Quote:
Originally Posted by Trenien
Rowling's still a millionaire, with enough money to sustain her family for the next ten generations.
|
Billionaire, actually.
Quote:
The authors that do care about these figures (for practical reasons, if nothing else) are in between these two extremes. So the question becomes: does the impact of filesharing changes when and how an author can begin to expect to be able to make a living from his craft?
The Baen experiment tends to show that if there is an impact, it's not a negative one.
|
I think it depends upon the author and the book.
Someone like the NYT's David Pogue will have a different view because of the material. Tech books often have short shelf lives because the technology changes and the book is rapidly out of date and no longer of interest. Fiction has different dynamics.
But
no author who hasn't achieved name recognition and consistent good seller (if not best seller) status is likely to make a living at it. I know an assortment of published authors. I can think of three who make their living at it, and in the case of one it's "just barely". The rest have day jobs, and write on the side, or are supported by spouses and don't have to make a living entirely on their own.
The usual advice to aspiring writers is "Don't quit your day job." The late James Blish didn't go full time freelance until his income from royalties on books in print matched his salary from his job. (And ironically, he day job was publicist for the tobacco industry, and kung cancer killed him.)
______
Dennis