tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post4497205097933678387..comments2024-03-10T04:29:20.044-04:00Comments on Mad Genius Club: The (writers) Eureka Stockade.Sarah A. Hoythttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17478124095732219352noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-76132669276692755852009-09-23T18:32:16.983-04:002009-09-23T18:32:16.983-04:00Ori,
Agreed. It's finding the flipping way ar...Ori,<br /><br />Agreed. It's finding the flipping way around that's proving to be a right bastard. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is being able to see parts of the answer floating around here, there, and everywhere, but never all in the same place at the same time.Kate Paulkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02034983693134240754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-5597072967742029422009-09-23T16:50:25.200-04:002009-09-23T16:50:25.200-04:00Sarah, if this is your version of biting my head o...Sarah, if this is your version of biting my head of, then you're a much nicer person than I could ever hope to be. I didn't get the feeling you were upset with me at all.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-87137365085332366312009-09-23T16:24:30.158-04:002009-09-23T16:24:30.158-04:00Ori,
I didn't mean to bite your head off. It...Ori,<br /><br />I didn't mean to bite your head off. It's an odd day. :)<br /><br />SorrySarah A. Hoythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478124095732219352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-88836198620849340212009-09-23T15:25:31.828-04:002009-09-23T15:25:31.828-04:00Kate: Why don't you hear authors making a fuss...Kate: <i>Why don't you hear authors making a fuss? Because this is an incestuous industry that runs on rumor tumbling through a hamster ball and making a fuss might win you a victory now, but you'd have a hell of a time selling anything else, ever.</i><br /><br />Ori: This is <b>precisely</b> because distribution is such a choke hold. Gargantua Publishing knows they'd lose some money by not publishing Joe Wavemaker Midlist. But they'd lose even more if authors thought they could make waves, cry foul, and so on.<br /><br />I doubt there's much of a way through this system. The best way would be around it. It won't get fixed until the powers that be see that the roundabout path is eating their lunch.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-38371202386265553272009-09-23T14:53:09.536-04:002009-09-23T14:53:09.536-04:00Dave,
We writers are a weird bunch. Who and what ...Dave,<br /><br />We writers are a weird bunch. Who and what we respect usually doesn't bear much resemblance to the rest of the world. Doubly, or possibly even more so, for we genre writers. <br /><br />That said, Australia is on the right path with the "cultural asset" visa - a society that doesn't value its creators will be intellectually and ultimately totally sterile, while one that doesn't value its workers will have crappy plumbing. The US is well on the way to sterility with crappy plumbing, if not already there.<br /><br />This could have something to do with the number of potential creators being metaphorically flushed by the system. Okay, you'd have a time finding a system that didn't do that at least some of the time, but I'd appreciate it if those doing the flushing would stop sitting on the pot and dumping their load <i>before</i> they send us down the s-bend. <br /><br />Ori, the suggestions you made for Save the Dragons are good, as far as they go. While you're busy claiming that authors are swallowing low advances for the prestige, ideas like that tend not to go places because there's a lack of understanding of the unpleasant facts of the industry.<br /><br />A data point: one of the newer ebook lines proposed by a major publisher is looking at offering zero advance and 5% royalties. By comparison, ebook-only presses routinely offer zero advance and <i>thirty to fifty percent</i> royalties. Another: in the last 20 years, author advances have <i>decreased</i>. I'm not talking the high-end superstars, I'm talking the new authors and the struggling midlisters. Have book prices decreased in that time period? A third: boilerplate contracts for at least some major publishers now includes a clause that expressly forbids the author from selling elsewhere, <i>even under another name</i> until all contracted books are published. <br /><br />Why don't you hear authors making a fuss? Because this is an incestuous industry that runs on rumor tumbling through a hamster ball and making a fuss might win you a victory now, but you'd have a hell of a time selling anything else, ever. <br /><br />Oh, and just in case you're thinking