Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
You keep trying to reinterpret other posts here as some denigration of the wish to make money from your work - but I've seen none of that.
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It may be that the tone of many of the comments seems generally dismissive to me, ie, "Writing for oneself is
superior to writing for money... and that's what
I do." I would say that in general the desire to make money from writing is generally derided at MobileRead (or, at least, not appreciated as much as writing for writing's sake).
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
We would all like to make money from our writing (well, most of us would, I think). The distinction is only whether a person has the desire to write even if they make very little money. And since this will be the case for most writers, and pretty much always has been, so it's a pretty good assumption to make before you start.
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Is it? Sorry, but I don't believe that "most writers" write even if they make very little money. "Most writers," in fact, include those who write for newspapers, magazines, media and other periodicals, and make a healthy salary writing on a constant basis.
It is only in writing for standalone books that writers find themselves barred from the chance at profit--a particular damnation of this art form we covet--but
some continue to write. Others walk away from writing, to take up other more profitable vocations (and are often considered by others as being "less of a writer," "not a real writer," etc, to their chagrin).
The rest self-publish on sites like Amazon. And I often wonder how many writers out there didn't bother to write, until the internet gave them an easy way to get their books out and make money... I think that would be a telling statistic. I'd say those writers are "in it for the money," and judging by the number of authors in the Kindle Store, there are a lot of them. (
Self-disclosure: I was writing for 10 years before I started publishing and selling ebooks through my own site, years before Amazon opened the Kindle Store.)
And I suspect that most of those self-publishers hope/believe/expect that someday, their books will start making them dividends that will rival or surpass their "day jobs" and allow them to declare themselves "successful authors," despite the modest proclamations that they'll make to their friends and family.
So yeah, maybe I'm a bit over-sensitive to the subject of writing for money than I ought to be; but unlike the suggestions above, I don't believe I'm in a minority in thinking the way I do... that if my work is good, I
should be able to earn a profit from it, however large or small, or it's not worth doing.
Rather, I'd suggest that the thinking of many members of this forum represent a minority, and that the locally prevailing opinions do not necessarily represent those of the real majority, out there.
Anyway, that's my opinion, and I understand those who don't share it. I just want to make sure my opinion is seriously noted, and not dismissed as the ravings of a quack.
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