Quote:
Originally Posted by rixte
I think most people want to be able to afford to eat.
I can be a bit of a book snob at times (but I've also been a fanfic reader, so it balances out!), but with a few rare exceptions, most people who write because they wish to and for free are awful at it. This isn't counting people who give away promotional copies, of course.
My disclaimer - I did an internship in publishing when I was in college. I opted not to pursue publishing as a field - and that's because you couldn't pay me enough to sit down and keep reading those slush pile manuscripts. Cutting out publishers reduces my whole future reading world to that nightmare!
|
Why is this same argument brought up all the time about 'people eating', if you want to make a living then writing never was an occupation that would guarantee any kind of comfort. NEVER. Historically it's only been the smallest percentage of published writers who made their living soley on the profit from their works.
The tide has changed, the water is high for the traditional publishing companies. Crowdsourcing, the cloud, blogging, Twitter recommendations, social networks, creative commons licensing -- it's the most exciting time to be a writer, and by extension a reader, since the invention of the Gutenberg press. The power has shifted away from the corporate taste makers and into the hands of the audience and the author. A direct relationship that is unprecedented in publishing.
Of course you can always hold onto the old publishing methods, where everything is neatly packaged and chosen according to projected sales figures and whether that book 'has potential movie written all over it'. You can accept the idea that potential-profitability is a good yardstick to measure quality. You can even equate 'in print' as being a mark of respect, but it's not going to change what's happening around us.
Old ideas are dying and all I can say is 'good riddance'.