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Originally Posted by Cinisajoy
Now if those advances give traditional authors the freedom not to worry about bills, then why do 95% of the big 5 authors have day jobs?
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Being an author, indie or otherwise is, of course, rarely a well-paid job. I don't think anyone would claim that advances are commonly high enough to take away worrying about bills.
I do think there are some novelists who get the ideas, and the details, for their books, from their job. Mystery writer Archer Mayor used to be a small-town constable and more recently is a Vermont death investigator. Guess what he writes about? Samuel Shem's medical novels -- one of them has sold millions -- would, I'm sure, have been much different if being a physician was a distant memory.
So, for me as a reader, that day job can be a good thing. However, a lot of non-fiction writing is incompatible with having a continuous day job due to need to spend months traveling to research sites.
Indie works best for certain kinds of books and certain kinds of authors. Samuel Shem says he has to rewrite a novel seven times. I don't think that would happen without a pushy editor who has high standards (although I think his editor was at a smaller publisher).
Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
How do you see the longer term future for the industry?
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It's hard enough to discern the present. There no harm in speculation, but, with apologies to captain obvious, the future is literally invisible.
I can say this: It's a good thing for me, as a book reader, that book publishers who pay advances are, so far, surviving the digital transition much better than newspaper publishers.