Narrative has an essay on the fact that writers can rarely support themselves through writing alone.
An excerpt:
Here capitalism is again at odds with our better instincts: envy alone won’t explain the contempt aimed at the writer whose work seems guided by commercial rather than literary instincts, nor condescending terms ranging from genre writer to hack. Nevertheless, the writer who cannot sell his words is the writer who cannot eat, and even the most successful of literary writers are up against the fact that their craft carries with it an enormous latency.
Warning: Depressing calculations within the story
Some simple math: This summer saw the U. S. federal minimum wage rise to $6.55 an hour, a figure somewhat increased in certain states. Let us imagine a writer who spends two years writing a first novel, working full-time—quite a clip for a first book—and sells the novel for an excellent advance of $25,000. In every state, she would have found a counter job at McDonald’s more lucrative.
The link to the full story is here but the site requires (free and easy) registration .
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1 comment:
I didn't read the entire article because I am lazy about registration things, but in my personal estimation, a writer almost has to support himself or herself through something beyond writing alone. Writers need to write about something. They need to have some foundation for their writing, some experience of reality that they can use to ground their work. The writer who has also worked a low-paying job in food service can speak to that experience with authority, and produce writing that readers can identify with. You're not gonna have something to say as a writer unless you cultivate something outside, unless you get out there and live life and learn about what's worth writing about.
Of course, that's just me writing out of my own experience... :)
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