no-one could be that stupid, consider John Norman and his very popular (and endless, and bloody dreadful) Gor books. The series was killed despite being very profitable for the publisher, and if he's published anything since it's under deep cover because no-one will touch him.Kate Paulkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02034983693134240754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-27238225918246093622009-09-23T14:42:05.232-04:002009-09-23T14:42:05.232-04:00Dave: Give me a choice of a respectable income and...Dave: <i>Give me a choice of a respectable income and modicum of self respect, and right now I think I'd take that, rather than being a writer. Which is quite sad, really.</i><br /><br />Ori: As a reader, I'd hate for that to happen. As somebody who has benefited from your hard work over the years, and who feels he owes you, I wouldn't try to persuade you you have to suffer for me to get your art.<br /><br />I suspect the current distribution mechanisms would have to die before the industry could be reborn.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-26147851217226118112009-09-23T14:31:54.720-04:002009-09-23T14:31:54.720-04:00Sarah: Oh, and Ori, before you say something about...Sarah: <i>Oh, and Ori, before you say something about my only being in it for the money. </i><br /><br />Ori: I would <b>never</b> say that, for two reasons:<br /><br />1. I don't see being in something for the money as evil. A starving Sarah wouldn't do anybody any good.<br /><br />2. I don't think you're that stupid. I've been here, and on Baen's bar, long enough to know that writing fiction is a difficult, high stress job for smart, highly educated people who could have made a lot more money by other means.<br /><br />I still feel like I'm getting away with something by paying so little for books. I don't worry that if you were paid what your work is worth my books would be more expensive - I just feel that at current prices they are extremely cheap for the value.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-11635499886032637162009-09-23T14:05:05.643-04:002009-09-23T14:05:05.643-04:00Sarah said:
"What the system is doing today i...Sarah said:<br />"What the system is doing today is eating its seed corn. Never a good idea."<br /><br />That is both pithy and 110% accurate. It's already cost the industry dearly in what should have been a total boom-time.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-16200014426798108432009-09-23T14:04:35.555-04:002009-09-23T14:04:35.555-04:00Oh, and Ori, before you say something about my onl...Oh, and Ori, before you say something about my only being in it for the money. No. Storyteling NEEDS to be heard. I'm in it for the largest audience. Of course I want to be paid. I served my apprenticeship -- for thirteen years, before I sold anything -- and my journeymanship -- the last ten years -- and TRUST me on this, it's hard work. We study all the time to improve. Our lives get overruled by this work. We do it because we love it. BUT "the workman is worthy of his pay."<br /><br />What I'm saying is that if I didn't need the money and if getting it otherwise were not a problem because of other circumstances, there were times when my heart broke enough that I would have walked away.<br /><br />Much of the profession resembles aversion therapy. Right now, if Baen didn't exist, I'd probably have given up -- just no more "there" to pull from. Beaten. Baen gave me the diner, which is a support group. And Baen gives a d*mn, which makes a difference. I'm not just a cog. A fellow writer told me "Oh, you're with Baen now, you'll be okay" even though she only marginally works for Baen.<br /><br />And baen helps. But the system is screwing Baen too. And sometimes your heart just breaks. To create you need to be fairly sane mentally. Fairly healthy physically. Right now the system attacks both.<br /><br />I'm not "threatening" to walk away if I don't get more money. I'm saying I can see the circumstances under which that would happen. As it has happened to others.Sarah A. Hoythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478124095732219352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-21436013688665187672009-09-23T14:00:04.463-04:002009-09-23T14:00:04.463-04:00Actually Kate to pick up on another point you made...Actually Kate to pick up on another point you made - I suppose that personally prestige - or rather, respect, does. It definitel y pushed me toward writing because certainly in my family authors of the books we loved were the social apogee of great people. To be honest I am proud to be someone that at least the sector of society that I respect, respects ;-). It meant a lot to me that Australia would