This is expected and falls under the Pareto distribution. All human creative endeavors follow this distribution (movies/ tv shows/ music) at different scales. Even some weird ones like most commonly used words follow this. Jordan Peterson has an excellent lecture on describing this phenomenon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcEWRykSgwE
Writing books is not really a good idea
151–160 of 630 posts
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
As you get older, you should read fewer new books, and revisit the ones that have you the most joy. Vacation sounds like a great place for that! Edit: why? Because you believe in the leverage algorithms can provide https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Live-Computer-Science-Deci... There are probably a lot of single people here that would benefit from that book as well (the stopping problem) We all "know" the algos. But…
I'm always surprised when people talk about rereading books. I get absolutely nothing out of books I've already read. Do you also rewatch TV series?
I’m as surprised at your surprise! I’ve seen The Office in its entirety more than 10 times, my other favorite shows 3-5 times each, and most generally popular shows at least twice. Often when a new season arrives, I start again at season 1 if it’s been a while. Same goes for my favorite novels, of which there aren’t as many.
Perhaps it’s relevant that I have a terrible memory for plot.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#153> perhaps it’s time to face the music and realize that writing books—like knitting or playing the harp—is nothing more than a hobby I've approached every creative endeavor in this way. I see no reason writing should be any different. I'm not trying to be overly cynical, I'm just not surprised that writing is any different than music, painting, etc.
I don’t think you have to approach creative endeavours as hobbies at all. If you chose to approach them as a job, however, then I think you should do exactly that.
If your writing is your business, then how can you justify spending 2-3 years working on a single project with no prior funding and a sales projection of less than 2000 copies priced at whatever a book costs? Imagine if build software startups the way some authors try to become full time writers...
I get it of course. We all know the romantic story of the creative master who only puts out a single master piece per decade, but that’s something you do when you’ve made it. Not when your projected sales are less than 2000 copies.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#154Computers and the Internet have democratized culture in a way never seen before. This is both good and bad. Newspapers are dying. Television is dying. Hollywood is dying. Books are dying. Now we have people co-creating on blogs, YouTube, self-publishing, and fan-fiction websites. The production quality is certainly down from the peak of professional culture, but software tools are helping individual creators gain an edge.
The consumer is absolutely winning right now. There is a lifetime of free diverse content just a click away. Traditional publishing and distribution cannot compete with that. The era when you could win a short story award and receive a decent advance on a novel to support yourself is going away, if not gone already.
The future model for all upcoming artists is going to be pushing out content for free for years while building up a fan base until your advertising and Patreon can sustain you.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#155I'm a musician. Good luck with the creator economy. As they say in music, don't quit your day job.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
>People probably read more books. There were fewer other demands on attention, whether YouTube, social media, online content generally, etc. I certainly read books far less than I used to. I'd imagine the number of books sold per year is strictly increasing.
This suggests otherwise. (Although this is obviously not a complete set of data. I'd actually probably have expected a bigger falloff but maybe ease of acquisition leads to more people buying books they don't end up reading.) https://ideas.bkconnection.com/10-awful-truths-about-publish...
I suppose the assumption is predicated on a rising population.
Also you'd think last year might have led to more people reading books.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#157I've actually seen a boon in interactive fiction.
Maybe authors can pivot to that. But I fear with the very low barrier to entry, most creatives won't be making money.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re-reading Pop-Psy and Airport literature is not the recommended reading. How about reading Hayek, Strauss for second time? How about reading man's search for meaning for the third time? You re-read great works, not NYT best shiller! (sic).
Why would you re-read them when you could read something new? Do you find you're actually getting a significant amount of value or joy from it the second time around? I ask because I think a good portion of the reason I enjoy software development is the absolute and total hatred I have for repetition in my life.
More than 90% of things that are new to me disappoint me. I don’t know how to find new things, especially fiction, with the expectation that it will hold my interest. Whereas something new from my favorite author has much better odds, and rereading my favorite novel is a sure thing.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#159It would be interesting to have a timeseries plot of this sort of information. Did it used to be easier to make a living as an author? Presumably there was some point at which the ease of making a living as an author peaked. This article suggests that time is in the past, but how far in the past? Has the absolute number of people who can make it as an author decreased, or just the relative fraction of the human popul…
100k is not that unreasonable of an expectation as the necessary base for a freelancer. Keep in mind that you will need to cover additional taxes that your employer would normally cover, and you will need to plan on variability so you need more cushion than a salaried employee. Add in the fact that an author would need to be in the top 10% of a competitive field and you need to start considering the opportunity cost of not getting an office job.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#160These are two completely different statistics: 1) last year, new releases sold poorly, perhaps unexpectedly (NYT article's claim); 2) last year, a relatively small portion of all currently released titles sold a lot of books, and most titles sold few books (linked article's data). Pulling from the central table, last year: one title sold over 1 million copies; ten titles sold a collective 5-10 million copies; 267 tit…
I feel if you're including digital copies you need something to correct - I've received a number of kindle e-books for free that I've never even downloaded. There's no harm in adding to a collection when it's digital, whereas I am much more picky over free physical books.
Fair point-- I don't know how the data defined a "sale." However, the numbers are almost identical for print books, just a little lower. But same order of magnitude.