This neglects the effect that writing things down has on the other media.
Writing books is not really a good idea
261–270 of 630 posts
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#262It 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…
> Did it used to be easier to make a living as an author? One of the dominant subjective experiences of living today is the sensation that any possible amazing kind of life is right there and it is only up to us to reach out to pluck it. You go on Instagram and see people living blissful lives of travel in gorgeous locales while talking about how affordable it is. That random dude who wrote a series of posts on some…
> the total number of brass rings
TIL of the associated phrase, thank you!
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#263It 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…
Vonnegut I remember writing somewhere that radio and especially TV had killed the market for short stories in magazines, which were a great way for authors to get started. Here's some other things he said on making a living as a writer: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vonnegut-writing-i... Note that he got paid $750 for his first short story in 1949! I don't know how many places are paying first time author…
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Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#264Computers 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…
I can see this going round in another circle. The key skill for creatives (in any medium) will be marketing. Being good at the thing you do is table-stakes. Being good at marketing to create the audience will be the key divider between profitable artist/musician/writer/etc and aspiring amateur. So there's an opportunity for a good marketer to find a great creative (or vice versa) and strike a deal that allows the cre…
>So there's an opportunity for a good marketer to find a great creative (or vice versa) and strike a deal that allows the creative to focus on creating.
Well, that's basically what you hire a public relations person for. The problem is that now you're having to invest, perhaps significantly, in making a bigger impact.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#265A lot of books are written to claim “ownership” rights over certain ideas. These “rights” are convertible to other items of value: lectures, consultancies, academic appointments, jobs of all kinds, etc. This is almost the sole rationale for technical books- the value of being considered an expert.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#266Some things at work here: 1. Leisure reading is at an all time low and declining [1]. I think reading books will go the way of live theater and classical music performances. It won't go away, but instead of a common, "every-man/woman" type of outing, it will be more niche/special occasion. I.e. whereas tons of people used to read often for pleasure in the early part of the 20th century, it is heading more towards a "…
I don't think it's going to turn into a "special occasion" activity. Rather, I think you're going to have a smaller and smaller number of voracious readers, but those readers will continue to consume books at a pretty steady pace.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#267> 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…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(literature) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens > His novels, most of them published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.[4][5] Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense.[6] The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate hi…
Weekly instalments worked at that time and, while it would still work today to some degree, I see a lot of change in direction to binge-ing shows and books.
With that being said, in Japan web-novels are quite common among teenagers - which later on might get a publishing deal to get a print version. BUT, the authors are not professionals and write as a hobby, and making money with their stories happens when they get the print deal, and not publishing online.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#268Earlier 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?
While I understand the idea of rereading a few books here and there, it's pretentious assholery to imagine you shouldn't read new books because you're getting older. That's just an idiot who pretends to be the smartest guy in the room. There aren't too many types of people more pathetic than someone who never tries new entertainment. "I only like the old stuff". Because someone is only a good artist or writer after they've been dead for a century.
Re: Writing books is not really a good idea
#269There is always Asimov's approach. Just publish more books.
Over a space of 40 years, I published an average of 1,000 words a day. Over the space of the second 20 years, I published an average of 1,700 words a day.
- Isaac AsimovRe: Writing books is not really a good idea
#270I often attend the annual literary scifi convention. They have plenty of panels on how to increase sales. Becoming a popular "brand", e.g. Asian zombie novels, helps. Writing sequels and prequels to a modest central hit can help.
Interestingly this group has lasted decades, from well before digitalization and the internet. The latter is a two edge sword, providing more market and competition at the same time.