have me for my profession. It also meant New Zealand - who would have me on my wife's profession but not mine, was out of the running (bar emergencies)the moment they said that. And yes, I can be petty and vindictive. I'll do my best to reward Australia for that repect. And make nasty sheep jokes about New Zealand. We're sadly tied into a system where money (and the visible signs thereof) = respect. Give me a choice of being as rich as the former head Lehman brothers - and as worthy of self-respect as Mugabe, or scrape and bounce, and I'm not going choose the money. That's me. Give me a choice of a respectable income and modicum of self respect, and right now I think I'd take that, rather than being a writer. Which is quite sad, really.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-80213912584755120762009-09-23T13:44:44.699-04:002009-09-23T13:44:44.699-04:00Ori -- two misconceptions:
First the job is not p...Ori -- two misconceptions:<br /><br />First the job is not perstigious. Yes, yes, people MIGHT -- sometimes -- fawn on us at cons, but that's at cons. Our neighbors think we're plain weird writing that sf/f stuff. And the yard being full of weeds (working 16 hours a day seven days a week DOES that.) doesn't help. We don't dress well. We don't vacation abroad unless we're one of ten people at the very pinnacle of the field. Also, perstige MIGHT weigh in if I were making a million per book. A million and schlock, versus seven hundred and fifty thousand and "good" might sound good. But when it's subsistence, perstige doesn't weigh in. ALSO if you write science fiction, fantasy or even to an extent mystery, there is NO perstige. The books that win awards and get mentioned are main stream. By awards I mean big ones, not field-specific.<br /><br />Misconception number 2 - that you pay less because the author gets paid less. Ah! Even if I got 50k (I keep telling G-d it wouldn't spoil me!) per book, that would be such a small drop in the bucket of what goes into making a book it would make no difference. In fact, going from manual to digital typesetting did NOT change the price of the book. Which means either someone is getting ripped off (likely) or the whole thing is much more expensive than we think. At any rate, I know people who do get 50k and their books are no more expensive than mine. In fact, in publishing the more you print, the cheaper the individual book, so paying the author more and distributing more heavily SAVES money.<br /><br />So, please, don't go imagining that if Dave and I doubled our advances, you'd be paying $40 a book. The writer is a small and "unimportant" part of the production chain as far as the business is concerned.<br /><br />As for its being addictive. Maybe. But you know what, I can write and put it up for free on line, and get nice comments from an addicted public. I do that at austen.com. There's no editting. No dealing with schedules. None of the icky stuff. The downside? It will never reach as many readers. The dream of eventually having an audience will be gone. <br /><br />Also, right now, I need the money I make from this and various circumstances forbid my getting a job to do the same. So I limp on. For now. Till things change one way or the other. A lot of us do. But a lot quit every year. There are authors whose first three books I loved, who showed spectacular promise, who disappeared forever.<br /><br />It can be done. And the field is FAR poorer for it. Part of this is the belief that "anyone can write a book". To an extent this might be true. But not anyone can write a good book. And not everyone can GROW in writing to become a bestseller. One of the real ones, at Pratchett's level. Heinlein. What the system is doing today is eating its seed corn. Never a good idea.Sarah A. Hoythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478124095732219352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-50739105467909380562009-09-23T13:43:25.801-04:002009-09-23T13:43:25.801-04:00Kate said: "a level of secrecy that would ma...Kate said: "a level of secrecy that would make KGB proud and guarantees that someone is getting ripped off"<br /><br />Which is why I have said repeatedly that secrecy does not serve authors well. Which is why I am open my earnings. <br />(but then, "a rebel I came, and I am still the same ;-)" Probably not clever. But me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-40348874440846269202009-09-23T13:39:59.822-04:002009-09-23T13:39:59.822-04:00Ori said:
"From what I read, writing is addi...Ori said:<br /><br />"From what I read, writing is addictive. It is also prestigious (not among literary critics, but among people whose opinions you're more likely to respect)."<br /><br />you're right... but the situation fairly rapidly arises where you have writers needing to do day jobs. And that means they write less.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-86736571950160177942009-09-23T13:37:06.889-04:002009-09-23T13:37:06.889-04:00Ori - ramen profitable - That's actually very ...Ori - ramen profitable - That's actually very hard for me to calculate as a South African. I hope it'll be easier an Australian, as the currency is more stable. (for example my COL bills here are in the order R316 K a year (yes I have 2 kids in college, and the costs of medical and other insurance - unavoidable in SA). That's nearly 3 times what my basic COL was eight years ago, as SA is not a cheap country to live in any more. And here is the difficulty - you can live on the ramen level for a year. Maybe 2-3. But sooner or later major expenses have to hit you. The model they were talking about is short term. For many authors (and I am better off than many, which is scary, they stay at that level) Of course I actually make less on a co-authored book - which adds another scary dimesion. But in December - when I did my budget the exchange rate was R10 - R11 to the US. I was going to break even, maybe make a little ground if nothing went wrong. Of course in the nature of publishing payment is always late... And now the exchange rate is R7.38. So I need to sell more! That's not the publishing industry's fault (except the 'late' which has cost me dearly).<br /><br />Ideas 1, 2 and 3 would all work to some extent (I have some fantastic art coming for STD) 4 is in the pipeline. I have a fair number of unpublished shorts (and even books) and we'll talk about Tshirts and mugs etc. But time is not on my side! And Ori - family (and diapers) first.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-35736215220312846112009-09-23T13:07:43.670-04:002009-09-23T13:07:43.670-04:00Kate: Prestige? The description I'd use involv...Kate: <i>Prestige? The description I'd use involves four letter words, explicit metaphor, and is not fit for public consumption.</i><br /><br />Ori: Prestige is something we give <b>in lieu of</b> payment. I got that idea from <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html" rel="nofollow">Paul Graham, the part about Sirens</a>. It makes sense that all other things being equal, people will accept less money for a job they consider more prestigious. <br /><br />Kate: <i>Now, if you can tell me how to </i>fix<i> all this, I might give you a little more credit. </i><br /><br />Ori: I'm trying (see my comment from September 23, 2009 10:43 AM). It won't change until the distribution model changes, and that won't happen until we find a way for midlist authors to make enough money without being in book stores.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-36292320734612336352009-09-23T12:42:25.342-04:002009-09-23T12:42:25.342-04:00Ori,
A "prestigious" field is not one w...Ori,<br /><br />A "prestigious" field is not one where every man and his dog thinks he can do what you do and make a fortune. Nor is it one where someone who is doing <i>well</i> is just barely above the poverty line. <br /><br />The only prestige attaches to the myth, not the reality of - among other things - contracts with eternal servitude clauses (almost certainly illegal, but no author dares to fight them because then they get blacklisted), payment levels that make slavery look good (Let's see... months of intensive work in return for 10,000 if you're lucky, and then you lose at least half that to a tax setup that assumes you're made of money vs guaranteed food and housing in return for much less stressful work. Gee. Which would you choose?), a level of secrecy that would make KGB proud and guarantees that <i>someone</i> is getting ripped off (probably just about everyone, actually, since no-one at any level of the chain appears to make any profit out of this mess. Stuffed if I know how it works)<br /><br />And that, Ori, is just what I, an outsider with a few friends in the industry, know about. I suggest you take a good long look at <a href="http://scrivenerserror.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Scrivener's Error</a> and link-surf from there. It's not a pretty picture. <br /><br />Prestige? The description I'd use involves four letter words, explicit metaphor, and is not fit for public consumption.<br /><br />Now, if you can tell me how to <i>fix</i> all this, I might give you a little more credit. <br /><br />(If I sound a wee bit bitter, then yes, I am. I'm holding back. You do not want to see full rant.)Kate Paulkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02034983693134240754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-13788817628659251892009-09-23T10:57:11.502-04:002009-09-23T10:57:11.502-04:00Dave: Farmers, for example, are often faced with r...Dave: <i>Farmers, for example, are often faced with retail and wholesale and distribution taking far more of a profit and living than they do... but no one suggests they should be hobby farmers with another job teaching farming to make a living.