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Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
From an economic standpoint, you're probably right. On the other hand, 95 percent of business started fail within 5 years. Is creating copyright product immune to this reality?
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I bet if you looked at the number of authors who submit manuscripts (whether they get published or not) vs the number of authors who make a living solely from their writing, the odds look pretty poor for writers.
I used to feel the same way as a lot of posters about copyright and royalties...then I spent some time reading Colleen Doran's blog, where she's quite forthcoming about the struggles of trying to support yourself with artistic work (in her case she draws and writes comic books). It was quite an eye-opener. In
one article in her blog she says:
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"Following up on our jolly article about Mark Twain’s get rich quick schemes, the sad truth is there is no surer way to get poor quickly and permanently than by becoming a writer.
While a very small percentage of writers rake in the cash, the low income echelons increase as the internet and book pirating cut into writer’s profits. According to this survey, the average writer in Britain makes no more than 4,000 pounds per year (about $6,000)! Of course, many of them continue to believe they will break that exclusive club of top ten percent of income earning phenoms, despite all evidence to the contrary."
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Keep in mind, writers also don't have the benefits that a lot of us expect in a 9 to 5 job - no insurance, no 401k , etc. The retirement income a writer hopes for is royalties from a back catalog.
I'm not saying I agree 100% with everything Steve is saying.....but writers need more than good reviews and a pat on the back to keep writing. People who steal income from authors are also stealing from all of us who hope that our favorite writers continue to produce work for us to read.
The way writers gain income from books may change as technology changes, but they've got to be able to support themselves or we'll see a lot less writing.