer in Summer 1980; by 1994 I was tech writing, and then ghosting business books, and finally ghosting fiction. Seeing the low returns of even really good authors -- for one popular business book, I got $30K to ghost it, the author ended up making only $7K -- I decided to re-tool and learn Web languages. Now I'm a reasonably-well-paid Wiki administrator for a medium-size public medical software firm. I don't think it's one career, it's kinda surfing in place.
- usgroup 9y agoHa! Well I’ve thought about it ... but first I really need to work out a sound and complete story calculus to make sure his damned thing is self consistent ... then , well the story arc needs to balistically perfect for which I’ll really need differentiable characters ... wait maybe I’m thinking about this the wrong ? Hang on let me google to see if someone’s come up with a story writing language. :)
- apengwin 9y agoKeith Winstein was a journalist at WSJ for a short while, I think!
- armenarmen 9y agoSuccessfully? Not me but I got the audio version of my book up as a podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/codecaine-scummy-tech-for-techie-scum/id1321755882?mt=2&i=1000396467718 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/codecaine-scummy-tech-fo... Fiction about 2 devs that sell coke to fund their redundant start up
- Someone 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler There probably are more at https://bloom-site.com/about/ https://bloom-site.com/about/ ”literary site devoted to highlighting, profiling, reviewing, and interviewing authors whose first major work was published when they were age 40 or older.”
- marktangotango 9y agoReminds me of Glenn Cook a celebrated fantasy author who went under the radar for decades. He wrote all his novels manning a console at an auto plant on the night shift. Good stuff.
- mrbill 9y agoCharlie Stross was once a sysadmin/programmer. Larry Correia was an accountant (and a gun store owner).
- exolymph 9y agoWhat kind of writing do you have in mind?
- matheweis 9y agoMatt Gemmell was quite the prolific developer before he transitioned out of tech into writing: https://mattgemmell.com https://mattgemmell.com
- jonjacky 9y agoThe Nobel prize winning author J. M. Coetzee worked as a programmer when he was young - he describes it in his autobiographical novel, Youth. The promiment novelist Richard Powers worked as a programmer when he was young - that part of his life is described in the recent book, The Friendly Orange Glow.
- badpun 9y agoMichel Houellebecq was doing simple (back in the nineties) web dev for the European Parliament while writing his first novel.
- avastmick 9y agoI tried, but failed in the career shift. I found myself more draw to the tools than the writing. The problems of the extant tools were too distracting and I felt I was more drawn to solving those problems than the many my writing threw up. Once a code geek, always one, I guess. But, if you're keen give it a go, but it will be unlikely to support you unless you are exceptionally lucky.
- carthall3 9y agoWhether technical or creative writing, todays writing cannot be replaced with a full time job. Unless of course you are writing for a huge publication.
- msh 9y agoCharlie Stross did and is now a very successful science fiction author. He wrote about his career changes here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/07/how-i-got-here-in-the-end-my-n.html http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/07/how-i-go...
- zapperdapper 9y agoDo you have to change your career to become a writer? I would focus on becoming a writer, and then if it works out change your career. Also, it depends what kind of writer you want to become - some options are easier than others. For example, would you classify a journalist as a writer? Is technical writing "writing"? Barry Eisler is a good example of a writer who broke into writing gradually. A former lawyer, it took him 7 years to get his first book published. He wrote in lunch breaks, on flights, after the kids went to bed. He had to re-write that first book at least twice based on feedback from agents/publishers. Ted Chiang is an example of a technical writer who changed into science fiction writing. I changed from teaching into technical writing. How you will change into writing (which I assume is what you want) will depend on your starting point and how far down the road to becoming a writer you already are. p.s. Have a read of "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert - I believe there's much of value in her suggested approach.