The Sims 4: Writer Career Guide
The writer career in The Sims 4 is a really awesome choice for your sims and can help them make a really amazing income. The best part about the writing skill and writing career is that writing books is one of the best ways to make money from royalties!
It is important that you make sure your sim is willing to spend a lot of their time on the computer at home. I’ve found that outgoing sims aren’t the best writers because they get bored easily and want to spend time talking to other sims.
In this guide we are going to talk about everything in the writer career and help you get through it without any issues!
Aspiration for the Writer Career
I’ve found that with every career comes an aspiration that works decently well right along side it. For the writer career there is really only one that makes a ton of sense and can be really helpful to get you tons of satisfaction points so you can purchase good rewards.
Best Selling Author Aspiration
The best selling author aspiration is the best choice because it focuses on your sim writing books and making money through royalties, so not only will it help you stay focused and gain the writing skill, it will also guide you toward making extra money while you work through it.
Traits for the Writer Career
When thinking about trying to finish a career, it’s important that you choose traits for your sims that are going to be extremely helpful and help your sim get the job done, the following traits may really help a sim who is working in the writer career get the necessary skills quicker.
Creative
The creative trait is pretty much a no-brainer because when your sims have the creative trait they are going to get inspired more often. An inspired sim is going to write better quality books and gain the writing skill more quickly.
Genius
If you’re planning to take your sim down the author branch of the writer career, you may want to make your sim a genius so they can become focused more often. Being focused will help them gain the logic skill more quickly which is the 2nd skill in that career branch.
Loner
The writing skill and career makes your sims spend an lot of time on the computer which means they spend a lot of time alone. That’s why I love the loner trait for writing sims because they aren’t going to be bothered by spending some time alone.
Lot Traits to Help in the Writer Career
Lot traits are a really valuable tool to get your sims to gain skills faster and make their lives a little bit easier. The following lot traits are going to be extremely helpful in the writer career.
Fast Internet
The fast internet lot trait makes anything that happens on a computer go more smoothly and will make your sim gain the writing skill a bit quicker.
Home Studio
The home studio lot trait is going to also help your sim build their writing skill quicker and help them to stay inspired.
Convivial
If you plan for your sim to go down the journalist branch of this career, they are going to need to work on their charisma skill. The convivial lot trait makes building the charisma skill easier and makes social interactions go more smoothly.
Science Lair
If you’d rather your sim go down the author branch of the career, then you should choose science lair to help your sim build their logic skill.
Writer Career Levels
“Get paid to express your ideas with beautiful turns of phrase, and words—wonderful words!”
The first 5 levels of the writer career are relatively straight-forward and simple. You’re going to start with a daily task of reading books which can be boring but you can get your sim to read skill building books to satisfy this requirement so your time isn’t entirely wasted.
As you work through the beginning of the career you should start thinking about which branch you want to go down so you can start building either the logic or charisma skill early.
| Rank | 1 |
| Job Title | Writer’s Assistant |
| Hourly Wage | §25/Hour |
| Schedule | S M W F 11 am – 7 pm |
| Daily Wage | §200 |
| Promotion Tasks | Read Books |
| Promotion Rewards | None |
| Rank | 2 |
| Job Title | Blogger |
| Hourly Wage | §32/Hour |
| Schedule | S M W F 11 am – 7 pm |
| Daily Wage | §256 |
| Promotion Tasks | Read Books, Writing Level 2 |
| Promotion Rewards | §407, Milton Word Processor |
| Rank | 3 |
| Job Title | Freelance Article Writer |
| Hourly Wage | §38/Hour |
| Schedule | S M T T 9 am – 5 pm |
| Daily Wage | §304 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 3 |
| Promotion Rewards | §509, New Interaction: Pitch Story Idea, Still Life Painting |
| Rank | 4 |
| Job Title | Advice Columnist |
| Hourly Wage | §44/Hour |
| Schedule | S M T T 9 am – 5 pm |
| Daily Wage | §352 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Level 4 Writing |
| Promotion Rewards | §611, The Thinker |
| Rank | 5 |
| Job Title | Regular Contributor |
| Hourly Wage | §50/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W F 8 am – 4 pm |
| Daily Wage | §400 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 5 |
| Promotion Rewards | §703, New CAS Items, An Open Book Framed |
Writer Career Unlocks (Before Branch)
Every career that you can choose in The Sims 4 is going to help you unlock new rewards like CAS items and need furniture. The writer career has a couple really awesome unlocks that you’ll get as you progress through.
The first item is the Milton Word Processor, which is a middle of the road computer for your sim to use to write. The best part about it? It has an inspiring aura that when turned on can help keep your sims feel inspired the entire time that they’re writing.
You’re also going to unlock two items of wall decor. First, is the Still Life with Apple and Pitcher and Books and Bottles and Flowers Still Life Painting, and second is the framed open book that you can hang above your desk.
Author Career Branch
“If you love the freedom to embellish and invent, the Author’s life is for you. Call up a character, chase after a tale…. The written word is yours.”
The author branch of this career is obviously focused on being an author and writing books, which is really awesome if you want to make a decent amount of money rather quickly. Writing these books and selling them can make you a lot of money through royalties.
