why don't authors make any money?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ม.ค. 2023
- Right. Let's have it.
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Orwell’s essay, Books V Cigarettes (short and very worth while reading!)
orwell.ru/library/articles/ci...
Stats I talk about in the intro: www2.societyofauthors.org/202...
www.ibisworld.com/united-king...
More articles for the curious…
www.societyofauthors.org/Wher....
www.societyofauthors.org/Wher...
www.investopedia.com/terms/z/....
www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
www.theguardian.com/books/201...
thecircularboard.com/book-pub...
www.versionmuseum.com/blog/ne...
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In Ireland they are testing a basic income for artists, where they get 325€ per week. I think that sounds very promising:)
I've heard so many times about how you shouldn't shop Amazon to support local bookshops, but never that we shouldn't shop Amazon to support the authors, and I feel like this is something that should be disseminated because those percentages + the lower selling rate seem like stealing
I used to support local bookstores, back when we had them. The last, a Barnes & Noble so not truly "local", was totalled by a tornado several years ago. The company decided not to rebuild unless/until the economy improves. I can remember a time when we had three bookstores, two of them quite large, and two used book stores. All that remains now is one dedicated Christian book store, which makes perfect sense considering the area of the U.S. I live in. To make matters worse, our public library funding was recently reduced by half thanks to two last-minute Nov 2022 ballot initiatives, both of which passed. You'd think a University city of some 85k would have decently strong reading support, but no. All of which results in me depending on Amazon for book purchases, or rather e-books nowadays, there being no viable alternative, other than Project Gutenberg, which is how I acquire "classics". Thankfully, DL'ing classics free-of-charge takes no money from the pockets of active authors.
Would love an episode on libraries
Such a good video! I am an aspiring author who has a day job i genuinely really enjoy, and in a perfect world i would love to be able to spend half my week writing and the other half doing my day job. I work in heritage and i do think a day job helps to keep your feet on the ground and it pushes you to learn and be inspired in ways you wouldn't experience if you were a full-time writer. In other ways it is quite sad that I know it would be completely unrealistic to ever expect to be able to live off my own writing, it sure would be nice to actually have that choice!
Same! I would love to have that kind of flexibility, because working full-time, even though I like my job, takes away so much energy and time I could have spent finishing novels. But I don't want to quit altogether either, as having a job keeps me on my toes. But damn I have always dreamed of being a successful published writer earning a well enough income to not be dependent on another job. I feel kind of bummed out now, knowing it might never happen.
@marykedewitt1362 it's just as likely (or unlikely) to happen as success in any other entrepreneurial field. You don't get paid for starting a business. Only for turning a profit. You could work 80 hour weeks for a whole year trying to get a business off the ground. But if it doesn't turn a profit you don't make any money. If it does turn a profit, there's almost no limit to the money you can make. Being an artist is the same way. You could spend hours writing books or making music or shooting videos. If it doesn't get enough attention, you get nothing. On the other hand, if it takes off, there's no limit to how much money you can make. If you want to get paid immediately, you can write (or make videos or music) for other people, as a staff writer. That's the 9-5 version of writing. They tell you what to write and you write it. But if you want to write your own thing you have to treat it like any other artist or entrepreneur. Keeping in mind that it's an incredibly risky endeavour with potentially unlimited upside. At least with writing you're not risking any capital, only time.
I've been thinking a lot recently about the Harper Collins union that is currently on strike - and how most workers in this industry aren't being paid a living wage for where they live, and most authors aren't aren't making enough money to live off of their writing - and what all of that means for the future of books and publishing where this industry could continue to be something that is only available to people who come from wealthy backgrounds
Thank you so much for this video, from an aspiring author! About the question of being an author as a full time job, my father (a painter who chose to have a 9-5 regardless of whether or not his art succeeds financially) has two arguements I find interesting: one, experiencing the daily work-related annoyances that almost all of us have to go through increases the range of emotions your audience can relate to in your art, and two, solely earning money from your art might make the art feel like a 9-5 and replace passion with pressure.
