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Writing books is not really a good idea

ellegriffin.substack.com

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Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#241

Post by jrochkind1 »

AS_of wrote: post #43
tarr11 wrote: post #23

I used to read a lot more books 10-20 years ago. Now, I mostly read books on vacation. I think I have an unspoken budget of “words read daily” that is consumed by work and my mobile devices.

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…

> As you get older, you should read fewer new books,

What? Why? Who says?

I plan to read just as many if not more new books as I get older.

I do not understand your answer about "the leverage algorithms can provide".

I enjoy reading new fiction books. Why "should" I do it less as I get older? If I someday retire, I would plan to use some of my additional free time to read even more books.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#242

Post by plorkyeran »

> There are thousands of paid fiction authors on Patreon but only 25 earn more than $1,000/month, only six earn more than $2,000/month, and only one earns more than the $5,000/month (and she’s already a bestselling author).

This is just incredibly wrong? There are quite a few web serial authors making more than $5000/month on Patreon.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#243

Post by runevault »

lumost wrote: post #59

Is this the natural outcome of having larger retailers? In the era of small local book stores, the store owner had large discretion on what to stock. Different book stores would naturally stock different books and cater to different preferences. The customer would have options to discover new books, but would also have popular books sometimes "hidden" by the book sellers preference. If every book reader is hooked int…

Yes, but more specifically, large retailers track the way books sell and order authors based on prior success. So if an author has a down book it can trigger a spiral where the big stores order less and less. Amazon isn't impacted by this in the same way because technically everything is on their shelves, but the B&Ns and the like of the world it does (and before they went under Borders as well).

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#244

Post by armorproof »

plorkyeran wrote: post #242

> There are thousands of paid fiction authors on Patreon but only 25 earn more than $1,000/month, only six earn more than $2,000/month, and only one earns more than the $5,000/month (and she’s already a bestselling author). This is just incredibly wrong? There are quite a few web serial authors making more than $5000/month on Patreon.

Perhaps they didn't fit a search criteria? Got examples we can see?

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#245

Post by salamandersauce »

ellegriffin wrote: post #114
salamandersauce wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Needs comparison to past years to be useful. Would also be helpful to compare books that came out in past year or few years to see how their sales trends. We also need to know what those books that are tracked are. Are they just in print titles? Or does it count 60 year old used biology textbooks for sale on Amazon no one wants? Or dated romance novels long past their prime? Because if those are included I'm not…

I did mention Alexandre Dumas as a case study in a previous article. Here's a snippet: "But there used to be another way. When Alexandre Dumas debuted The Count of Monte Cristo it was published as a feuilleton—a portion of the weekly newspaper devoted to fiction. From August 1844 to January 1846 his chapters were published in 18 installments for The Journal des Débats, a newspaper that went out to 9,000 to 10,000 pay…

A comparison to the recent past and not the most successful French authors of the 19th century. For every Dumas making $200,000-$400,000 there was probably a hundred authors you've never heard of making $2000. And the market has changed so much since the mid-19th century as there is way more alternatives for people's time like movies, TV shows, video games, etc. with completely different distribution methods because of things like the internet enabling people to get content out for free.

You need to look back at the recent past and not just the most successful authors to see what the trends are. Is a random sampling of 100 authors from 2000 making more than those in 2019? Has the total number of books sold sharply declined?

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#246

Post by coliveira »

cafard wrote: post #234
coliveira wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But these authors were the 19th century version of Dan Brown. They made far less than a modern writer of similar success would make.

Balzac, Dumas, Gautier, and Sand? They turned out some hack work, no doubt, but also a fair bit that is still read.

I'm talking in terms of success. Of course any French writer of the 19th century is better than Dan Brown.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#247

Post by dalai »

munificent wrote: post #220

> Not to mention, an author would have to come out with one book a year to maintain that salary. Your math looks odd to me. You look at the amount a book earns in a single year and extrapolate that to the author's annual salary , but seem to assume that once the first year is up, the book stops earning. Does books earning passive over multiple years affect the numbers? For what its worth, my single non-fiction book h…

Agree. My non-fiction, niche book generated some income for almost 10 years even though it was outdated after the first 5 or so. I am guessing that in fiction they can earn for a lot longer. There are also other effects to take into consideration: Even a moderate hit will generate interest for previous books; books in a series or in a trilogy will boost each other’s sales. Not that getting the moderate hit is easy in any way.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#248

Post by narrator »

ellegriffin wrote: post #114
salamandersauce wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Needs comparison to past years to be useful. Would also be helpful to compare books that came out in past year or few years to see how their sales trends. We also need to know what those books that are tracked are. Are they just in print titles? Or does it count 60 year old used biology textbooks for sale on Amazon no one wants? Or dated romance novels long past their prime? Because if those are included I'm not…

I did mention Alexandre Dumas as a case study in a previous article. Here's a snippet: "But there used to be another way. When Alexandre Dumas debuted The Count of Monte Cristo it was published as a feuilleton—a portion of the weekly newspaper devoted to fiction. From August 1844 to January 1846 his chapters were published in 18 installments for The Journal des Débats, a newspaper that went out to 9,000 to 10,000 pay…

Ever read Boswell's life of Samuel Johnson? Samuel Johnson was a poet, which was about as close as you could be to a rock star in terms of popular culture fame in the 18th century.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#249

Post by II2II »

> Not to mention, an author would have to come out with one book a year to maintain that salary.

I wouldn't classify releasing one book per year as a full time job, at least not based upon on the data provided.

Turning a writing into a full time job means:

- Investing considerable time into promoting a book, in an effort to net more than 10,000 copies sold.

- Writing books that are heavily based upon research, in which case your book should be selling for more than $15 per copy.

- Publishing more than a book per year, most likely in forms other than books (unless you're an established author).

I'm not going to pretend that consistently writing 300 words of publication quality material per day is easy. Some of us are lucky if we can do as much one day in a year. On the other hand, it should not be easy. At the very least, an author is implicitly asking each reader to invest several hours of their life into the product of their labors. Authors need to be willing to put as much effort into writing as readers put into their livelihood.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#250

Post by rchaud »

andrewzah wrote: post #10

I feel like I'm one of the few people that still does purchase books. In 2020 & 2021 I bought music theory books from amazon + jazzbooks.com, and I had some Korean books imported by a friend. I have the space and bookshelves to house them though.

I purchase books as well. I have read numerous books on epub, but physical is better, easier to take notes on the side of the page.
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