Should Writers Mortgage A Long-Shot Future For Immediate Prosperity?

 

“MLB prospect is inviting you to share in his career,” said the Instagram ad. It was provocative and inviting. It also made me think that authors can also do what this baseball player was doing— gambling possible future earnings for a guaranteed payday now.  

The online post was offering people a chance to get paid several times their investment, pending down-the-road earnings from a young baseball player in the mid-level Minor Leagues. It had a cap. He was selling off the first 25 million dollars that he may earn down the road in exchange for a shot to get up to $2.5 million now.  

Is this a scam or does it come with fine print that makes it hard to collect? Who knows, but we will assume it is a legit offer, no strings attached, totally to be honored for the sake of this exercise.  

Imagine selling off your future like that?   

It is a little like selling your house via a reverse mortgage or getting the cash value on a life insurance policy before one dies. Some people are in need, even desperate, and need to cash in now— even if it means they are giving up a lot more later.  

Is this the act of desperation — of someone who knows the odds of getting a big baseball payday are rare — or someone who is calculating and confident that he will make more later but needs to get some now, even at the high price of giving away 90 percent of his initial potential earnings?  

Okay, so, let’s weigh this — and then look to see if writers should do this, a kind of Go Fund Me campaign that could help you break through or lead to bankruptcy.  

The minimum wage of anyone playing Major League Baseball this year is $780,000, but the average annual salary is $5,160,000. Some elite players have long-term contracts that guarantee they will earn well over $700,000,000 in their careers. Many players can also earn endorsement and public appearance fees. But before you quit your day job to take up the sport, know that very few people get to play at the top level and even fewer play long enough to make tens of millions of dollars.   

There are no more than 800 people at any one time who are playing for a Big League team.   

To get to the Major Leagues, players typically come from the Minor League system, which employs some 5,000 players.  So, there are six players vying for each spot on a Major League roster. But not all spots are actually available. Teams maybe turn only 20 to 25 percent of their roster over in a year — due to injuries, trades, free agent signings, retirements — and some of the openings are being filled by players from other teams who are already in the MLB. So, it means there are few openings for so many Minor Leaguers.   

How many will get a call up — and how many will get to stick around for long?  

Minor Leaguers barely clear $30,000 annually. 

Would you sign your future away? How much of a future do you think you have — and what price can you put on it?  

Authors can propose the same thing as this ballplayer. You could sell away a certain amount of future earnings from your books for a smaller pay day now.  Let’s say you agree to give a 5-1 payoff to investors. This means if you want to sell your first $250,000 in potential book profits for $50, 000 now, you guarantee some immediate income.   

You could invest that money in stocks or real estate and perhaps see it double in seven years. You could buy into a small business. Or you can reinvest it into your writing career and allow you some time to just write and market your books without obstacles or distractions.  

You may never make much money with your books, let alone a quarter-million dollars, so why not grab a sure thing?  

Because writers believe in themselves and are dreamers, ever eternal optimists. They hope their book will break through the clutter and suddenly hit best-seller lists, win awards, get turned into a movie, or lead to a career of writing and fame.  

Authors actually do the opposite of the ballplayer selling off potential earnings for smaller guarantees now. They go deep into their pockets now, hoping it is an investment for a future payday. They will borrow, beg, steal, and trade their time, money, and resources to establish their author brand now, trying to game their lottery chances of future success.  

There is no easy road for writers, no guaranteed path to riches. But the art of writing puts you on a wonderful journey that is worth pursuing, even when you have to take risks, invest a lot, and work hard.   

Should you sell your dream to someone else? I think you know the answer. 

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 5,600,000 page views. With 5,500+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum