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> Did it used to be easier to make a living as an author? One of the dominant subjective experiences of living today is the sensation that any possible amazing

> Did it used to be easier to make a living as an author? One of the dominant subjective experiences of living today is the sensation that any possible amazing kind of life is right there and it is only up to us to reach out to pluck it. You go on Instagram and see people living blissful lives of travel in gorgeous locales while talking about how affordable it is. That random dude who wrote a series of posts on some story-telling Reddit ends up getting it optioned by Hollywood and is now a major screenwriter. The sea shanty Tik-Tok'er is a major label recording artist. Our culture's positive values of egalitarianism and opportunity say that whatever you want your life to be can be, if only you work hard enough to get it. The dark side of this is that many of us won't. And, in particular, in many areas, the total number of brass rings is relatively fixed and we can't all get them. A hundred years ago, most people didn't even think of becoming an author. It was a rarefied activity done by people who went to college and moved to New York City. For more, authors felt like an Other. It's not that their personal dreams of authorship were crushed by the lack of opportunity, it's like they never thought to dream it in the first place, any more than people dream of being howler monkeys or velour sofas. But today, media is more than happy to show us all possible dreams. Our social media aggregators filter out all of the lives you're likely to lead and show you only the best ones. So I think today many many more people consider and try to become authors than ever before. But the total amount of time spent reading isn't growing enough to accommodate that. While some will find success (for however they choose to define that), the end result is probably a much greater number of dreams thwarted than attained. I love this TED talk by Alain de Botton on success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSE4rglxbY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSE4rglxbY He says: "It is probably as unlikely nowadays that you would become as rich and famous as Bill Gates as it was unlikely in the 17th century that you would exceed to the ranks of the French aristocracy. But the point is it doesn't feel that way. It's made to feel by the media and other outlets that if you've got energy, a few bright ideas about technology, a garage, you too could start a major thing."

gurkendoktor 6y ago
Great comment! > A hundred years ago, most people didn't even think of becoming an author. The following is a bit tangential, but I keep thinking about it: I was watching this video on the Barnum effect recently, which basically says that people are likely to believe in the accuracy of vague descriptions of their personality (think horoscopes; "Libras need security"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2HoscBLIw&t=4m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2HoscBLIw&t=4m23s The super-vague personality assessment, which was tailored to describe as many people as possible, included the wish for writing a novel (at 4m23s). That's how common this desire is/was? I wonder if the modern version of it would say "you have considered opening up on YouTube".
- munificent 6y ago
  It's a little different. I think there has long been a thing were many people dreamed of spending a fraction of their retirement writing their memoirs, or something along those lines. It was a dream in roughly the same category as owning a sailboat or moving to the islands. Kind of a "one of these days" leisure aspiration. Today—because we are all so intensely culturally obsessed with financial success—"being a writer" means writing stuff right now and doing it well enough to make a living off of. Where before, many dreamed of writing as a thing to do after they've earned most of their wealth, now it is a means to it.
  - floren 6y ago
    > Today—because we are all so intensely culturally obsessed with financial success—"being a writer" means writing stuff right now and doing it well enough to make a living off of. This is something I've thought about a lot lately. It seems like if you show any hint of artistic talent or skill in some craft, everyone around you starts encouraging you to monetize it. You draw so well, you should have a patreon. You made some nice soap, you should sell that at the farmer's market. You picked up enough leatherworking to make a wallet, when are you opening the etsy store? I don't think that's right. edit: nobody tells the person who changes their own oil "oh wow you should be a mechanic!", but god forbid you write a short story without submitting it to The New Yorker :)
    - vageli 6y ago
      What does it say about our world, when the casual display of creativity uncoupled from the desire for monetary gain is something remarkable?
scubbo 6y ago
> the total number of brass rings TIL of the associated phrase, thank you!
ellegriffin 6y ago
I love this. Thank you for sharing!
cardiffspaceman 6y ago
One of the scenes I enjoyed in "Patton" was when Patton defeats Rommel through knowledge of Rommel's tactics. He yells, seemingly across the field to Rommel, "I read your book". (The movie actually makes it seem like Patton could read unpublished manuscripts of his opponent [1]) This exemplifies that famous people wrote books. They wrote memoirs and they wrote manuals. I couldn't say how the gatekeepers dealt with such books, nor how the potential readership found or regarded such books. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_Attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_Attacks
coldtea 6y ago
>The dark side of this is that many of us won't. And, in particular, in many areas, the total number of brass rings is relatively fixed and we can't all get them. A hundred years ago, most people didn't even think of becoming an author. It's worse: a hundred years ago (say 1921) there were less people (in the US for example), and more succesful authors. Now it's more people (350 million vs 100 million in 2021) AND less absolute people reading books (perhaps as today they also compete with tv, the web, youtube, netflix, social media, videogames, and so on as everyday entertainment options). So it's much much harder to make a living as an author today than in 1921.
- cortesoft 6y ago
  > So it's much much harder to make a living as an author today than in 1921. And much easier to make it as a television screen writer. The mediums have shifted
  - coldtea 6y ago
    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.
    - fsckboy 6y ago
      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 more workers and food processors... etc. Ivy league english majors get jobs writing TV and movie scripts. Mass electronic distribution means that many many people get to watch the creative output of a small number of people. All the other people who used to write are available to fill new niches in the economy. Yep, the transition is difficult, and they'll complain about it, but society as a whole benefits.
cortesoft 6y ago
This makes a lot of sense. In the past, the big hurdle to becoming an author (or a musician, or a model, etc) was getting past the gatekeepers. You had to convince a publisher, or a label, or a modeling company that you were worthy and then you were in. This seemed like an impossible task to most people, and many people gave up without even trying. But for those who did persist and attempt to get past the gatekeepers, there was a very clear goal, and the gatekeepers were very clear to you when you didn't make it. The traditional gatekeepers to a lot of professions are being bypassed these days, so at first it seems like it should be easier now. You don't have to have any connections or convince a single person your stuff is worthy. However, in reality that game is even harder now. The demand for the content hasn't changed much, and it is still just as rare to succeed in these fields as before. However, people never get the clear 'pass/fail' response from a gatekeeper, so people who will never make it are likely to pursue the career longer than they might have with a more clear rejection.
ZephyrBlu 6y ago
> But today, media is more than happy to show us all possible dreams. Our social media aggregators filter out all of the lives you're likely to lead and show you only the best ones Ironically it's those same social media aggregators that make the stars these days. You can literally be an overnight success if you get lucky.
ripe 6y ago
Thank you for the link to Alain de Botton's Ted talk AND for summarizing in text! Wish more people did this.
achillesheels 6y ago
It’s funny to me how you think the reading amount hasn’t increased. I agree, yet what is the point of all those college degrees afforded - presumably as correlative of more literacy? I think this speaks further to your point about what people’s aspirations have turned into: mere fantasies. Don’t get me wrong, I fantasize too, but I manage in eating a balanced breakfast. I think the obsessive component is completely disregarded in the realization of most “self-actualizing” aspirants. I can think of a recent read of Angus Black of AC/DC and how he turned his first guitar’s fretboard rotten from all the sweat. Focusing more on finding that obsession rather than fantasizing about becoming something you likely are not tooled for - say an author - will lead to a more satisfactory course through life. Otherwise, one is simply blindly and madly stabbing in the dark to achieve what someone like Bukowski will starve to do. It must come from within, not from without.

gurkendoktor 6y ago

Great comment! > A hundred years ago, most people didn't even think of becoming an author. The following is a bit tangential, but I keep thinking about it: I was watching this video on the Barnum effect recently, which basically says that people are likely to believe in the accuracy of vague descriptions of their personality (think horoscopes; "Libras need security"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2HoscBLIw&t=4m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2HoscBLIw&t=4m23s The super-vague personality assessment, which was tailored to describe as many people as possible, included the wish for writing a novel (at 4m23s). That's how common this desire is/was? I wonder if the modern version of it would say "you have considered opening up on YouTube".

munificent 6y ago
It's a little different. I think there has long been a thing were many people dreamed of spending a fraction of their retirement writing their memoirs, or something along those lines. It was a dream in roughly the same category as owning a sailboat or moving to the islands. Kind of a "one of these days" leisure aspiration. Today—because we are all so intensely culturally obsessed with financial success—"being a writer" means writing stuff right now and doing it well enough to make a living off of. Where before, many dreamed of writing as a thing to do after they've earned most of their wealth, now it is a means to it.
- floren 6y ago
  > Today—because we are all so intensely culturally obsessed with financial success—"being a writer" means writing stuff right now and doing it well enough to make a living off of. This is something I've thought about a lot lately. It seems like if you show any hint of artistic talent or skill in some craft, everyone around you starts encouraging you to monetize it. You draw so well, you should have a patreon. You made some nice soap, you should sell that at the farmer's market. You picked up enough leatherworking to make a wallet, when are you opening the etsy store? I don't think that's right. edit: nobody tells the person who changes their own oil "oh wow you should be a mechanic!", but god forbid you write a short story without submitting it to The New Yorker :)
  - vageli 6y ago
    What does it say about our world, when the casual display of creativity uncoupled from the desire for monetary gain is something remarkable?