👍Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing!!
And here's a plug for Leena's great book if you don't have it already! The poetry is lovely -- moving, funny, and if you love these videos you will love her work. Such a joy to have her voice in another format. THANK YOU LEENA for writing YOUR book for us humans! 💕
Xxxx
Wow, this is definitely a video that needs to get some traction in the booktube sphere. Love that you can educate us with your insider information!
The key worker bit reminds me of how Oscar Wilde wrote an essay criticizing society for not placing as much or at least a fair amount of importance and value into the work of thinkers/writers as they did other workers, despite how it gives life meaning. I remember it was a really interesting argument for valuing writers in society as their contributions added more meaning to life, I suppose. Still very true to this day. Hopefully, that will improve in time 🤞
I would love to just write and make art full time. I don’t mind my day job but it burns me out while writing recharges me…the problem is I can’t pay rent with it. And by having a full time day job I don’t have the time to really commit to all the non-writing labour to get something published (which is very mentally draining and confidence squashing, so it’s not the first thing I choose to do when sitting down to write).
Great video and a great lamp! I get so stuck on whether or not self publishing is the answer. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the whole self publishing shebang, pros and cons. Obviously anyone can self publish anything, HBO isn't knocking down the door, and no one is there to help you sell. But setting your own prices and owning all the rights does sound very tempting. It is very easy to find examples of traditionally publish authors who still work a demanding day job, as well as self published authors who are doing it full time and making rent. It almost seems that both traditional and self publishing have equaled out into a "either you go big or you go nowhere" situation. Culture at large still seems to view self publishing as a joke, but then you get success stories like Andy Weir, and for an aspiring author who hates the query game, that miraculous story remains an ideal.
I dream of working with an editor and sensitivity readers, collaborating to make the book the best it can be, which seems the biggest reason (in addition to the marketing department, international/film rights folks) to go the trad route. It certainly isn't about money anymore when published authors are making so little. Self publishing seems like an evolving playground and I'd love to hear your thoughts, as I really respect your opinions and expertise.
Hey Bianca! This is a incredibly late reply but I hope you see it :) SO my TLDR answer to this, as someone who has self published and been traditionally published, is: Poetry or Niche/Genre Fiction = yes, maybe, but digital only advised - Anything else = treat self publishing as an absolute last resort. Like you're listing, there is so much that goes in to making a book besides writing it, and each part of that process has an expertise. Putting it all on yourself to learn and execute to a standard that an audience would be happy with will take as much time as writing the book, funding and possibly cost your peace of mind/sanity. That's my very short take, but I love your channel and if you'd like, happy to jump in to DMs to go deeper in to it or if you have specific Qs around your own work, as I know you've written a few books now? Anyway, hope that helps! x
@@leenanorms Thank you so much for your thoughts Leena! I figured it was still a 'last resort' sort of situation, dang it! I guess I just find the query/agenting process so daunting, with the various requirements for each agent or agency allowing so many opportunities for mistakes, that my mind wants to find a way around the homework. It almost seems like writing fiction and writing good submission materials require such different skills that my creative side rebels. Though as you say, self publishing involves a boat load more homework as well!
I do indeed have two books (speculative fiction) chilling in the wings for me to get my act together and make the time to query properly, but as they are longer than most first time authors are advised to submit, it's easy to despair before I've even tried. No sense in that, but the brain wanders! I'm sort of just hoping that after I finish my current WIP I can manage to write something under 100K words and have a better chance. Having an editor and especially sensitivity readers are both important to me, so for now I will continue to wait until I can devote the proper hours to researching/taking my next steps. Thank you for getting back to me!
This was interesting to watch. I've been listening to a lot of discussions around Brandon Sanderson a decision to withhold his new works from Audible for at least a year in order to try and advocate for better compensation for authors. I feel like this is such a big discussion, books are everything, and it's really important that we pay authors enough that they have the space for creativity.
