Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
I see your point about writers who pay the bills by writing volume xyz of a franchise. The writers I know have mixed feelings about this, too.  I think it still helps exercise the craft, even if it's not sparkling original prose. Even fan fiction can help a writer start to improve dialogue, plot structure, etc. Granted that a good writer is paying attention wherever they are, and can draw on their life experiences in their writing, I think I'd still argue that writing franchise novels is more helpful to writers polishing their skills than delivering packages or managing databases. |
Right now the number of professional fiction writers is quite low, most writers have day-jobs and we are profoundly lucky to have an affluent society that allows that. I do not see any reason to believe that even if e-books become mainstream that will change. There will still be pro writers and they will get paid.
The big problem for writers is still obscurity, and to me all this sky-is falling talk about piracy and books seems quite overblown. Judicious use of e-books in the meantime increases exposure, audience, profile and if the author is good enough sales.