</i><br /><br />Ori: That's because if farmers couldn't make a living farming, there would be a shortage of food. If authors couldn't make a living writing, well, ask Rowena what they'd do. There might be less good books, but books would still be there.<br /><br />From what I read, writing is addictive. It is also prestigious (not among literary critics, but among people whose opinions you're more likely to respect). This means that we, the reading public, can get by with paying a lot less. When I check out at a book store I often feel like I'm getting away with something, by paying a lot less than the book is worth to me - but that's the way it is.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-61295843109612848742009-09-23T10:43:22.491-04:002009-09-23T10:43:22.491-04:00Dave: Ori, to answer your question - that's ab...Dave: <i>Ori, to answer your question - that's about half of the advance I could expect, and about 1/3 of what a book will eventually earn. I need two books a year just to survive, basically. And I'm doing _better_ than average midlist because Baen does look after me. Other than that - a few indy booksellers bother.</i><br /><br />Ori: So <a href="http://paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html" rel="nofollow">ramen profitable</a> for you is two normal publication books, or about six storyteller's bowl books. <br /><br />I assume that Baen is filled to capacity, because their limiting factor is distribution. IIRC, they are usually limited to six books a month. Therefore, any additional revenue will have to come from non traditional publication.<br /><br />You have the brand name. I bought some issues of Baen's Universe only because you had a story in them, and I am going to donate to Save the Dragons(1).<br /><br />Maybe we can improve revenue by tuning the Save the Dragons model. OK, a few questions to people who read this and have spare money:<br /><br />1. Would you donate more for premium items with "Save the Dragons" on them(2)? Mugs, t-shirts, you name it.<br /><br />2. Would you donate more for bound books, which you'll get even if Dave doesn't get Save the Dragons published? We can create them on Print on Demand.<br /><br />3. Would you donate to a "what should Dave write next" auction? Professional authors write a number of book proposals that don't get taken by a publisher. If we want to see those books, we can try to pool money together and get Dave the money he'll need to write the book. An auction would be a way to do this. Also a way to prove to a publisher that the market for the book is there.<br /><br />4. Print on demand book "the short fiction of Dave Freer", with whatever he wrote for Baen's Universe and a few additional shorts(3). Would you buy this? For how much?<br /><br />(1) Hasn't done that yet, we're in financial difficulties at the moment. Sorry, but baby needs new diaper. Or at least toddler needs to learn potty training.<br /><br />(2) Dave, if you can get me the artwork, I'll do those. That would be a way for me to donate to the "keep Dave writing" cause.<br /><br />(3) IIRC, you wrote once that you write shorts as an exercise in brevity - so hopefully you have some unpublished goodies for us.Ori Pomerantzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162568025752213764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-377183601175382952009-09-23T09:59:08.249-04:002009-09-23T09:59:08.249-04:00Oh and appros of Matapam's comment
http://fin...Oh and appros of Matapam's comment<br /><br />http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Google-to-reincarnate-digital-apf-3924864142.html?x=0&.v=16Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-47848269876820198472009-09-23T09:56:46.873-04:002009-09-23T09:56:46.873-04:00Sarah, and you need to remember that Sir pTerry AL...Sarah, and you need to remember that Sir pTerry ALSO had a vey long non-recognition in the UK. And his early books - Strata, the Dark Side of the Sun, Carpet People, were still something fantastic and new. It took a large publisher and great covers to get him noticed... and then the process started. He didn't change. The marketing and distribution did.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-88947617667139271152009-09-23T09:45:34.817-04:002009-09-23T09:45:34.817-04:00Chris the question of power/control/gatekeeper sur...Chris the question of power/control/gatekeeper surely needs to fall to the buyer in long run? But yes. The more control to us, the better.