It's really comforting for me to hear you say 'crisis of hope' and 'crisis of general optimism' because I've been wondering for a long time now if it's just me who has existentially depressed feelings even though I know it's not, but I just want the confirmation! Great video, loved to learn about this!
This was super interesting !! I think a combo of UBI and more protections for indie book sellers is the way to go. Super surprised at the extent of the pay gap seeing as most of my fave books are written by women 😭 Maybe a QR code at the end of the book to tip the author would be nice ! To add to the general buying books convo it also becomes a bit of a moral dillema when trying to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable - personally I always try to buy second hand but then there's always the guilt that you're not supporting the artist when doing so !
Yes, the sustainability aspect of books is confusing me more and more at the moment.
hm I dont know about the tipping idea though because it would create a market similar to the serving industry in the US. Instead of companies paying for a decent liveable wage they can shift the responsibility onto the customer, making the customer pay more and pushing the worker/author into a highly unstable and unsteady income.
This was very insightful! Thank you, Leena.
this is so enlightening! thank you, Leena! 💛
i’ve learnt a lot here, awesome video essay 🙌🏼🤩
I'm just loving seeing the little corners of your house 😍
Great video, really interesting, thanks Leena!
Love this video Leena! All the books/publishing content please 🤩
thoroughly enjoy the JOY that emanates from your book videos, and the silliness of every time you throw your own book out of shot! wonderful, excellent, fantastic, show stopping :')
Seriously im so grateful for you Leena. As soon as i am able to i want to support your amazing work. Youve taught me 21 year old with little resourcefulness so much. I also love how you provide solutions for the issues you bring up.
Xxx
LOVE the video and also LOVE the whole 90s Rachel from Friends look you're sporting! The haircut and dungarees combo suits you so well!
Such a good video with quick, relevant, and transparent information & stats! You kicked it out the park again as per all your videos. TAT I love you
The lighting and the filming locations have such a cozy vibe, like dark without being scary. Thanks for the informative video!
Great and insightful video, Leena - Thank you! But also look at these backgrounds. Such a cosy ambience!
I love the idea of writers as key workers, it is so so true ❤
Leena, you are one of the most intelligent and inspiring people on the internet! I just love your sense of humor, your capacity to be (self-)critical, the topics you chose to talk about and the way you approach them. That being said, I'm a writer with a day job, and what you said at the end of the video made me cry - in a good way :')
just here commenting to say leena, I absolutely loved your book and it means the world to me! great vid as always
I really appreciated this video, thanks for sharing your insider perspective!
your hair looks sooo good love it
I work in a bookshop and it's definetly interesting to learn about such things, thanks for your insight !
Leena your hair looks incredible it suits you so well 🤍 I love your content so much keep the greet work going
Love this explanation and all your helpful drawings, Leena! The music industry works very, very similarly. The vast majority of artists who have record deals are actually in debt to their record companies because unless you do the songwriting, the engineering, and the performing all yourself, a whole handful of people are taking royalty cuts before the performer ever sees the money. And if you're in a band of five people, the measly 19 percent (or whatever is in your contract) of the royalties you're earning is then further split between the five of you, and, oh by the way, you still owe the record label the $80k it cost to record your album in the first place no matter whether your album sales tank or not. And don't even get me started on streaming. That's why you see so many celebrity musicians doing promotion for luxury fashion companies, coming out with side brands, doing makeup collaborations, merch, etc. because at the end of the day, even musicians most people would consider "big" aren't taking home very big paychecks from their music.
That sounds even worse than book publishing because it seems like the record company is assuming even less risk than publishers if they can come after artists for the cost of recording. Wild.
yeah for sure!
Amazing video- would love more like this!!
