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Writing books is not really a good idea

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Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#291

Post by Aerroon »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #111
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think this'll work. Authors tend to have phases of inspiration, and lulls in between. The pressure of the next episode would lead to 'phoned in' chapters. Not just from the author's side. From a reader's perspective this would also not work. I don't want to start reading a book a chapter at a time. I don't even like reading books that are part of an unfinished series. For me, as someone who reads quite a lo…

Yes exactly, I don't like this at all either.. I know I will get less absorbed in the story if I have to wait a month in between each chapter and in the end I'll just give up.

What if you start a story that already has 400 chapters out and you get a new chapter every week? Because that's the kind of numbers you can run into.

At that many chapters it's like you're reading multiple books.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#292

Post by drivers99 »

I didn't see anyone mention The Long Tail by Chris Anderson so figured I would.

Here's a summary: https://fourminutebooks.com/the-long-tail-summary/

Sounds like being the aggregator of a bunch of niche products can be profitable, but I don't think it explains how the producers of that content actually make money off the situation while being part of the long tail.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#293

Post by HWR_14 »

lacker wrote: post #173

I feel like the article glosses over a key point: Even on the high end, there were only 11 books that sold more than 500,000 copies. If I can spend two to three years writing a novel and my best case scenario is having it sell a couple hundred copies Isn't the best case scenario here that you are the top -selling author, selling over a million copies? I feel like the author of this post is just assuming that they are…

> Isn't the best case scenario here that you are the top-selling author, selling over a million copies?

Pretty much not. The vast majority of best selling books are produced by the same few authors year after year. It's far more marketing than meritocracy. Some of those authors farm out ghostwriting duties to numerous authors who will get paid some fixed rate (not royalties) to do most of the writing.

Or, to put it a different way, the odds of becoming an author that sells more than 500,000 copies are probably similar to or less than the odds of becoming a successful Hollywood actor. And probably similar to creating a video game like Minecraft or being one of the founders of a unicorn.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#294

Post by matsemann »

snet0 wrote: post #233
kpwagner wrote: post #99

In the month it will take me to finish reading Storm of Swords, I will watch ~10 movies. Plus, I'm reading Storm of Swords, which needs no additional support from readers to be discovered or validated--though I still want to read it. Plus, I digitally loaned it from my local library. I own a number of books (~200) and have probably owned x4 that total in my lifetime. Maybe 1/3 of those I paid full price for new. The…

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but my assumption is that buying second-hand books gives no money to the author. I don't know, morally speaking if this should be the case. It does feel wrong for people to get the experience without paying the price of admission. Can this be solved logistically, though? And do publishers factor this into their RRP?

But things I cannot resell I would pay less for. For certain items the amount I'm willing to pay is a function also including what I can sell it for when I'm done with it.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#295

Post by jagged-chisel »

annexrichmond wrote: post #289

> Even on the high end, there were only 11 books that sold more than 500,000 copies—which is paltry when you consider that the 10 best-performing Netflix films saw more than 68 million views. This is a pretty unhelpful comparison as I'm not aware of any major read as much as you want book subscription service that pays dividends to the author. What's the value in purchasing a book versus merely "viewing" a movie?

> I'm not aware of any major read as much as you want book subscription service ...

Kindle Unlimited

> ... that pays dividends to the author.

I'd like to learn whether KU does this, pretends to do this, or does nothing at all.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#297

Post by dale_glass »

CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #254

Unlike movies/TV shows, books tend to 'age' relatively slowly. Many books that were written 30 years ago are still immensely enjoyable today. Not only that, but there are a literal ton of books out there that have been read by hundreds of thousands of people and reviewed extensively. I have found my personal enjoyment of a book to be loosely correlated with the goodreads / B&N scores. This gives me at least some sign…

It depends a lot on what books. Many technical books age extremely quickly. You definitely don't want a 30 years old C++ book except for some sort of historical research purpose.

But even in literature there is timing, themes, references and fashion. You'd have a hard time writing Don Quixote today, because hardly anyone reads chivalric romances anymore, so the vast majority of people wouldn't know what you're even parodying. And I suspect most modern readers of Don Quixote don't really get it, excluding those with an education in european medieval literature.

Even without going that far, there are fads and fashions. If you want to write about wizards or vampires there probably are better and worse times to do it.

Even playing your cards right, how likely are you to get a hit? Because there's really no lack of good books on most any subject at this point, and it takes a very dedicated reader to exhaust the existing catalog, and the easiest way for a reader is to find out what's popular and try that, rather than giving a new author a chance.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#298

Post by o_nate »

mikerg87 wrote: post #32

Any idea if there is a similar source of sales figures for non-fiction/technical ? Is it as bleak or skewed as the fiction side ?

There were more than twice as many adult nonfiction books than adult fiction books sold in both 2019 and 2020 in the US, according to Publishers Weekly.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#299

Post by notahacker »

coliveira wrote: post #232

> Even on the high end, there were only 11 books that sold more than 500,000 copies—which is paltry when you consider that the 10 best-performing Netflix films saw more than 68 million views. So, this really means that the problem is not with writing, but the medium (book). Because all these Netflix films were written by someone. Instead of concentrating on the 11 books, the writer who wants to make money should conc…

The medium (movie) requires getting someone to spend millions on crew and actors to shoot your script

This is not necessarily any easier to achieve than writing a bestselling book, especially for a first-timer, and by the time the Hollywood accountants have finished calculating your share of the revenue, not necessarily any more lucrative.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#300

Post by matsemann »

Minor49er wrote: post #105
sidibe wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Rereading a book, one could pick up on things that were missed previously or that have been forgotten about. Also, one might be in a different life situation or mindset from one read to the next which could alter the perception or enjoyment of what's being read. Not to mention that some prose can be appreciated for its beauty. TV shows, movies, and albums are often revisited by people who enjoy them. Even as I write…

> Also, one might be in a different life situation or mindset from one read to the next which could alter the perception or enjoyment of what's being read

Catcher in the Rye springs to mind. Interesting reading at different times.

One additional point is that when you know where the plot is going and things that are "unknown" at the time, one can appreciate some of the hints or world building even more. Like a detective novel or so, on re-read knowing the killer one can analyze everything and get a new experience from the same content.

I also re-read like people listen to music. I read Harry Potter 1-3 a few times waiting for book four, then 1-2-3-4, then next year 1-2-3-4-5 etc, and then each exam period at uni I would read it when relaxing. Like, just turn my brain off, I don't want new input, just replay something. So I've probably read the first 3-4 books 30+ times (I had a count up to 20 or so).

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