scubbo 6y ago

> the total number of brass rings TIL of the associated phrase, thank you!

ellegriffin 6y ago

I love this. Thank you for sharing!

cardiffspaceman 6y ago

One of the scenes I enjoyed in "Patton" was when Patton defeats Rommel through knowledge of Rommel's tactics. He yells, seemingly across the field to Rommel, "I read your book". (The movie actually makes it seem like Patton could read unpublished manuscripts of his opponent [1]) This exemplifies that famous people wrote books. They wrote memoirs and they wrote manuals. I couldn't say how the gatekeepers dealt with such books, nor how the potential readership found or regarded such books. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_Attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_Attacks

coldtea 6y ago

>The dark side of this is that many of us won't. And, in particular, in many areas, the total number of brass rings is relatively fixed and we can't all get them. A hundred years ago, most people didn't even think of becoming an author. It's worse: a hundred years ago (say 1921) there were less people (in the US for example), and more succesful authors. Now it's more people (350 million vs 100 million in 2021) AND less absolute people reading books (perhaps as today they also compete with tv, the web, youtube, netflix, social media, videogames, and so on as everyday entertainment options). So it's much much harder to make a living as an author today than in 1921.

cortesoft 6y ago
> So it's much much harder to make a living as an author today than in 1921. And much easier to make it as a television screen writer. The mediums have shifted
- coldtea 6y ago
  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.
  - fsckboy 6y ago
    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 more workers and food processors... etc. Ivy league english majors get jobs writing TV and movie scripts. Mass electronic distribution means that many many people get to watch the creative output of a small number of people. All the other people who used to write are available to fill new niches in the economy. Yep, the transition is difficult, and they'll complain about it, but society as a whole benefits.

cortesoft 6y ago

This makes a lot of sense. In the past, the big hurdle to becoming an author (or a musician, or a model, etc) was getting past the gatekeepers. You had to convince a publisher, or a label, or a modeling company that you were worthy and then you were in. This seemed like an impossible task to most people, and many people gave up without even trying. But for those who did persist and attempt to get past the gatekeepers, there was a very clear goal, and the gatekeepers were very clear to you when you didn't make it. The traditional gatekeepers to a lot of professions are being bypassed these days, so at first it seems like it should be easier now. You don't have to have any connections or convince a single person your stuff is worthy. However, in reality that game is even harder now. The demand for the content hasn't changed much, and it is still just as rare to succeed in these fields as before. However, people never get the clear 'pass/fail' response from a gatekeeper, so people who will never make it are likely to pursue the career longer than they might have with a more clear rejection.

ZephyrBlu 6y ago

> But today, media is more than happy to show us all possible dreams. Our social media aggregators filter out all of the lives you're likely to lead and show you only the best ones Ironically it's those same social media aggregators that make the stars these days. You can literally be an overnight success if you get lucky.

ripe 6y ago

Thank you for the link to Alain de Botton's Ted talk AND for summarizing in text! Wish more people did this.

achillesheels 6y ago

It’s funny to me how you think the reading amount hasn’t increased. I agree, yet what is the point of all those college degrees afforded - presumably as correlative of more literacy? I think this speaks further to your point about what people’s aspirations have turned into: mere fantasies. Don’t get me wrong, I fantasize too, but I manage in eating a balanced breakfast. I think the obsessive component is completely disregarded in the realization of most “self-actualizing” aspirants. I can think of a recent read of Angus Black of AC/DC and how he turned his first guitar’s fretboard rotten from all the sweat. Focusing more on finding that obsession rather than fantasizing about becoming something you likely are not tooled for - say an author - will lead to a more satisfactory course through life. Otherwise, one is simply blindly and madly stabbing in the dark to achieve what someone like Bukowski will starve to do. It must come from within, not from without.