3 ms·
I wrote my first novel-shaped object when I was 15. Sold my first short story for actual money aged 21. First novel sold when I was 36. ... Stopped doing oth
by cstross 4y ago
I wrote my first novel-shaped object when I was 15.
Sold my first short story for actual money aged 21.
First novel sold when I was 36.
... Stopped doing other stuff (mainly freelance computer journalism) to sub the fiction when I was 42.
The sole consolation is that I'm doing okay now and my career didn't really get started until most successful pop stars are at the touring-with-the-greatest-hits-playlist stage (or have given up and gotten a job as an accountant).
On romance; yes, it outsells all other commercial fiction genres combined. But don't assume it's easy money: there's a lot of competition, and every genre turns out to be much harder than it looks once you dig your teeth into it.
- yojo 4y agoFair point, it’s all hard. I intended to call out romance as a (long shot) potential source of overnight success. Reading the various self-publishing forums, any post that starts with “I earned six figures on my first book” ends with “and it’s a romance.” I didn’t mean to imply that those authors don’t work hard or that those stories aren’t crazy outliers. Just that there’s more money sloshing around from a lot of avid readers. As an aside, please keep doing what you do. Accelerando hooked me deep when it came out, and I’ve had a ton of fun reading through The Laundry Files. Thanks for optimizing your career for something other than money.