Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
I don't know of a venue where a writer can draw 20,000 people to a stadium and charge upwards of 75 bucks a ticket. Or even 25 bucks a ticket for that matter.
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It used to be possible. Or, well, nothing like that income level, but nonfiction authors used to be able to do a "lecture circuit" that involved going to places that charged for entry, and they'd lecture on their topic of choice, and get paid.
This practice started falling apart with the advent of radio, and television pretty much killed it. It still happens occasionally, but it's no longer a career track anyone can count on. And of course, it only works for those authors who are entertaining public speakers. The modern equivalent, I suppose, is wildly successful blog authors like Doctorow and Scalzi.
It's a good opportunity for those who can manage it, but lack of great public speaking skills (or public blogging skills) does not indicate lack of talent as a writer, and writing for money, as a career, is going through substantial changes. And the solutions that work for performing artists of all sorts are not going to be the ones that work for authors.