Writing books is not really a good idea • Hacker News Board

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#161

Post by KittenInABox » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

obviouslynotme wrote: post #154

Computers 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…

The scariest part about the latter model is how the hell are we going to find any more Susanna Clarkes, J. D. Salingers, and any other author that doesn't want to or isn't able to buy into the parasocial nature of patreon and similar platforms? What if the author isn't hot, charismatic, or pleasant to listen to?

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#162

Post by ghaff » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

GekkePrutser wrote: post #73

> As the going wisdom states: it only takes 1,000 true fans spending $100/year for a creator to earn a salary of $100,000/year—and there are 83,397 books every year that have at least 1,000 true fans. Theoretically then, an author could release a new chapter every week, charge subscribers $8 or $9 a month, and earn $100,000 a year—from only 1,000 readers. She's basically proposing an episodic model for books, with ea…

It was the dollar figures that didn't make sense to me. Sure, if you can sell your fiction book for $100 on an installment plan, that brings in a lot more money per fan than a $10 book sold in one shot does. But those two scenarios seem rather different not so much because one is episodic but because one is getting 10x the dollars for the same final product.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#163

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #103

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is sad. :( In happier news, I wonder if you can look at things in terms of "creators of entertainment" rather than just authors and get a happier picture. Like, for example, let's just consider authors and video game creators. Let's suppose that in the fifties, before video games, there were, say, 100,000 full-time fiction authors in the US. (That number sounds awfully high to me, but maybe.) Today, according to…

People “working in the videogaming industry” aren’t comparable to “fiction authors” but to “people working in the slice of the publishing industry involved in publishing fiction”. And the slice of the videogaming industry that is analogous to authors is probably a vastly smaller proportion than of print fiction publishing because there is so much more non-authorial stuff to do.

That's a good point! From what I can find about 750k people are working in the publishing industry overall. It's hard to find statistics just for fiction publishing.

I have to admit I'm a little surprised. I would have thought by now the videogame industry would be bigger than books, but maybe it's not.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#164

Post by failwhaleshark » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

Power law distribution.

You have to assume no one will read the book and you won't necessarily get rich but make it good for your own work ethic and prepare just in case it were to blow-up.

It's sad that fewer and fewer people read books anymore, most people are too glued to screens looking for notifications, swiping, or playing games. (I almost ran-over a guy glued to his phone who nearly avoided being ran over by a bus through dumb luck and walked right in front of my car.)

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#165

Post by ellegriffin » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

asgraham wrote: post #146

ellegriffin wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmmm, I think you're looking at that table wrong. Ten titles sold between 500,000 and one million copies (not 5-10 million copies). And 267 titles sold between 100,000 and 500,000 copies, (not in the millions). That top line is the highest one.

Isn't it saying that ten titles each sold between 500,000 and one million copies? So collectively they sold 5-10 million copies? (I really enjoyed the article, by the way, once it was past claims about this data-- the points about fanfic and story monetization are important ones)

Oh, yes you are correct there. In online sales only (I don't have the brick & mortar numbers). So to your point, people are buying books, it's just that they are all buying the same top selling books. And thank you!!!!! I'm still trying to figure out the industry enough to succeed in it, but it's a hard industry to succeed in as it turns out!

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#166

Post by psyc » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #91

> 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.

As someone with many lifelong creative outlets, I can think of 3 reasons to create. 1. You love doing it for it’s own sake 2. You can’t help it 3. You believe in your heart you have something to say that must be said. You may well be delusional about the last one, but I still consider it a good reason.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#167

Post by failwhaleshark » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

jihadjihad wrote: post #4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_law

Yep. This is the consequence of differential equation-like behavior of accumulating attention, popularity, power, virality, reach, wealth, big name publishers, etc.

The rate of change is roughly proportional to the amount present. The biggest gets even bigger, faster.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#168

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

KittenInABox wrote: post #122

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is sad. :( In happier news, I wonder if you can look at things in terms of "creators of entertainment" rather than just authors and get a happier picture. Like, for example, let's just consider authors and video game creators. Let's suppose that in the fifties, before video games, there were, say, 100,000 full-time fiction authors in the US. (That number sounds awfully high to me, but maybe.) Today, according to…

Writing novels isn't comparable to writing video games outside of very niche genres, which are probably in a similarly sad state to fiction overall.

[deleted]

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#169

Post by Vvector » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #47

It 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…

> I do also think that the expectation/standard of a $100k/year salary is a bit high.

Agreed. Most writers do it because they love writing, not because they expect $100k/year. The money comes after the success. I wish her luck

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#170

Post by leephillips » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

sidibe wrote: post #62

AS_of wrote: post #43

Earlier 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 do both. And movies. If it’s not worth reading or watching a second or third time, it wasn’t worth it the first time. I read Hamlet every year or two. It gets me every time. I’ve seen the Maltese Falcon about five times, and it still amazes me with its perfection each time. I’ve seen the Pickle Rick episode of Rick and Morty three times, and I fully intend to watch it three more times. Pure genius. Anything good has layers and details that usually can not be fully appreciated the first time through. Do you only listen to a song you like once?