tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post9156222878152225317..comments2024-03-26T16:31:13.865-07:00Comments on Mark Lawrence: Writers' PayMark Lawrencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16877925828353073272noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-47878125275940868082019-09-14T14:45:45.643-07:002019-09-14T14:45:45.643-07:00$1800?
I'll give them a couple of sentences. ...$1800?<br /><br />I'll give them a couple of sentences. Short ones.Wayne Stinnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00176190532732793187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-20020440186255206112019-09-10T23:50:31.700-07:002019-09-10T23:50:31.700-07:00This has a massive correlation with American Colle...This has a massive correlation with American College Football. The Freakonomics podcast did a fascinating episode on it, I highly recommend a listen.Skf100https://www.blogger.com/profile/00188802585594431580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3529725084811715233.post-66607512899379904292019-09-10T12:07:42.083-07:002019-09-10T12:07:42.083-07:00It's a bit more complicated than that, in both...It's a bit more complicated than that, in both directions. Modern self-publishing runs on publishing MANY short novella-style books in one year, and so one could make considerably more than the $7200 you mention. (I am a part-time pro writer with a full-time regular job, and I average about two 120k novels per year; writing full-time I could easily triple that). <br /><br />Still, that is only somewhat over 20k per year, and you really can't live decently on that in almost any first-world country. <br /><br />The real problem is that we don't VALUE creative work of that nature. And those who write are eager to be published, so they are willing to accept cheap or even no pay against the chance of getting their name on a published work. <br /><br />The hole-digging example isn't isomorphic because there's an objective way to determine whether your hole was dug well, whether it meets the requirements for all three dimensions, etc. Moreover, almost anyone can tell that digging a big hole in a parking lot is hard work, even if not terribly COMPLEX work, and understand that very few people would ever do that for free. The entire process of hole-digging is pretty objective, and thus you can write pretty clear laws on hole-digging. <br /><br />Creative writing work? Not so much. Given that there isn't a single piece of literature that you can't find equally scholarly, or equally "regular guy", references both praising it to the heavens, and slamming it to the pavement, there's no real objective way to say "this is a good article/story" outside of pretty trivial areas (spelling, use of grammar outside of dialogue, etc.). Because of this, people underestimate the amount of work involved in writing effective stories (and the self-publishing glut hasn't helped matters). <br /><br />A lot of writers also just plain LIKE writing, so getting ANY pay, or just your name up in print, is a BONUS. They'd write anyway, and now they get an additional perk. This means that there's a fair number of pretty competent writers that just don't treat it AS a business, but as a hobby that they can sometimes get money, or ego-boo, from. <br /><br />If there's enough of those, there's REALLY not much pressure on the publishers to go to the possibly-more-skilled-but-far-more-expensive pro that takes their work seriously both in the craft sense AND in the business sense. <br /><br />I'm not sure there's a good solution, really, especially given that a lot of people's attitudes on the FINISHED product is ALSO to devalue it. How many people hit a paywall for news they want to read and say "eh, okay, I won't read it"? How many people pirate stories and books and TV and so on? They don't recognize that their work is devaluing the stuff they profess to want. And a lot of them think that the publishers are the ones actually profiting, and don't realize that lack of OFFICIAL sales is what kills an author's career. <br /><br />It's tough. <br />Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14262994729427842484noreply@blogger.com