4 ms·

Just some of the problems authors already faced online (I'm related to one): - Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books (fin

Just some of the problems authors already faced online (I'm related to one): - Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books (finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$) - List your book on Amazon for $20 and a "third party" reseller will immediately hijack your listing with a poorly printed knockoff copy for $19 - Widespread piracy of Kindle and other e-Books - Not being paid fairly from programs like Amazon's Kindle Unlimited Now AI-generated content makes these problems considerably worse. It's very difficult to make money writing books these days.

WalterBright 3y ago
> It's very difficult to make money writing books these days That's been true as long as the printing press existed. I know many authors, and none of them make money worth spit.
- memefrog 3y ago
  I used to be difficult to make money writing books because it was difficult to write a good book that people wanted to buy. Now it's also made even more difficult by rampant fraud. That's not the same sort of thing at all.
WalterBright 3y ago
> finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$ One wonders if that few $$ was worth the bother for the authors. Especially when set against the free marketing that such exposure would get for them. There are other reasons for writing books than making money selling them, such as enhancing your professional reputation, which can segue into a better paying job, more contract opportunities, ability to sell seminars, etc. I have no idea how much Carrie Fisher made selling her books, but she did make a lot of money from a touring stage show based on the books, and also had a lucrative career as a "script doctor" in Hollywood that rescued boring and trite scripts. And, of course, having book signings!
- WalterBright 3y ago
  I practice what I preach. I create content every day, and give it away for free.
- tornato7 3y ago
  If Google had an opt-in way for authors to get their book indexed that would be fantastic. But the settlement required authors to opt out, and Google made that difficult to do.
__mharrison__ 3y ago
I know a bunch of authors (who write technical books) who do well. They earn from $10k to $500k per year...
magicalist 3y ago
> Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books This isn't a thing that was ever offered, it was always full text search, get snippets of results. > (finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$) The two proposed class action settlements were rejected as overly advantageous to Google (probably for the best they were rejected, though it would have opened up orphaned works in a way that Congress will never ever bother to do). Then the judge ruled that google books scanning and searching was fair use and dismissed the lawsuit, upheld by the second circuit. No one ever saw any money, few $$ or otherwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild,_Inc._v._Google,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild,_Inc._v._Google,....
- tornato7 3y ago
  Google Books had 'previews' of books that included large swaths of the content. They claimed to only publish this with the author's permission but as I understand it the way that permission was granted was quite sneaky and authors didn't always know what they were agreeing to. It does not matter whether the lawsuit was dismissed or not, Google practices harmed authors and that's why the Authors Guild sued them.
kccqzy 3y ago
> It's very difficult to make money writing books these days. Go read some autobiographies or memoirs and you'll find well-to-do authors and their lavish lifestyles.
- tornato7 3y ago
  That's just survivorship bias. You only read about the very few authors that found success. The Author's Guild survey of 5,000+ authors[1], the largest such survey ever conducted, found an author's median earnings is $6,080 per year. 1. https://authorsguild.org/news/authors-guild-survey-shows-drastic-42-percent-decline-in-authors-earnings-in-last-decade/ https://authorsguild.org/news/authors-guild-survey-shows-dra...

WalterBright 3y ago

> It's very difficult to make money writing books these days That's been true as long as the printing press existed. I know many authors, and none of them make money worth spit.

memefrog 3y ago
I used to be difficult to make money writing books because it was difficult to write a good book that people wanted to buy. Now it's also made even more difficult by rampant fraud. That's not the same sort of thing at all.

WalterBright 3y ago

> finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$ One wonders if that few $$ was worth the bother for the authors. Especially when set against the free marketing that such exposure would get for them. There are other reasons for writing books than making money selling them, such as enhancing your professional reputation, which can segue into a better paying job, more contract opportunities, ability to sell seminars, etc. I have no idea how much Carrie Fisher made selling her books, but she did make a lot of money from a touring stage show based on the books, and also had a lucrative career as a "script doctor" in Hollywood that rescued boring and trite scripts. And, of course, having book signings!

WalterBright 3y ago
I practice what I preach. I create content every day, and give it away for free.
tornato7 3y ago
If Google had an opt-in way for authors to get their book indexed that would be fantastic. But the settlement required authors to opt out, and Google made that difficult to do.

__mharrison__ 3y ago

I know a bunch of authors (who write technical books) who do well. They earn from $10k to $500k per year...

magicalist 3y ago

> Google indexing and republishing all of their work for free on Google Books This isn't a thing that was ever offered, it was always full text search, get snippets of results. > (finally resolved after a huge Class Action suit where the authors were awarded a few $$) The two proposed class action settlements were rejected as overly advantageous to Google (probably for the best they were rejected, though it would have opened up orphaned works in a way that Congress will never ever bother to do). Then the judge ruled that google books scanning and searching was fair use and dismissed the lawsuit, upheld by the second circuit. No one ever saw any money, few $$ or otherwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild,_Inc._v._Google,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors_Guild,_Inc._v._Google,....

tornato7 3y ago
Google Books had 'previews' of books that included large swaths of the content. They claimed to only publish this with the author's permission but as I understand it the way that permission was granted was quite sneaky and authors didn't always know what they were agreeing to. It does not matter whether the lawsuit was dismissed or not, Google practices harmed authors and that's why the Authors Guild sued them.

kccqzy 3y ago

> It's very difficult to make money writing books these days. Go read some autobiographies or memoirs and you'll find well-to-do authors and their lavish lifestyles.

tornato7 3y ago
That's just survivorship bias. You only read about the very few authors that found success. The Author's Guild survey of 5,000+ authors[1], the largest such survey ever conducted, found an author's median earnings is $6,080 per year. 1. https://authorsguild.org/news/authors-guild-survey-shows-drastic-42-percent-decline-in-authors-earnings-in-last-decade/ https://authorsguild.org/news/authors-guild-survey-shows-dra...