Do writers deserve to make the big bucks?

[UnderTheDome40]

We all know there's some bad books out there which have only made their way on the market because of who the author is (which is why we don't know about all the rest of the bad books) but as far as the time they put into it, the amount of preparation a writer puts into a really good novel or just another novel depending how consistent he/she is, like Joy Fielding who consistently writes genius psychological mystery work IMO, the creativity and critiscism they have to deal with. Every genre is different but I would imagine if you could see an authors office when in the middle of a novel, it would look a lot like an FBI agents office while he's trying to solve a case, with the bulletin board covered in intel.

 

   Anyways, I read an article in some journal asking if writers deserve to make the big bucks. My answer is a most definite YES. They certainly do. 

[Talisman]

I would say that everyone who works hard deserves to be at least adequately rewarded for their efforts - and by this I mean earning at the very least the equivalent of a living wage. I know quite a few writers (I was at one time one myself), and not one of them earns anything near this amount of money - most earn literally just pennies per hour for their work and have to have other jobs and sources of income. That presents a whole other set of problems, for you then don't have the time to go out and promote your writing, for you are too busy working at those other jobs in order to pay the bills.

 

There have always been the select few that manage to get good or at least reasonable advance from their publisher, but very few authors earn that back, and in most cases the advance is the only money they see from their work. Things though are changing and very few now go through the gatekeepers that used to control the industry. Self publishing was in its infancy when I did it, and very much frowned upon, but now, especially with the advent of Kindle, it is much more the norm. It's a no brainer really - why after all would you pay all those middle men such as agents, distributors, book sellers etc. when you can earn so much more from selling direct to the public via sites such as Amazon. I suspect though that this would be a whole other discussion.  

 

I don't know of course about other writers, but the description of a writers office above certainly made me smile - mine was a little like that, with other books (I was a non fiction writer) strewn everywhere, most of them covered in post it notes.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Talisman

[UnderTheDome40]

Wow.. That was really well said Talisman. I Love the name by the way

Edited December 28, 2013 by UnderTheDome40

[Athena]

I think good writers certainly deserve to make money. From what I've read, it can be very difficult for writers to make lots of money, unless they're really good and very popular. With self-publishing this might be different though, hopefully. I agree with what Talisman has said, everyone deserves to make at least enough money for a decent living.

 

Every writer works in a different way and so their offices and work styles are different. I've read of some writers how they work, I find it very interesting.

 

I had once the aims to write and release a book myself but I don't know if it'll happen.

[UnderTheDome40]

You're right, it is very interesting once you get an inside look at the lives of writers. And yeah, you both make great points about the struggles of the majority of writers, which is a bummer.. Athena I wish you all the best of luck for writing, I think it's a great goal to complete a novel and even if you don't ultimately end up releasing it, I think it will still be worth it but if it's a good enough product, i truly believe it will grab peoples attention. Ever hear the story of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"? He was poor when he wrote that. Not saying you come from poverty lol, just mean anyone can do it, even if you don't have some fancy degree in literature from some iconic Cambridge or Oxford University. Thanks both 

[Vimes]

Having written a bit myself I can say that for those authors that are good at what they do, they deserve to be payed for all of the blood, sweat and tears they have put into their work. Writing is hard work, writing something that is good is even harder.

[Talisman]

The problem is also I feel that books are very under valued. This is not meant as a criticism, for I understand that we are all short of money, but I see members on here quite often bemoaning the fact that books are expensive, when in actual fact they have never been cheaper or better value for money. Until not that long ago we had to pay full price for books, but then along came the net book agreement and everything changed. It is now pretty much a free for all. For the consumer this has been a good thing, but not for the writer, and ultimately not the publishing industry either, as the less money there is in circulation to be made from books, the less there is to invest in new talent, and so advances are driven down, royalties (if you manage to earn them at all) come in pennies rather than pounds, and writers are forced to have not just one part time job, but two, or work full time. This inevitably means less time to write, and less time to promote and so it goes on.

 

I understand that for some books do seem expensive, especially if you are only to read it once, but when you consider all the work that goes into them, they start to appear less so. I can't of course speak for other authors, and I sell only a handful per year these days mostly on Kindle, but it took five years to write my own book, and during that time I spent thousands on research - going to among other places, France, Scotland and Egypt. While I did recover the cost of publishing, I will never recover the cost of actually writing it - that money came from an inheritance. If it hadn't been for that, I would never have been able to write it at all, and there are many others in the same boat. In some ways I regret doing that, but then again, I learnt such a lot from the process.

 

To put things into perspective though, I have a friend who is an artist. She went to art college for several years and is very talented at what she does. She can take between several hours to several days to do one of her paintings, which then sells for several hundred pounds. Yet people baulk at paying £15 (the cost of my book when it first came out) for something that took five years to write and complain that it's too expensive. I don't know many people who would be prepared to work full time for the equivalent of £3 a year !  

Edited December 29, 2013 by Talisman