Harder for authors to make a living.....

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I can't speak for anyone else, but I simply view the authors' jobs though the very same, cold, hard Ayn Rand view that I use on my OWN business. Anyone who thinks that self-employment or having a small business is sitting around in your jammies eating bon-bons while other folks labor hasn't tried it. It isn't. (Or, if they try it, are doomed to fairly quick failure at it.)

Capitalism is, as I have said on these forums in other posts, simply Darwinism played with money. Nobody wants to admit that, because it makes them uncomfortable, for a wide variety of reasons.

It's no different for authors who, even before, were self-employed, had they entered into contracts that gave the illusion of employment by someone else through advances and royalty checks. Like all self-employed/small businesses, they have to work hard for their ducats, budget for lean times, and have realistic expectations as to their future incomes. They have a massive advantage over we of the more plebeian working slobs; they may yet "get discovered" by the masses, sell zillions of books, and apotheose to financial freedom--unlike the rest of us who are not laboring over "creative" that may catch fire. I don't begrudge authors their monies; nor the publishers who stake them (or their own publishers' rewards if they stake themselves). I just have an issue with the tone of the article.

As I said: it's the same boat in which most of us find ourselves, and we are, generally, not so lucky as to have the luxury of doing something we love for those ducats. Everybody, generally, is having harder times. Period.

Hitch

I think the key is budgeting for most. Not like the how-to books tell us but simply spend less than you make or make more than you spend. Sound like the same thing but not quite. One is passive and one is active. Not saying everyone can do it in all circumstances, but most of us can most of the time if we really want to

Helen

[mcrow]

Common sense says if you can't make a living writing then you need to work a regular job until you can. Sure, volume may suffer but such is life.

I've been working on a novel for years now but fulltime job, husband and dad sort of takes a huge chunk out of my time. Not to mention health issues in recent years have not helped. Still, at this point (and always) providing for my wife and kid comes before my dream. Not that I can't do both at the same time just might take me longer.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by mcrow

Common sense says if you can't make a living writing then you need to work a regular job until you can. Sure, volume may suffer but such is life.

I've been working on a novel for years now but fulltime job, husband and dad sort of takes a huge chunk out of my time. Not to mention health issues in recent years have not helped. Still, at this point (and always) providing for my wife and kid comes before my dream. Not that I can't do both at the same time just might take me longer.

I'm not a writer, but I'm curious about the creative process. Does it not suffer if you can only get to it intermittently, with perhaps long gaps in between? How do you maintain flow? Won't characters evolve in your mind over a long period beyond what you've written in the past?

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I'm not a writer, but I'm curious about the creative process. Does it not suffer if you can only get to it intermittently, with perhaps long gaps in between? How do you maintain flow? Won't characters evolve in your mind over a long period beyond what you've written in the past?

It might be beneficial to be able to spend all of your time on writing, but if you can't make enough money from writing, you're going to need to have a day job or lower your standard of living. Plenty of writers have day jobs.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

when everyone is a writer, who has the time to read?

You don't think writers read?

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I'm not a writer, but I'm curious about the creative process. Does it not suffer if you can only get to it intermittently, with perhaps long gaps in between? How do you maintain flow? Won't characters evolve in your mind over a long period beyond what you've written in the past?

It's good and bad. What I find is that sometimes going back to something after not working on it for a while helps me look at it with fresh eyes. Sometimes I will go back and read sections and realize something didn't come out with the feel or impression that I meant it to have. I also find issues with flow or other issues that maybe I wouldn't have otherwise. I think that it can be easy to get into a real key pounding frenzy and get blinded by the flow of ideas and it can make it more difficult to spot issues.

On the other hand, too long of a time off and you might lose direction or maybe even your style changes slightly. It would be best if you can do something in the middle. Don't get so caught up in the work that you are blind to structural and flow issues but don't take so much time off that you screw up the feel and diretion.

I stopped working on one novel because I left it sit so long that my writing style changed so much it would require a complete rewrite. I was one of my first attempts at writing and it sat for a year. So, after a year of working on shorter works my style and quality of writing didn't match and the novel would have looked like two different people wrote it.

[rkomar]

Thanks for the thoughtful answer @mcrow.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

‘I have no private income, no rich wife, no inheritance, no pension. There’s no safety net at all’: Rupert Thomson'

Really and this is whose fault? Anyone with a brain knows that if you are in the arts you damn well better have a day job and be putting money away for a rainy day because you won't be able to survive forever on your art.

Times have changed and the writing was on the wall WAAAY before 2007, if he or anyone else chose to ignore it that is on them.

Sorry, but I have no patience for this kind of ignorant, stubborn, stupidity.

It turns out everyone including Governments wastes money when there is a lot until finally the limit is reached.

North Sea oil supported a lot of subsidies to "artists" but that is giving out.
Warehouses of fine art sit idly by. It has been a heyday for the pompous elite but the oil skein has almost exhausted its supply of largess yarn.