Why Writers Feel Miserable These Days

Throughout last week, I got to interact with a lot of writers after a post about me resigning from the full-time job I had managed to gain a lot of views and engagement on LinkedIn.

Almost every writer that I had a conversation shared a similar experience of what I was going through.

For further context, I resigned without a backup plan from a content writing job, which was stable and offered me a good pay.

However, I was not feeling content no matter how hard I tried, and the enthusiasm I had when I joined the company had long gone, so had some of the people that made up my team.

I was hired for a specific job - to write content, but over time, I was asked to do a lot more than just write, and even managerial tasks, and this lead to two massive burnouts.

The first one, I somehow overcame, and the next one was the killshot.

As I was going through this dilemma on whether I should quit or continue, I also got the opportunity to visit two countries - Maldives, and Malaysia, which further prompted me to stop spending all my life, trying to build someone else's empire.

I would eventually end up being another brick in a castle that they were building, and when I shared the experience as a post on LinkedIn, I got multiple replies from all walks of life.

This was an eye opener, that made me realize that I was not alone in this journey, and there are plenty of other writers

But what got us to this point?

It can't definitely be a coincidence for my post to share the exact same thought that most writers I interacted with, was going through.

So I did a bit of digging!

Here are some of the pain points that writers are currently facing:

📝 Having to do more than just write content - With the pandemic and remote working shift becoming a norm, writers are now required to do more than just focus on writing.

📝 Micromanagement like never before - With an office culture, micromanagement for writers was comparatively minimal. Today, everyone from SEO to CEO are butchering written content before it's published and then they complain about not achieving targets.

📝 Downgrade of skills than an upgrade - Cost-cutting and layoff has severely reduced workforce across many companies and writers are now forced to share the responsibilities of SEO, SEM, Designers, Strategists, and up to a point Business Analysts

📝 Content writers are asked to be copywriters - These are two job descriptions that need a different level of expertise or someone that's capable of doing both. Sometimes, you hire a content writer, and expect them to do the job of a content writer, copy writer, content editor, social media manager, and illustrator - that's not happening.

📝 AI writing tools are not replacements - There is also a general notion that AI writing tools can be a good replacement. Well, if you are okay with plagiarised content that's lifted up from already existing sources (you can ask for citation to AI tools), AI can be useful, but they are still limited to writing like a human. Firing writers and hiring AI is a short term solution and not feasible as you will soon realize.

📝 Demand for quick output and urgency - Just because an AI can return results at the speed of light, doesn't mean writers should speed up their tasks. It takes a good time to do topic research, keyword research, come up with original content, and execute a well-written content with minimal errors. If you want to improve the accuracy of AI, you need to give time for writers to create accurate content that's fact-checked!

📝 Overwork due to insecurity caused by layoffs - Finding a stable job is difficult like never before. This is forcing writers to stick on to a job they feel miserable at. Opportunities are also limited and at the end of the day, you need money.

End note: Writers, have faith in your skills as a writer, storyteller, and word artist. The world is a blank canvas where we paint magic with words. Be it a pandemic, or global recession - the process of adding colors remains the same. Hold on to your pen!