5 ms·

> What I'm getting at, is, as a professional author, if you were paid just to live and write, would you still want to be paid-per-copy of your work? Ideally I'

> What I'm getting at, is, as a professional author, if you were paid just to live and write, would you still want to be paid-per-copy of your work? Ideally I'd like to know how many people were reading my work, and whether they liked it -- but I really just want the freedom to write (in reasonable comfort). Unfortunately actually-existing-capitalism as it is today provides no mechanism for doing this, at least on any scale that can support more than a tiny handful of authors, plus the folks climbing the teaching-MFA LitFic academic career ladder (for whom writing is often simply an extramural career progression activity -- with notable exceptions).

zamnos 3y ago
That's the failed promise of Amazon Unlimited though, isn't it? Authors get some sliver of the monthly $10 in exchange for having their books on the service, according to how much they're read. If it cost readers $1,000/month and had enough customers then author's could collect real amounts of money and live off that. Unfortunately, the number of people who can even afford an extra $1,000/mo is small, never mind be willing to pay that. The other problem is a bit harder to solve though. Authors don't get paid by how much they're read, but by how many books people buy. There's a subtle difference between the two, and as the story about a large number of record owners not owning record players suggests, I might read book one of a series, get really excited about the rest of the series and buy them all. And then not read them. Maybe it balances out with readers passing one copy of a book around, but I doubt that. That might just have to be something author would have to face if Expensive Kindle Unlimited ever became a thing.
carapace 3y ago
> Ideally I'd like to know how many people were reading my work, and whether they liked it -- but I really just want the freedom to write (in reasonable comfort). FWIW, I kinda figured. If you were really that into money you would have picked a different career, eh? (As a fan I'm glad you didn't.) > Unfortunately actually-existing-capitalism as it is today provides no mechanism for doing this, Ah, that's where it all falls down, eh? I've got some ideas, and I just got some land on which to try them. At risk of sounding like an asshole, I'm looking forward to finding out if I'm a genius or just full of shit, you know?

zamnos 3y ago

That's the failed promise of Amazon Unlimited though, isn't it? Authors get some sliver of the monthly $10 in exchange for having their books on the service, according to how much they're read. If it cost readers $1,000/month and had enough customers then author's could collect real amounts of money and live off that. Unfortunately, the number of people who can even afford an extra $1,000/mo is small, never mind be willing to pay that. The other problem is a bit harder to solve though. Authors don't get paid by how much they're read, but by how many books people buy. There's a subtle difference between the two, and as the story about a large number of record owners not owning record players suggests, I might read book one of a series, get really excited about the rest of the series and buy them all. And then not read them. Maybe it balances out with readers passing one copy of a book around, but I doubt that. That might just have to be something author would have to face if Expensive Kindle Unlimited ever became a thing.

carapace 3y ago

> Ideally I'd like to know how many people were reading my work, and whether they liked it -- but I really just want the freedom to write (in reasonable comfort). FWIW, I kinda figured. If you were really that into money you would have picked a different career, eh? (As a fan I'm glad you didn't.) > Unfortunately actually-existing-capitalism as it is today provides no mechanism for doing this, Ah, that's where it all falls down, eh? I've got some ideas, and I just got some land on which to try them. At risk of sounding like an asshole, I'm looking forward to finding out if I'm a genius or just full of shit, you know?