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Stop Paying Rent on Your Own Words!

Stop paying rent on your own words. For decades, writers were taught that “real” authors have representation, an agent, sometimes even a manager, as if legitimacy were a credential issued by an industry gatekeeper. That belief was formed in an older media economy: fewer publishers, fewer channels, slower production cycles, and a cultural aura around scarcity. In 2026, the belief is not merely old fashioned. It is often financially irrational, and for many authors it is the single most reliable way to give away a permanent slice of income that should remain theirs.

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Revealing the Terms

The great thing about living in New York City is that everyone is in the same boat when it comes to making rent or paying the mortgage:  It Hurts!  

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Books are Written for Buying

Books are written for purchasing and forever saving.

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Renting the American Dream

After 20 years of renting a life on the East Coast — that’s what you do out here because purchasing an apartment or a house is incredibly expensive because the AVERAGE price of a one-bedroom apartment in New York City is now a cool $1,000,000.00 USD — we are now thinking it might be best to look into buying our share of the American Dream instead of renting it away.

99.99% of the people we know rent. Where do we start to buy? Can you do it all with a bank loan or do you have to bring a chunk of your own saved money for a down payment to the table first? Do you find a real estate agent at the start of the process or only at the finish? Is now a good time to buy an apartment or a house?

Is there a New York neighborhood or town or village reachable by train near New York City that would be more affordable than Manhattan or Queens? I know there are books and magazines dedicated to this topic, but sometimes there are hidden self-interests in those publications.

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Rent

Rent, the film based on the Broadway musical, is being released to theaters nationwide today. Elizabeth, Allison and I, along with hundreds of other lucky individuals, got the opportunity to see it Monday. It brought back pleasant memories of seeing Rent twice in the last six and a half years. It was also one of the best films I have seen this year, at least, in terms of English language films.

1999
My girlfriend of the time and I had broken up and I was still quite upset. Perhaps to get my mind off of things, my mother suggested a five day trip to London followed by a few weeks in Israel with my cousin Gadi. It was during the five day stay in London that I got to see Rent – I’m not sure if Israel has gotten to have Rent produced yet, or if it would be successful. Before the breakup, we were going to go and see Beauty and the Beast on my birthday – that being July 30th. I gave her back the tickets when we broke up as I felt that it would be inappropriate to see it given the circumstances. Interestingly enough, I ended up leaving for London on my birthday.

The flight was one of the best I have ever had, chiefly because I had a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and was more than willing to share them. The airline steward asked if I had brought enough for everyone. Sadly, I did not, but he was okay with that. Some of them came over to my seat to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, and I think I just about had an entire pot of British Airways tea. Honestly, I’m not sure what sort of tea they use. It’s certainly not Tetley.

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