Some spamming scumbags on Twitter keep dumping ridiculous tweets on anyone connected with writing at the moment. They say something like 'Get paid for writing' then redirect you to a dubious site that makes out most of the world is panting at the idea of handing out money to anyone who can string a few words together.

I label them spam as soon as they come in, naturally, but I did muse on Twitter about who on earth would fall for such an obvious come-on. My knowledgeable American mate Jenni Holbrook, who's so much more worldly than little me in these matters, immediately replied, 'unfortunately a lot of desperate ppl fall 4 that crap -- I'm real tired of it, 2 the point i tend 2 stay away from twttr'.

<!--more-->I was being naive. There seem to be tens of thousands of gullible individuals out there who think an easy living is just round the corner. If only, some way or another, they could become 'writers'.

While I was mulling this the always-excellent Jane Smith of the blog (<a href="http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/" target="_blank">How Publishing Really Works</a>) published a post on something I'd never heard of called the <a href="http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/?p=3682" target="_blank">Brit Writers' Awards</a>. I get the heebie-jeebies about most awards. They seem wonderful when you win them but the whole process tends to be riddled with vile infighting, occasionally dodgy decision and outbursts of vitriol and spite that frankly bore me rigid. Honestly dears... I'd really rather be writing.

But the BWA really is something else. Jane has gone out of her way to be fair to the whole thing. Very decent in the circumstances because one of the things she reveals is that the winner, a self-published writer who picked up a tidy £10,000 prize, was also told on the night that her book had actually been published as part of the competition. Which she didn't know. It seems all finalists were asked to sign a boilerplate publishing contract for publication if they won.

To say this is odd doesn't do it justice. Oh and  Jane also points out...
<blockquote>the first round of BWA competitions, held this year, apparently attracted <a href="http://www.britwriters.co.uk/latest_news.html">21,000 entries</a> which would have earned the organisers £229,950.00 at <a href="http://www.britwriters.co.uk/rules.html">this year’s entry fee of £10.95</a></blockquote>
Cough, cough.

I go back to Jenni's point: in the present grim economic times there seem to be an awful lot of people out there who think writing will get them out of a financial hole. I mean, it did it for JK Rowling, didn't it? Why not you?

Well probably because writing is a business, one that's pretty poorly paid even for those who do get published commercially (and less well paid by the year as book margins get squeezed more and more). There are no short cuts or easy options. Just realism, patience and an acceptance that you'll be doing very well indeed if you manage to make enough from your writing to work at it full-time.

I'm in that lucky position now but I only gave up the day job five years ago. And frankly there are no guarantees in this business; I could be looking for another day job five years down the line for all I know, by which time it will be the fruit and veg counter down at Asda (I'll be the one saying, 'No, the f^&amp;^&amp;ing tomatoes are over there. The red things...')

Get-published-quick sites touted by spammers on Twitter won't get you there. Questionable literary prizes may, in this case, get one person there -- the jury's out on that. And to be honest self-publishing will, for most of those who go down that route as first-time writers, be a dead-end too, because I don't see how one individual has the financial and marketing clout to stand out from the teeming crowd of self-pubbed people out there right now.

Someone will prove me wrong, of course. But this is publishing. There are always one-offs, unpredictable hits that come out of nowhere and make a fortune.

Is that likely to be you? Here's how to tell. Go down the newsagent and buy yourself a lottery scratchcard. If you win a million pounds the answer's probably yes.

But if you win a million pounds do you still want to write?

That's the real question. Success in writing comes from hard work, talent, good luck, market knowledge, determination and possession of a very thick skin. If you can deal with uncertainty, doubtful cash flows, rejection, the aberrations of others and the idea your name will still be unknown even if you're in the bestseller lists it could be just up your street.

Publishing was like that when Dickens and Poe were doing the rounds. It will still be like that when printed books are viewed as objects for an antique shop.