The Summer Olympics are on TV! And they’re happening in real life, too, OF COURSE…over in Europe, over in Paris, over where baguettes grow on trees et le fromage, c’est magnifique.
I was going to write a bracing postcard about how Olympic athletes get their stuff done. Ability + decision + dedication + support in the form of coaching, good nutrition…seems like a lot is involved, despite the memes of the effortless Turkish shooter.
My respect for Olympians is huge. It takes a lot of dedication to compete at that level.
So why shouldn’t the rewards also be great sometimes, as described in this CNBC article on cash incentives for athletes who make the podium? I think it’s great that the athletes have a chance of being well-compensated for their talent and dedication.
Not so much for writers. Sometimes the money’s great. But most of the time…it’s miniscule. The Authors Guild, in its press release for the report on author income (in the US), states:
The median author income for full-time authors from their books was $10,000 in 2022, and their total median earnings from their book and other author-related income combined was $20,000. Book income includes advances, royalties, and fees from licensing and subsidiary rights. Other author-related income includes work such as editing, blogging, teaching, speaking, book coaching, copy writing and journalism.
Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey
You might have heard of author Stephen King, who’s written a bazillion books and made a gajillion dollars doing it. He says that writing isn’t about the money.
Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.Stephen King, On Writing
Bless. OK, King might be a tad out of touch with a current writer’s reality. Not to in any way detract from his success. He’s written a ton (see this mindblowing list of works on his website) and he’s sure paid his dues.
But he’s an outlier. I have worked with and read many talented writers who’ve written better books than the ones I read from the library. I’m gonna say they’re better than some of King’s books. But these writers haven’t been able to break into traditional publishing.
Even a traditionally published full-time author earning $20K a year from books and author-related income can legitimately question their career choices, don’t you think? That’s $9.58 an hour, which is better than minimum wage, but doesn’t go far.
Self-publishing is a bit better in terms of income, but it’s not for everyone. It takes a lot of time and energy, some money, and the help of paid professionals.
I don’t think it’s news that there’s not a lot of money in writing books.
Yes, there are outliers, and yes, we each have the potential to be one of those. But planning to be one of those is like planning to win the lottery.
So it’s a two-pronged situation involving limited opportunity (to reach readers) and insufficient money to live on (from publishers). Just like most athletes, except substitute audiences for readers and sports businesses / sponsors for publishers.
The good thing about writing is you don’t have to be the fittest person in the world to do it. You just need to want to do it more than you want to do other stuff.
It doesn’t matter what stage of life you’re at, how much you’re used to earning at your day job, how much you’ve spent learning to write or making connections that you hope will improve your odds of getting a book contract. It doesn’t matter how you see the median hourly rate of a full-time author in America, what you think about the system for finding a publisher, or even what you think about your own writing.
You’re either writing or you’re not writing. You’re either willing to face the pain of being thwarted, ignored, or rejected, or you’re not willing.
When things go well, you know that will pass.
And when things go badly, you know that, too, will pass.
It’s not personal. But because art is personal, it feels personal.
That’s a dichotomy all creators must learn to live with and transcend.
Cheers,
Pat
Our new podcast (available on Apple, Spotify, etc.) is, quite frankly, a gong show. I haven’t laughed that much in ages. Otherwise, things are pretty quiet over here at Lucid Edit / A Writer’s Roadmap / Gifted Underachievers / Lucid Editions…holy smokes, now that I write down my various “presences” on the web, I realize things are DECEPTIVELY QUIET. There’s all kinds of stuff I should be doing to get ready for the fall.
Guess what I found! Newspaper clippings from the first time I won the 3-day Novel Contest, back when sabre tooth tigers roamed the earth. Ah, youth. My dad saved them for me and I have just uploaded them to a secret page on my patdobie.com website — here’s the link if you’re looking for a larf. I had a perm, ok?
Book Bag
Everyone Here is Lying
by Shari Lapena
Doubleday Canada, 2023
This is the 7th novel by Shari Lapena, and the first one of hers I’ve read. Check out the reviews on her website by scrolling down.
The word “addictive” is apt for this domestic thriller about a girl who goes missing after a fight with her dad. I’m not usually big on ‘child in jeopardy’ plots, but Lapena pulls it off by making the child kind of terrifying, and by rotating among points of view, which lets her dole out key bits of information in a masterful way.