director isn’t easily replicated. Ac-
cording to the most recent “Report
on the Academic Job Market” from
the Association of Writers and Writ-
ing Programs (AWP), there are 254
MFA programs and 50 PhD programs
offering degrees in creative writing.
But according to the Modern Lan-
guage Association (MLA), which
hosts a prime job posting site, there
were just 119 openings for full-time
jobs in creative writing in 2018, down
from 195 in 2009. So, if you make the
conservative estimate that every cre-
ative writing program is graduating
ten writers with MFAs or PhDs a year,
that means the system is pumping out
roughly twenty-five qualified appli-
cants for each job opening.
Still, for those lucky and ac-
complished enough to snag a plum
tenure-track job, the payoff can be
significant. A professor at a reputable
MFA program can expect to earn be-
tween $50,000 and $65,000 to start,
with a substantial bump after six or
seven years if he or she makes tenure.
At the upper end, a full professor at
one of the more prestigious graduate
writing programs can earn $200,000
a year or more. And, of course, most
professors have their summers free
from teaching and can focus on their
own writing.
But given the dearth of job openings
in MFA programs, and the fact that
writers rarely get a tenure-track job
without first publishing a book, many,
if not most, writers in academia work
as adjuncts or non-tenured lecturers
teaching introductory creative writ-
ing and composition courses. At the
higher end, this too can offer a decent
living. At the University of California
in Irvine, where fiction writer Kat
Lewin finished her MFA in 2014, she
earns $58,000 for teaching six compo-
sition classes a year and serving as an
administrative director for the course
she teaches.
For Lewin, whose husband, Tagert
Ellis, teaches in the same program, thisarrangement has proved ideal. She still
has time for her own writing and says
she finds more satisfaction in teaching
composition than teaching creative
writing. “I work with a lot of first-
generation college students,” she says.
“When they leave the class, a lot of
students say they felt voiceless before
they came in and now they feel able to
express themselves in a new situation
or a new culture. It’s super rewarding.
I would not be qualified to do this work
without the MFA, and I really love it.
I wake up and think, ‘Oh my God—I
get to go to work today.’”
But for every Kat Lewin there are
many other writers with similar qual-
ifications toiling away part-time as
adjuncts teaching composition with
little job security or opportunity for
advancement. Adjunct work, like the
gig economy generally, has exploded
i n recent dec ade s, w it h u n iver sit ie s i n-
creasingly relying on part-time adjunct
instructors, especially for introductory
courses like freshman composition.the practical writer HOW TO GET PAIDSEPT OCT 2019 112