I live in Poland, and finding the books I want to read is not easy at all, so I 99% of the time resort to Amazon and have discussed, and balked, at length,with friends in the USA why their books at Barnes and Noble cost more than the books I am purchasing through Amazon. An incredible video, thank you! I actually have your poetry collection on my next Amazon purchasing list, but I will try and see if your publisher will ship to Poland so that you can get a bigger cut of the deal.
I obsess. your videos are cool as hell
This is a great, interesting video, but also your outfit is so damn cute, especially with how you styled your hair and did your makeup. Style icon!
Thank you for teaching us about this.
An aspiring author here but haven't gone that far in a few months - I have to be freed up from the intensity of my university work AND the barriers as a deaf person (I'm writing on deaf experiences). This is a brilliant video. My dad wrote two children's books with a friend who was an illustrator, and they are amazing!
Loved this video I look forward to watch more from you
background is looking lovely leena!
Incredibly insightful! Can't wait to read the poetry book😍
This is a great video, thanks Leena. I’ve been making a concerted effort to try to buy books from independent sellers, though it is hard with a limited budget (and a hefty appetite for books) when you see the low prices on Amazon. This video has really helped me appreciate that these efforts are worth it beyond just not feeding the greedy Amazon machine
Omg thank you for this very useful education.
this is so interesting thank you for teaching us!!
fascinating! I didn't know most of that information 💖 Thank you for this 💖
Loved this video as someone who writes it was very insightful
I love that since you posting this, Waterstones have also now acquired Blackwells 😅
This was so helpful and interesting thank you!
Nope, the thing that changed me was a horse riding accident where I broke my spine in 3 places, my pelvis in 2 places, and splinched my liver. I was in a wheelchair for a while, and seven years later, I have just started riding again. It changed my entire outlook and path in life. Maybe the setup was obvious given the setting, surrounded by books, but there you go 😅
So much sense and truth you say here; let’s campaign to make all those suggestions a reality.
Loved this video!!!
Loved this video! ❤
2:30 That lamp is so cute! 😍
I wonder if there was a rise in self-publishing on Amazon during the pandemic. I certainly feel like they make it really easy to insert the text of the book, format it yourself and it gets printed by some Amazon affiliate on crappy paper in a crappy binding. They have not only got the publishers wrapped around their finger with the deals they’re making like you said but they’re also trying to take over and do their job for them. I’m currently working on writing my first book so this is super timely.
Off to look into my tiny hometown publishers now. Ta!
Great at the beginning of the video I got one of those "The fastest and easiest way to make money on Amazon is to never sell physical products"-ads (which is an ad for a course on how to sell... e-books!) 😒
This was so interesting! Thank you very much but I do now have a few extra questions - what happens when the bookshop does a sale? Who takes the financial hit? Distributor? Publisher? Author? And what about sales from library books? Obviously the library has to purchase your book for a higher price than normal - does getting my local library to purchase your book benefit you at all?
It is great to have more of an explanation of why buying books at the local book shop costs more. I figured that it was the expensive storefront rent that they have to pay. Knowing that they pay more for every book was not something that I had considered.
As the proud sister of an author about to have her debut novel published in 2 months (after an agonising 2 years of waiting - what a process!), I would love to see a video about how we can support authors we love. I have a bit of following across IG, Twitter and TH-cam - though not book related - and would love to leverage that in some way.
Also very strange how you popped into my feed at this perfect moment in time. I've never even googled the above yet here the universe knew or the internet is far creepier than my paranoid mind even imagined.
My friend linked you because of the climate protest videos (watching them only after writing this comment), but when I saw the title of THIS video, I had to watch this first.
Not disappointed.
I used to work with a colleague who's main job was working for a publishing company. We got along very well, she encouraged me to write after our second 10 minute breaktime chat : ) (I don't write). She also used me to check if something that she came across was how much of an original idea :D You see, I watch anime, she doesn't. She had to speed read approximately 10-15 book drafts a week.
We lost touch, not permanently, I hope, but I often think of her.
