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View Poll Results: If you were a writer, what would you choose for your book?
One billion actual readers who really enjoy your book, all sharing a single copy of it. 29 48.33%
One billion buyers, all paying the full cover price but never reading a single word of it. 31 51.67%
Voters: 60. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 06-28-2012, 01:25 PM   #16
BWinmill
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Originally Posted by CallOfCth'reader View Post
You can also do a lot of good with the royalties from one billion full priced books.
Like publish 1 billion free copies that people will actually read!
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Old 06-28-2012, 02:08 PM   #17
Steven Lyle Jordan
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Originally Posted by CallOfCth'reader View Post
Looks like I'm the first to choose option 2.
But not the last.
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Old 06-28-2012, 04:31 PM   #18
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Before opening the thread my answer to the title was "I wish I wrote Harry Potter", so I guess I'd like both readers and money. If I can only have one, I'll take the money.
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Old 06-28-2012, 06:05 PM   #19
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How many times have we heard that the real enemy of an author is obscurity?

A billion people (give or take a few hundred million) have read Harry Potter without paying and Rowling ain't hurting.

A billion reads (and approvals!--don't forget that part of the wish!) means you have the visibility and reputation for a real long career. (Frank Herbert anybody?) Plus, you can make your money off the movie/tv rights and the sequels. Nowhere does it say you only get to write *one* book. Give the first one away free, cash in forever after...

If you're good enough to please a billion readers you're in Shakespearean territory. (Or at least the Three Stooges. )

Money follows visibility, so get to eat your cake and have it too,

Thank you, djinn!
Last edited by fjtorres; 06-28-2012 at 06:19 PM.
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Old 06-28-2012, 06:30 PM   #20
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I'm writing my first novel, and I've considered this very question.

I want people to think that my work is of value to them, not fluff. So given the choice, I'd prefer the readers who benefited from my efforts over the money.
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Old 06-28-2012, 08:31 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres View Post
A billion reads (and approvals!--don't forget that part of the wish!) means you have the visibility and reputation for a real long career. (Frank Herbert anybody?) Plus, you can make your money off the movie/tv rights and the sequels. Nowhere does it say you only get to write *one* book. Give the first one away free, cash in forever after...

If you're good enough to please a billion readers you're in Shakespearean territory. (Or at least the Three Stooges. )

Money follows visibility, so get to eat your cake and have it too,

Thank you, djinn!
If I got the money for the first billion sales, I wouldn't need to write any more books, I could just retire happily.
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Old 06-28-2012, 08:46 PM   #22
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I figure the enduring fame would ultimately lead to wealth.
Yea, but enduring wealth also leads to fame.
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Old 06-28-2012, 08:52 PM   #23
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Voted for the first one, only because the latter sounds like swindling ignorant people out of their money. I'd want my work to actually mean something.
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Old 06-28-2012, 08:59 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg View Post
Yea, but enduring wealth also leads to fame.
Not if you do it right.
That's enough money to dissappear.

Although having said that, I am in the "rather be read" camp.
I am not after fame or notoriety, and never publish under my own name.
Sharing writing is a way to connect with one another, yet keep an amount of separation at the same time.
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Old 06-28-2012, 09:15 PM   #25
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Voted for the first one, only because the latter sounds like swindling ignorant people out of their money.
What I think the latter sounds like is the Britannica Great Books of the Western World. Of course, they didn't sell a billion, but those door-to-door salesfolk sold a lot.
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Old 06-29-2012, 03:31 AM   #26
BWinmill
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Originally Posted by fjtorres View Post
How many times have we heard that the real enemy of an author is obscurity?
The author has many enemies. Obscurity is simply one of them. An author who contributes to society through their writing faces another enemy: poverty.
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Old 06-29-2012, 04:31 AM   #27
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By now it looks like money is a better motivator for writers than having a place in History...

So, Steven (i reckon you choose Option 2), if writing the "D" section of the yellow pages was more profitable than writing "Verdant Skies" had you gone that way?
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Old 06-29-2012, 05:57 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by Format C: View Post
By now it looks like money is a better motivator for writers than having a place in History...

So, Steven (i reckon you choose Option 2), if writing the "D" section of the yellow pages was more profitable than writing "Verdant Skies" had you gone that way?
I think scale is an issue here.

Billion copies is such a large amount of money that I don't believe most readers here sees it in their lives or at one time...

On other hand if question would be 1000€ or 10-100k readers or 10 000€ and 100 000 - 10 000 000 readers the answer might well be very different.
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Old 06-29-2012, 06:39 AM   #29
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I'd take the money.
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Old 06-29-2012, 07:11 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady View Post
If I got the money for the first billion sales, I wouldn't need to write any more books, I could just retire happily.
So you'd rather win a lottery than be a writer.
Fair enough.
Writing is hard work. Even harder to do it well. If the job isn't reward enough...
I assume you have a warm beach in mind?
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