Your daily task is going to be writing books every day so you’ll constantly be writing and publishing, you’ll honestly get pretty rich through being an author in the author career.
You’re going to need to also focus on the logic skill when working through the writer career. You can do this by getting a chess table in your house and playing a little bit each day to gain the skill. Thankfully, you only need to get to level 5.
You’ll find that the author branch of this career is going to be a little bit easier to finish than the journalist career but you’ll miss out on the opportunity to write articles, which is a fun addition with the journalist branch.
Author Branch Levels
| Rank | 6 |
| Job Title | Short Story Writer |
| Hourly Wage | §60/Hour |
| Schedule | W T F S S 1 pm – 9 pm |
| Daily Wage | §480 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 7, Logic Level 2 |
| Promotion Rewards | §956, Antique Tomes |
| Rank | 7 |
| Job Title | Novelist |
| Hourly Wage | §115/Hour |
| Schedule | S S W T 1 pm – 8 pm |
| Daily Wage | §805 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 8, Logic Level 3 |
| Promotion Rewards | §1243 |
| Rank | 8 |
| Job Title | Fan Favourite |
| Hourly Wage | §202/Hour |
| Schedule | S S W T 12 pm – 5 pm |
| Daily Wage | §1010 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 9, Logic Level 4 |
| Promotion Rewards | §1808, Nom de Plume Quill Pen |
| Rank | 9 |
| Job Title | Bestselling Author |
| Hourly Wage | §296/Hour |
| Schedule | T W S 12 pm – 5 pm |
| Daily Wage | §1480 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books, Writing Level 10, Logic Level 5 |
| Promotion Rewards | §2421, The Muse |
| Rank | 10 |
| Job Title | Creator of Worlds |
| Hourly Wage | §465/Hour |
| Schedule | T S 12 pm – 6 pm |
| Daily Wage | §2790 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Books |
| Promotion Rewards | §2885, Unlock the Door of Perception |
Author Branch Unlocks
The author branch comes with one of my favourite unlocks from this career the Door of Perception which is a secret door that just looks like a bookcase that matches perfectly with The Muse bookcase that you’ll also unlock in this branch. This makes it fun to create a secret doorway in an office for your sim.
You’ll also unlock the Nom de Plume Quill Pen which can look super fancy on a desk, as well as the Antique Tomes. Both are cool, but aren’t as exciting as a secret doorway.
Journalist Career Branch
“Words can be powerful weapons, when used to expose the truth. As a Journalist, you’ll dig up important dirt and scatter it for all to see.”
The journalist branch of this career of course has a focus on the writing skill but also has a focus on the charisma skill. To gain the charisma skill you can practice your speech in the mirror or you can go out and actually talk to other sims.
The daily task of the journalist branch is writing articles which is a lot more difficult than just writing books. You’ll need to find out things to write about by finding out stuff about your neighbours and writing about it. This can be really time consuming, so if you want an easier career you may want to be an author.
Since you’ll be writing articles and not books you won’t make as much money with royalties so you won’t make as much money with the journalist branch long term.
Journalist Branch Levels
| Rank | 6 |
| Job Title | Page Two Journalist |
| Hourly Wage | §56/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W T F 8 am – 4 pm |
| Daily Wage | §448 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Articles, Writing Level 7, Charisma Level 2 |
| Promotion Rewards | §956 |
| Rank | 7 |
| Job Title | Front Page Writer |
| Hourly Wage | §83/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W T F 8 am – 3 pm |
| Daily Wage | §581 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Articles, Writing Level 8, Charisma Level 3 |
| Promotion Rewards | §1562, Antique Writer’s Desk |
| Rank | 8 |
| Job Title | Investigative Journalist |
| Hourly Wage | §145/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W T 9 am – 4 pm |
| Daily Wage | §1015 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Articles, Writing Level 9, Charisma Level 4 |
| Promotion Rewards | §2031, The Where Should I Go Ball |
| Rank | 9 |
| Job Title | Editor in Chief |
| Hourly Wage | §189/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W T 9 am – 4 pm |
| Daily Wage | §1323 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Articles, Writing Level 10, Charisma Level 5 |
| Promotion Rewards | §2844, Antique Typewriter |
| Rank | 10 |
| Job Title | Scribe of History |
| Hourly Wage | §287/Hour |
| Schedule | M T W T 10 am – 4 pm |
| Daily Wage | §1722 |
| Promotion Tasks | Write Articles |
| Promotion Rewards | §3697, Deep Thoughts Bookcase |
Journalist Branch Unlocks
When you progress through the journalist branch of the writer career you’re going to get some really beautiful items to decorate an office with that will really give it that old school writer feel. The first, is the Antique Writer’s Desk that has spots to put decor items on top to make it look extra cluttered.
Your sim will unlock a new bookcase that matches really well with the desk. You’ll also unlock the Antique Typewriter that looks awesome as decor and the Where Should I Go? Ball Globe that really brings home the vibe of any old office feel.
Final Thoughts
That’s all we’ve got on the writer career in The Sims 4. It’s a really awesome career if you want to make a ton of money through royalties and be able to be a moody writer with a really cool secret door in their office. Literally my dream job. Anyway, let me know what you think of the writer career in the comments. If you don’t think the writer career is right for your sim, maybe you should check out one of these other career guides: