Quote:
Originally Posted by ficbot
I think authors are just going to have to accept that pure *writing* is not going to be the only part of the job if they want to make money at it. Plenty of authors have said 'it's not fair to expect authors to take time away from writing to do PR work' or 'not every author is a self-promoter and it doesn't mean they are a bad writer.' But that is not going to be good enough anymore. If people want 'being an author' to be their *career* and support them for bread and butter, they are going to have to be shameless self-promoters to get themselves noticed and make their book stand out from the crowd. Otherwise, it'll be a hobby, I'm afraid.
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A similar thing has happened in the photography world, as far as I can make out. The successful 'professional' photographers I know are shameless self publicists, they are not necessarily the best photographers I know. Some of the best photographers I have met are hobbyists, who have other jobs, and who don't promote themselves. They may sell an occasional image, but that is not what it is about, for them. The professional's (who are in no way bad photographers), publicise, and through that get commissions. This has pretty much been the case in wedding photography for a long time - the most successful aren't necessarily the best.
Not completely on topic, but possibly relevant.