I’ve made a lot of money for authors—millions of dollars—but they still can’t quit their day jobs, because that money doesn’t come in right away. At first, they think, “Oh my God, I’ve got a six hundred thousand dollar advance,” but that money comes in slowly over the years. You might not get the last payment for three or four or even five years. So authors should almost never quit their day jobs. I had a guy who was one of the top scientists at the National Institutes of Health, and he doesn’t write anymore, but he did write three books, and he got huge advances. He never thought of quitting his day job, and I loved him for that. Now he doesn’t write anymore—what would he be doing for a living if he had quit his day job? So what are going to do if you suddenly decide you’re not going to write anymore? Unless you set up a factory like Robert Patterson or some other household names where you have a lot of people writing books for you under your name, quitting your day job probably isn’t a good idea. Of course, there are a few exceptions—writers who have established themselves over the years and can consistently make a lot of money from their work. If you’re up there with the bestsellers, you can quit your day job. But those writers are at a very high level—the literary equivalents of sports stars. If you’re writing at that level and making money from it, then you can quit your day job. Take me with you!