In case you weren’t aware, it’s hard being a professional author. A veritable cornucopia of nonsense conspires against you at every stage of this endeavor. It’s not just the constant pressure to create quality content for a market whose tastes are ever-evolving, hitting your deadlines, working with sometimes fickle editors, or getting paid on nothing resembling a schedule.
It’s only once you’re about a year into it do you realize that not only do you have all the issues of the normal creative process to contend with, but all the concerns and problems that arise from running a small business. Marketing yourself, managing your brand, and dealing with eye-watering levels of what most of us consider to be double-dipping taxation in the form of the self-employment tax.
For many years, nothing about any of this has gotten any easier, especially as the nature of the author-publisher relationship has shifted to place even more responsibilities on the creators themselves for self-promotion and driving sales. However, there has been one notable exception, one bright spark of hope for many authors, musicians, artists, comedians, and creatives of all stripes.
That spark has been the Affordable Care Act.
