/lit/ - Literature

100% of great writers published their first novel without any delusions that they'd be making money off it, they did it out of love for the craft.

Some, like John Kennedy Toole, didn't even live to see their book published. That doesn't make them any less great.

If you're in it for the money, do us all a favor and burn your manuscripts right now.

>>10993166
If you go by /lit/ approved writers it’s more like 99.9.

Hell, Vollman has to do journalism to make a meager living.

>>10993174
>If you're in it for the money, do us all a favor and burn your manuscripts right now.
This. If you don't write because of the sheer enjoyment, you're most likely a poser and/or fraud.

>>10993181
hell

>>10993166
Where did you get this stat?
Why do people on this site assume that one has to spend their life as a NEET to be a writer

>>10993166
Could be worse, you could be a poet and not be Rupi.

Learn to weld. Make stacks.

>>10993166
yeah as they should, why are you fucking faggots lying to yourselves? that’s project housing income for living off frozen dinners and top ramen

>>10993166
Y-Yeah but I'm part of the 5%, honest.

>>10993166
what qualifies you as a writer for the purpose of this statistic?

>>10993198
>Why do people on this site assume that one has to spend their life as a NEET to be a writer
Because you do. Every good writer was a NEET for a lengthy amount of time or published nothing while they were working a regular job.

>>10993198
Not sure about that 95%, but see the median income here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/19/uk-authors-annual-incomes-below-minimum-wage-survey-average-earnings

>>10993166
If you sell 4,000 books for $25 then you make $100,000. I know that most of that money will go to your publisher but hopefully you are able to sell more than 4,000 copies of your book. So if you work hard at writing, and publish a new book every four years or so and build up a dedicated following, it doesn't have to be so bad forever. You'll probably have to write some reviews and/or essays too though. I think that /lit/ proves though, and goodreads, that even literary fiction has a market. Just don't write meme shit The Nix or Moving Kings.

>>10993181
To be fair, Vollman has gone out of his way not to capitalize on his success.

>>10993814
>most of that money will go to the publisher
Yup, about 85-90% apparently. You'd have to sell a whole lot of books. Also maybe the UK is cheaper, but I don't see much fiction for $25. Hard to believe you'd sell many at that price.

http://www.alanjacobson.com/writers-toolkit/the-business-of-publishing/

>>10993868
>but I don't see much fiction for $25
In the US at my local Barnes and Noble (which admittedly is in one of the most expensive areas in the country) all of the new books on display are upwards of $25. Even the old DeLillos, McCarthys, Pynchons, and Wallaces will run you twenty plus. I think Zero K when it came out was around 28 or 29.

>>10993166
Thats because 95% of writers are dogshit retarded with nothing of any intellectual market value to offer.

grants and awards play a large role for litfic

>>10993904
Yeah, the authors who make the really big money are well known for their complex, intellectually stimulating works.

>>10993939
Doesnt make my statement any less true
Great minds are few and far between

>>10993166
Try actually getting a job that benefits society

>>10993971
yes it does, you explicitly said it was because of their quality you simpleton

>>10993166
thats because they have no talent. unlike myself

pussy

>>10994077
>my taste is so fucking refined that I'm unable to tell the difference between twilight and [1] so when I hear something about quality I must take it to mean genuine literary value

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZMt87ZdUbw

You guys are such fucking pseuds, you clearly only want to write because you think it will let you lead an easy life and will make people think you're an intellectual. Guess what brainlets, that's not why the greats wrote. They wrote because they had passion and _wanted_ to write. It doesn't fucking matter how much a "writer" makes a year, because you shouldn't aspire to be one! You should aim to be an _artist_, and as such you shouldn't even think about the financial side of your work. If that means you live in poverty, or you work on your art in your spare time, or you leech of your parents like Proust, so be it!

>>10994492
Imagine being this retarded

>>10994509
imagine being a fucking hack like half the people in this thread.

>>10994492
>>10994525

Fuck it, I’m leaving 4chan, every writer /lit/ talks about would fucking despise this board and everyone on it. I’d advise you two to do the same.

>Not just becoming an english teacher so that you can maintain financial security and talk to teenagers about your interests all day while writing in your oodles of free time

>>10994077
I didn't explicitly say that, i didnt even use the word quality.
Maybe you should learn what explicit means.
I simply said 95% of writers are stupid and have no intellectual contributions to make.

>>10993183
What if I'm not doing it for enjoyment, but out of some expression of angst and despair?

>>10994882
And just in case you try to go full autist on me
Yes I am exaggerating
Its called "humor"

>>10993166
That's why you have a day job. I wouldn't quit my job even if I made over 100k a year (because I already do.)

All the enjoyment none of the worry. I also enjoy my job.

>>10994777
>implying teachers make good money
>implying teachers have free time
>implying seeing teens disrespect your livelihood and passion won't eat away your ambition to teach as you become embittered after literal decades of this shit

>>10994903
teachers make very good money they just never stop bitching about it because they're all sheltered whiny leftists

>>10993181
>Vollmann worked odd jobs, including a post as a secretary at an insurance company
>Upon his return to the USA, Vollmann started work as a computer programmer, even though he had virtually no experience with computers. According to a New York Times Magazine profile by the novelist Madison Smartt Bell, for a year Vollmann wrote much of his first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels, after hours on office computers, subsisting on candy bars from vending machines and hiding from the janitorial staff.
At least his wife is a radiation oncologist so she probably makes a decent salary. Plenty of fiction writers dabbled or continue to do reporting and non-fiction because it's better than hoping your novel and short story makes it big.

>>10993166
readers get paid 200k a year

>>10993166
95% writers also make less that 1k a year

>>10993166
What was it? What did they think they'd be? Fools or patriots, they burnt their lives for dreams.

>>10994903
1st, teachers don't make a lot of money, but you can live on it
2nd, teachers can have free time if they plan carefully
3rd, be a cool teacher and they won't have issues

>>10994953
4th, one's soul is made food

why are you even browsing this board

Sure maybe literature won't bring you to the pantheon of esteemed socialites of today but you can still make a decent living writing. Screen writers are in huge demand.

>>10994889
Just stop arguing with me you retard.

>>10993166
I'm possibly getting a job at the local bookstore because I can't get hired for a real 9-5. How much will I make? I literally have a college degree. Fuck me.

>>10993166
I didn't realize Pepe was so thick.

>>10995433
literal minimum wage until you make manager and then its 20k a year

>>10993183
So then why are thousands of kids going to college for something they enjoy? College is meant to increase job prospects and teach viable skills.

>>10995482
Studying may increase job prospects and teach viable skills, but academia is still ultimately the study and research of a subject - not the objective skills one acquires while they're there. If people can afford it, I don't see anything wrong with going to university or college despite the fact that most won't be able to market that skill.

>>10995482
>College is meant to increase job prospects and teach viable skills.
Wrong.

>>10995482
>So then why are thousands of kids going to college for something they enjoy?
is this not a self answering question?

>>10994777
>teenagers giving a shit about their english teacher
Don't make me laugh