Anyways, what I wanted to say is, IMO books are IN once again. I think very soon, as in the current 13-15 years old teens' coolest definition will be how much of a bookworm you are, and who is a member of more libraries. Because that's what the cool kids will do. (also greener).
Think about it. We (Millennials) had the rise of the internet. We dropped books for Google and Wikipedia and by the dawn of Gen Z entering the workforce we even dropped novels, because of multiple online TV streaming services.
But while this was comfy, they are now all actively failing. We (Millennials and Gen Z) had the option of choosing what we consume - not anymore. AI and algorithm bots have taken over the internet, we can try, but in reality we never find the right content and it is always designed to be in our bubble or to deliberately sidetrack and trigger. Online TV channels were supposed to be handy, but now, thanks to many corporate decisions and even more capitalism than we can get a grasp on - is just annoying.
So it was the books, who stayed true.
There have been more laws about what information can and can not be published and how; in print, than regarding the internet; its fake news, hate speech, data manipulation, etc. (let us not get into historical publications, as a person from the East EU, let me tell you government stamped stuff doesn't equal reality, but that is a different topic). So it is much more trustworthy source material now, once again.
When it comes to entertainment, one does not need to get into the dilemma of which channel to pay for, and even there it turns out it is psychologically manipulating all contents of it, depending the ownerships, plus one is wasting their money if there is no sufficient internet connection and it comes with ads, even if it is the channel's own ones. One needs to pay an electricity bill, too to operate a screen, or charge it, or just deal with the anxiety of low battery when out and about, that'll accompany that entertainment experience. Spoiled goods.
Whereas, the book doesn't need to be charged. Doesn't have pop-ups, ads, subscriptions. Everyone's imagination work in their favour, without needing to feel uncomfortable because of racial or sexual representation or political or product placements in the never mentioned background. So... peaceful.
And as you said, in the crisis of hope and optimism (I am very relieved to hear someone else thinks it isn't just their own gloominess, it is among all of us), we yearn peace and quiet.
Books are IN.
Therefore solving the money behind them, is super important, before the people who are just greedy mortals, make even more money on it.
Thanks for reading my short novel.
: D
Amazing video!!!
I'm from a writing family, my mom was a New York baby, writing on spec. I decided do my own publishing company, but it's ridiculous that you can't get into the system without going through the big houses. But I'm happy doing my own graphic novels and books. My mom, a full-time author, had to supplement with teaching. However, most writers have no clue as to how much it costs to publish books, let along market them. Most writers don't become profitable. Be careful of the regulations. My mom's generation of writers pushed through a cap on warehouse storing "creating" best sellers by buying a huge number of them and storing them. The chain stores were suddenly taxes on warehoused books. What happened? The chain stores dropped ALL the mid-selling authors to keep their "best sellers" and we saw instead of a lot of different books, aisles and aisles of all the same book. When people buy my books, they are always surprised that the stories are actually good. TOO funny!!!
Great video :) I'm in the process of completely quitting my career as a literary translator because I'm sick of being exploited. It's sad, but I'm looking foreword to starting a new chapter of my life.
I think it's a very complex space, but a combination of collective bargaining and limiting monopolies would be where I'd start. Regulation would limit monopolies and regulate fairness for minorities and collective bargaining to give authors and small publishers more power during the negotiation process.
In The Netherlands there are still set book prices. What it mostly does as far as I can tell, is make it really hard on bookshops to make Dutch books attractive to buy, because they're so expensive. The section of English books are increasing every year and I think part of the reason is that they're way more affordable. I'm not sure if Dutch authors get better pay. This was a really interesting video!
Leena, I love and watch all your videos (some multiple times). And im so glad you’ve been able to buy a place! Atm im having to move because my landlord is increasing the rent. The only places I can find at the price I can pay are 1 bed (currently live in a 2 bed with my partner and our 2 cats). So we’re having to downsize to move. Could you make a video on downsizing for moving (books, clothes, furniture, etc) while still maintaining your identity, some of your belongings and the apropria-te amount of trinkets? ❤❤
FYI, there was an interesting segment on BBC Wales Today about the affordability of books currently and how the prices could be increasing. It was never a topic I paid much attention to but since you made this video, it’s made me think differently and take more notice I suppose!
