Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Writing books is not really a good idea

ellegriffin.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

541–550 of 630 posts

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#541

Post by inglor_cz »

cmsefton wrote: post #540
peterarmstrong wrote: post #315

One thing to consider is royalty rate. If you sell 5000 copies for $20 and earn a dollar per copy, you've earned $5,000. (This math is based on 10% royalties on the publisher's portion, which is about half of retail. And no, fiction books don't sell for $20 typically, but I'm using this number to make the math easy.) Now, if you sell 5000 copies of an ebook for $20 and earn 80% royalties, you earn $16 per copy, and e…

> For fiction, however, the dream combination is probably publishing in-progress with subscriptions As someone who likes to write fiction myself, the idea of publishing in-progress feels incredibly alien. Typically, if I finish writing something, it's a first draft that I would revisit a few months later and rework. How are authors handling this aspect of wanting to re-edit if they're publishing chapters on the go? I…

This was incredibly common back in the early 1900s. Whole books were at first published in one-page installations in newspapers. Including the most famous Czech novel, Good soldier Švejk.

Prior to the advent of radio and TV, this was the best way how to hit a huge audience at once. And for the newspaper, it was a way to entice people to buy the next issue.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#542

Post by coldtea »

fsckboy wrote: post #485
coldtea wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's not the same thing, just because it still involves writing and fiction. That there are new jobs of a different kind is not much consolation when one likes the old jobs.

When agriculture was invented, it put a bunch of hunter gatherers out of business. They weren't happy about it, they liked being hunters and gatherers. But that surplus workforce found jobs in other areas, creating whole industries where there had been nothing. Can't have Post-mates without workers and restaurants. Can't have restaurants without more workers and food distribution. Can't have food distribution without…

>When agriculture was invented, it put a bunch of hunter gatherers out of business. They weren't happy about it, they liked being hunters and gatherers. But that surplus workforce found jobs in other areas, creating whole industries where there had been nothing.

For many it remains still not that wise a decision.

>All the other people who used to write are available to fill new niches in the economy.

Yeah, I hear burger-flipping is still in demand.

I appreciate the ELI5, but it's not that I don't know history, or I don't understand that some jobs die and others replace them.

It is that I consider some jobs dying a problem, whether they are replaced by something else or not, and doubly so in the way that that transition happens (and some people in each generation get the short end of the stick).

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#544

Post by bambax »

ellegriffin wrote: post #451
failwhaleshark wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is roughly 3800-years-old. One has to wonder though if something has survived as an artifact only because there were a zillion copies of the then "Steven King's" latest, or if it truly was great and preserved with care by those with taste. You have to wonder if the then Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs down compared to other contemporary works.

I think about this all the time when it comes to archeological finds. How do we know this wasn't one of their worst works?

Many writings from the ancient world survive only because of quotes in other books. It's likely that works that were heavily quoted were among the best.

But of course, that doesn't preclude the fact that there may have been much better works that didn't make it to us.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#545

Post by polytely »

sltkr wrote: post #149

> 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). I think she missed a few authors in other categories. Examples: - https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow (over $6,000/month) - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3814558 ($8,203 per chapter, roughly 1 chapte…

Proud patron of Wildbow here, I admire his work ethic so much, he has been writing 10000+ words per week for at least 7(?) years without interruption and the stuff is high quality too, great world building all around.

https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/about/ is what he has been writing for the past year and I still look forward to the chapters on Tuesday and Saturday every week. There is also a whole community of readers who gathers in the comments section or the subreddit to theorize and speculate, it is a lot of fun.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#546

Post by tobias3 »

spookybones wrote: post #329
tobias3 wrote: post #119

I don't know where she gets the idea that serial publishing isn't done currently. Pirateaba, creator of wanderinginn.com has 4342 patreons (10k per month at least). At that point who cares about the NYTimes bestselling list?

Do you happen to know how this author grew her audience? I'm curious.

Being good at writing servicable prose and story. Writing for a genre that has an online following (litrpg isekai in this case). Consistent output (e.g. twice per week -- in this case it is kind of insane: a novella per week). Then post it to sites where the readers for that niche are (e.g. royalroad.com , topwebfiction.com).

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#547

Post by burntoutfire »

munificent wrote: post #396
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.

I look at the question of money and art at two levels: 1. As an individual, what is the right mindset to have about my creativity? At this level, I agree with you. Looking at the economic trends, the only sane way to create and feel good about it is to do it in my free time, focus on the intrinsic reward and have some other job that pays the bills. I'm very fortunate in that my other job takes good care of me. But th…

> about the wealthy

Most books are written about the wealthy?

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#548

Post by bambax »

lurquer wrote: post #181

We’re getting very very close to the point where a group of amateurs can make a ‘major motion picture.’ Not quite yet... but it’s getting closer. CGI can create sets and even characters; AI tools to assist with rotoscope and backfill are becoming quite incredible. These tools are still packaged in relatively inaccessible environments (such as Blender and AfterEffects and others.) But, that’s changing too. In short, i…

I think you are right with the analysis and prediction but wrong with the conclusion.

What will happen when anyone can make a movie on their home computer that looks just as good as a Hollywood production is not that current book writers will make them. It is that the market will be flooded by visually fine, but structurally inept movies that no one will want to watch.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#549

Post by underdeserver »

markwisde wrote: post #527
tidenly wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I beg you, please - add padding-left:0; to that Table of Contents section ul

You mean text-align: left?

I'd wrap the ul with a div with display: inline-flex and set text-align: left.

Re: Writing books is not really a good idea

#550

Post by vidarh »

ellegriffin wrote: post #376
vidarh wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is largely because most writers don't know how to or don't care about marketing. I published a novel in late november, and it's sales are low but steady to slowly increasing. A key aspect is that to "survive" past the initial bump you need to invest effort into building word of mouth and getting reviews, and that is a slow process. The people I got to help with marketing even actively advised against doi…

Oh I've heard that. The classic "third book" being the one that goes viral. (Gillian Flynn, Dan Brown, etc.) I agree with you on considering most books (most books don't market), but even trying to learn from the successful books isn't entirely encouraging. Even the best ones don't see a lot of reads. But the industry is rapidly changing. We don't all watch the same three television channels anymore. Niche content is…

It's not just that the third book is what takes off, but that sales of book 1 and 2 rarely takes off before book 3 is out because people hold off and might sign up to your mailing list etc. but won't read until they know there's more coming.

I do certainly think the market is massively geared towards a tiny number of best-sellers, but there are a number of people who still have success with modest sales of individual books simply by focusing more on building a back catalogue and marketing to a fan base more likely to want to buy "everything". You can afford to spend quite a lot more on ads if a single sale might lead to 20 more than if one book is all you have.

But that require you to think about it as a business, and a lot of writers don't want to deal with that bit.

Post reply on HN