Writers and Money Were Never Made to Mix Easily

Submitted by Radreview on April 13, 2006 - 10:31pm

Again bouncing around this blog and throughout the Internet are those writing hopefuls that want to "make a living" of the craft.

I think it was Michael Crichton, author of "Jurassic Park" and a number of other so-so but well-positioned novels over the years, remarked to a colleague that only 200 or so people in the country actually "earned a living" strictly from their own writing.

Now there are thousands of print media minions, wire reporters, Internet "leg men," and Hollywood screenplay urchins who collaborate on projects, but insofar as actual novelists are concerned, very, very few can ever dream of quitting their day job.

Even successful bestseller writers are forced into innumerable book promotion tours, book signing parties, talk circuits and the like just to break even on this writing game.

When Hollywood comes knocking, of course, the game is different economically, but even then the writer's basic idea is often stomped on, trampled asunder and rendered a pale version of its earlier glory.

It's a sad, tragic life for most writers out there. But always keep in mind that writing "for a living" or for money at all is a relatively recent concept. In the old days, even with Shakespeare, who never really made that much on his plays, only a miserly cut of box-office proceeds which were never that great, money was never a motivating force behind the great writer. Drugs, maybe. Money, no.

But in the modern age, the Internet is beginning to surface as the great equalizer. Indeed, writing opportunities are starting to multiply, but so are the writers themselves, so it will be even harder to gain a publishing foothold on the coming blur of writings that will pour like Niagara Falls onto the web sites of many a blogger.

At least, for the courageous, there is a fighting chance. But you had better put your best foot forward. Don't get in line, try to butt in with whatever material you have spouted forth, uise every legal means to make your point, then watch as the literary chips fall as they may, Texas Hold 'Em style.

It is busy but never dull, this literary life.