This was really informative and it was so interesting to hear your perspective, but as a self-published author making my full time living from my writing, I was a little disappointed that you didn't mention the benefits of self-publishing a little more. Yes, it has its downsides, huge downsides if you don't know what you're doing - namely taking on the work and costs yourself, marketing your own books etc. - but I think most writers don't even consider it as an option, seeing it as amateurish or illegitimate, and instead eventually get disheartened by the process of trying to apply for trad publishing. I've spoken to so many aspiriing writers who gave up trying to get published or even writing altogether after yet another rejection letter from an agent or potential publisher.
Self-publishing is becoming more and more of a viable option, a great way to stay in control of your work. It is not perfect, but it can be reliably profitable, it provides an outlet for art, and it does give brilliant authors a platform.
Love the wallpaper! I’ve never thought it’s a fair system in sone ways, if you’re a celebrity you don’t have to even write a full book to be a top seller. I’ve never made a penny out of my books, like all my creative endeavours I see them as a hobby rather then a career now :)
I honestly love the thumbnail of this video
This is very educating because i really want to work in publishing but also become an author
You might have to do both 😅 but fingers crossed we fix it soon
Great video again Leena! I’m a traditionally published author from Belgium, based in Portugal. My first thriller was published in 2020, the second in 2021 and I’m currently writing nr 3. Although my books did good in physical book stores, they did amazing in audio book and via ebook subscriptions. But guess what… no money for me there 😇 Yes, it’s a dilemma: do you say yes to Kindle Unlimited so more readers get to know you but you don’t make a dime, or not? Do you start a TH-cam channel to promote yourself, when this sends you right into a nervous breakdown, or not? I don’t know yet, but if I find out I’ll keep you posted 😊 By the way, the translation rights to my books were sold so soon they will be available in English and French. Maybe that will bring in the big bucks 😂
Don't forget that Waterstones also bought Blackwell's last year! Even the two big bookshops within the UK that you would normally see are actually now owned by the same people. I only find this problematic because the only major media coverage on this I saw was the Guardian. Somehow it got sweeped under the rug!
They also bought Foyles in 2018. So that's Waterstones, Daunt Books, Blackwell's and Foyles, all with (I presume) James at the helm. Daunt Books also has other 'indie' shops, like The Owl Bookshop and Hart's Books. Daunt tried to do this when he bought Waterstones, by opening new Waterstones shops without their name on the front (like 'Southwold Books') but it didn't really go unnoticed.
They also bought Barnes and Noble here in the US a few years ago!
Key workers on a spiritual level! Yes!!
Judging the book by its cover, i love this facial expression on the thumbnail 10/10 XD
Super interesting video, as always! France introduced its own NBA over 40 years ago (1981), and in Belgium we had to fight for a loooong time for our own law too (it was adopted in 2018). Publisher sets the price of the book > booksellers AND those dicks at Amazon MUST sell the book at that price. Only a 5% discount is allowed for individual customers (more for schools and libraries). Indie booksellers especially wanted that law, because books are the same price e-ve-ry-where, so it's "easier" for the customers (those who can easily access a bookshop, of course) to support their local bookshop.
excellent video!
Interesting video, thanks! I hate the trend in sci-fi (probably happening in some other genres too) that so much of new stuff is trilogies. It sells more reliably than stand-alones so that's what we're getting from many of the publishers 😕
Super interesting to watch as someone who ghostwrites romance novels for ebook publishing companies, where I am basically a salaried author. Can confirm that it would mean less good books overall, and less experimental and ground breaking work. But can also confirm that over the years I'll most likely make far more money from this system than anything I have published under my own name. Tis a double edged sword.