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-90719323110021704182009-09-23T09:37:40.573-04:002009-09-23T09:37:40.573-04:00Kate - unfortunately the system of reader assessme...Kate - unfortunately the system of reader assessment and word-of-mouth got killed by in-store order/re-order policies at most of the chains. For it to work the playing field had to be mostly level. It really battles to even think about working work if the book isn't even in the store. It really struggles if the book is not being re-ordered once sold. If customers have to actually order a book -- and then it may not even be on computer at the store (Baen suffers from this, ask Amanda). The end result is a highly obscured 'real popularity' - which leads to the delusion that you pimp anything into bestsellerdom - a process which has damaged publishing and reading.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-24021724995795135472009-09-23T08:47:00.443-04:002009-09-23T08:47:00.443-04:00Two more things: Alvin Toffler whom I have found ...Two more things: Alvin Toffler whom I have found had a handle on things at least with Future Shock claimed we'd enter an era of Prosummers. People who made stuff AND consumed stuff. All of it for free. This is best illustrated by the fanfic model. Say austen.com, where I both write and comment on stories.<br /><br />HOWEVER he postulated this would happen in an era of super abundance where if people still worked at all it would be some hours a month, the rest of the time being devoted to this type of pursuit that "gave meaning" to life.<br /><br />Clearly we're not there, yet. Will we get to that "superabundance" state? May I be frank? I doubt it. Frankly, if you wanted to live like your medieval ancestors, right now, you probably could do it on three hours a month or so. Bread is cheap. So is rice. And a little plot of land with a hut on it is a one-time purchase. But we work probably MORE than our ancestors. Because our definition of "needs" has changed.<br /><br />So, in this I think old Toffler was wrong. I think if writing becomes an amateur endeavor the readers will become discouraged after a while. Take fanfic. I read it in spurts. And I do a lot of skimming. And the average "career" of a contributor is about four years, I think. People simply find other hobbies. This means as a reader I'm ALWAYS having to find new "providers"<br /><br />Write for hire -- this might work if the entire system weren't collapsing, from the bookstore upward. (In many ways publishers are the most with-it.) To an extent that's what our books are treated as, now. And there's a lot more of it going on than you think, even now.<br /><br />PS - Ori, let's just say what Dave has got so far in storyteller bowl is more than a beginner writer's average advance and more than a friend of mine who was published by a major house ever got.Sarah A. Hoythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17478124095732219352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-65444288451920089742009-09-23T08:43:08.981-04:002009-09-23T08:43:08.981-04:00Ori, to answer your question - that's about ha...Ori, to answer your question - that's about half of the advance I could expect, and about 1/3 of what a book will eventually earn. I need two books a year just to survive, basically. And I'm doing _better_ than average midlist because Baen does look after me. Other than that - a few indy booksellers bother.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940224740718934743.post-78107920404743652782009-09-23T08:34:10.634-04:002009-09-23T08:34:10.634-04:00Rowena, although family and writing always conflic...Rowena, although family and writing always conflict, and you'll be a great and inspiring lecturer, the point is somone of your talent should be able to choose to do the latter... not relieved because of money considerations. The sales of your work make 'this is my sole way of earning living' contributions to every other step of the publishing process. It should - after the first few - be able to do so for authors. Farmers, for example, are often faced with retail and wholesale and distribution taking far more of a profit and living than they do... but no one suggests they should be hobby farmers with another job teaching farming to make a living. It's wonderful if they do - they're the best teachers. But the entire idea of them having to is a little bizarre. If it reached that point - there would not be enough food, and the price of food would have to rise - or at least the price to farmers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12315551718688781746noreply@blogger.com