Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire

Re:Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire by charlie0 on Wednesday May 29, 2024 @11:55AM (#40513321)

I'll add to that and say that a very large portion of the best authors likely built an online audience long before they published any books. It was the existing fame that made their books sell rather than a book making them famous.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire by odyssey7 on Wednesday May 29, 2024 @12:40PM (#40513918)

Also, getting a book to be a “bestseller” can be planned [0], further limiting the article’s statement that “in some cases, an author might get a small advance but make a lot of money via a surprise bestseller.”

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/02/22/heres-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire by pavlov on Wednesday May 29, 2024 @12:14PM (#40513579)

Somehow I find this proposition surprising and even shocking because it seems to assume that the best authors are young enough to have started their careers within the past 15-20 years when the internet has actually been relevant enough that one could build an audience there first.

I mean, maybe it's true, and I'm just stuck reading books by the old farts.

[ Parent | on HN ]