A form of the net book agreement still exists in Germany - it actually helps in limiting Amazon’s share of the book industry, as there is less incentive to buy books there. Books are also much more expensive over here. I’m not sure how I feel about it - it always stings a bit as I moved here from the UK and was used to the cheaper prices over there!
I go by Nellie and every time you say Nosy Nellie I cackle.
I wonder if it might be an industry where subscriptions could work? A bit like Book of the Month mixed with patreon but for a specific publisher, I'd love to sign up to receive a thriller every month or something similar, and support a smaller publisher not found in many shops (it might already exist but I'm not aware of it).
It would be unfair to expect authors to write a book in a short period of time, but a publisher can be expected to publish books on a regular basis, and knowing that they have a set number of subscribers (like preorders on a larger scale) could help predict sales and give authors a bigger advance?
the idea is nice but since classic written subscription services like newspapers are failing these days, and people are seemingly not willing to spend money on digital publications,, I just can't see it happening. maybe this all is a big question for audience/customer research...??
@@mimirobin I think it would work if you could guarantee the selection would be sufficiently personalized, I would be wary of signing up for a service like that unless they could prove they weren't going to waste my time with books I didn't want. Plus, I think the monthly cost would have to be commensurate to something like a Netflix subscription, so paperbacks probably, whereas BOTM strikes me as traditionally a hardback thing. Dickens seems to have solved this with his subscription service 'Household Words'/ 'All the Year Round' by having a few serials going at once to appeal to a general audience alongside some popular non-fiction; on its own, an edition of the magazine was worthless, but if you kept your subscription up you got complete, high-quality novels; like at one point, you had the Tale of Two Cities finishing as The Woman in White was starting! I think Dickens was pretty ruthless with his family friendly policy (closer to Disney?) although we like to complain about that sort of policy, part of selling literature is encouraging people to feel confident about what they are getting for their money.
@kahkah1986 oh true, Dickens is such an interesting historic example here! tbh I'd be really interested to see how ppl would choose if they were given the choice between a book subscription or eg Netflix subscription,, like what do ppl value (easy consumption of watching Netflix vs reading being more of an effort, plus Netflix has a certain appeal of setting pop culture moments/public discourse)
@@mimirobin yeah exactly, I think the Amazon book-Netflix type thing is a good idea - unlimited reading for a small flat price - but it gives the impression of having mostly self-published, unedited authors, it doesn't bring what Netflix actually does to sell itself, which is market its shows as 'cultural events' etc. which are high quality, reviewed, important. If you go back to the Dickens example, he was publishing stories he could hype, but they were also stories that were worth the hype, he was regularly securing classics. I would suspect audible does a lot better than Book Prime for that reason, it gives you access to established and marketed good books etc. If you wanted to do a book version, that would have to be the price and level of variety, I think.
In Germany, we still have the net book agreement although I don't know if ours works the same as the UK one. For me, that is really good because I can actually choose the independent bookshops even though my I am a student with low income.
yes we can do this again some time 😊
In Germany we still have fixed prices for German books, however buying English books feels like rolling the dice sometimes. Currently can afford not to use amazon for physical books and order them through my local book shop, but the pricing has become ridiculous sometimes double that of an average amazon price. It is a luxury and I would love to think the authors earn the difference but sadly don't think so. Great video as usual.
welp, there go all my dreams of becoming a full-time author.
honestly, i've wanted to be a writer ever since I was a child. And only recently I've been thinking about turning it into a full-time career. Yet, facts like these are always preventing me from doing it. But I'm not a multitasker. I can't have a writing side-gig and a full time job at the same time because I could never give either option a 100% so one thing will always suffer.
I agree that working a day job makes your writing more interesting bc it keeps you grounded into reality, but I would either have to have a good paying part-time job or a damn good bestseller that will turn me into next author unicorn.
The salaried author is basically what BuzzFeed producers were for videos. They certainly cited quantity was more important than quality at times, but that might still be better for mental health and the mere ability to have a career as an author without being required to go without pay for long stretches of time. I’m for it if they can be incentivized for quality and ingenuity via long term commission/royalties like salespeople have short term commission earnings.
Interesting video, thanks!
I mean I feel like I would actually save alot more money and time if books were a fixed price. That way I would end up buying the books I wanted most at the time instead of waiting till a sale and then not wanting to read the book at that time.I think there are alot of things that would benefit having fixed prices feel like sometimes I spend more time buying things then actually enjoying them. Obviously people should still be allowed to buy and sell used books which people would be more willing to do if the new book constantly costs the same price.
I am writing something. I hope it turns out good, but I'm not very bright so it probably won't... haha oh well, I write mostly because I have bits of story in my head and I want to find out how their connected, I share what I write with my dad... well I send him the chapters and ask if he's read them yet, until he reads them XD. if I can at some point in the future get published fantastic. if not I have thoroughly enjoyed finding out what the story is in the meant time. I like to think I'm getting better the more I write but its so hard to tell, all I know is when I read it I see faults and then try to address them the next time round, and perhaps leave in some of the one that feel honest.
Super interesting!
Follow up question for increasing the price of books; would increasing the price then also increase the use of libraries and wouldn't that be good?
Has self publishing has any impact on this at all btw?
In US we can self publish which is much cheaper. Since Pub houses here want authors to self promote aggressively on own dime and time it is no real difference. Have heard of several authors who gained enough traction traditional houses have attempted to woo them. Any yet not long after a NYT bestseller was still on the list, Gladwell's book was on 75% table. Books aren't so valued here. Also since the pandemic, many of us have to rely on audio books due to fatigue. All a mess here
Thanks for sharing, it is often an eye opener. No matter which road you take, books alone don't sell. It's another minimum wage job. A dead end? not really, Authors don't just sell books, they get involved in many, many different things.
Great video, it covers a lot of ground. UBI would solve a lot of problems, except in the minds of people who don't like the idea of a level playing field
My husband is a writer. We live in the United States. He spent the last 2 years writing a book. He is being paid less than $4000 for the book. No stipends, no royalties, UNDER $4000 for 2 years of work. Needless to say, we do not depend on his income to survive.
I'd like to know the absolute numbers of the statistics mentioned at the beginning of the video. Because I feel like indie publishing has become a lot easier in the last few years. Therefore there are more authors in general and also more authors who probably won't sell that well. So even if the amount of authors who get a large or decent amount of money stayed exactly the same - if the amount of low-income authors increased, that would decrease the average income and the percentage of well-earning authors. Of course the whole thing is more complex, but you get the idea...
great video as always! wanted to recommend a book for anyone who wasn’t aware of a lot of these stats or how and why artists generally are getting paid a lot less than they used to:
Chokepoint Capitalism (by lawyer Rebecca Gilpin and author Cory Doctorow) breaks this down in fascinating detail.
I read it in one day and after talking about it, all my friends want to borrow it.
Might you consider making a video about publishing in different countries? 🙏🏽👀
I'm a self-published author. I was contracted by a publisher for a trilogy but mid-way they went under. What's crazy is that you can have more success than traditionally published authors but still not make enough money to do much of anything with it. I've been doing this three years: twelve books, thousands of paid readers, tens of thousands of free downloads. I keep the production costs of each book to $500. Even still, if you sell a thousand books at 99c that's only 35c per book to you, pre-taxes.
I once jumped down a rabbit hole of a successful author in my genre to see how she made it. She's a six-figure housewife of an engineer and pays a book PR group a thousand dollars a month to promote her while she writes. What about those of us who aren't in that situation though, you know? And I'm over here utterly thrilled when my new release gets forty pre-orders and such. I'll keep doing it because I love that people read my books, but I wish the path were more straightforward to not drowning in the algorithm.