[computator]

> These days, over one million books are published each year, with at least half of these self-published.

The biggest thing I got out of that article is that the Internet has truly killed the prospect of making a living as an author if you're competing with half a million other self-published books every year.

I'd say that no one should go into any of the following professions with any expectation of making any money at all:

1) Writing of any kind (fiction, non-fiction, technical articles, journalism -- forget about it!)

2) Digital art of any kind (see DeviantArt for millions of super-talented creations that haven't earned a cent)

3) Photography of any kind (see Shutterfly for millions of photos better than anything you ever took and yet no one will ever pay for)

4) Composing music or lyrics

It kind of surprises me that software, a creative and digital medium like the above, is not futile and that you can still make a good living at it.

[ghaff]

>It kind of surprises me that software, a creative and digital medium like the above, is not futile and that you can still make a good living at it.

Mostly by writing software for a specific business purpose. There's still money in custom content in most of the other areas you list as well--mostly at the high-end of the scale. You're right that it's increasingly hard to just throw your creations out and hope someone will pay much for them.

[w4]

> It kind of surprises me that software, a creative and digital medium like the above, is not futile and that you can still make a good living at it.

The thing that differentiates software is that it often enables other people to make or save significant amounts of money. That's something you usually can't say about music or photography, and when you can say it, like with advertising, there's money to be made. If you look at software that doesn't make or save anyone money (e.g. most mobile apps) there isn't actually a ton of money in it for your average creator, just like other creative mediums.

[vollmond]

The exception for all of these would be individual, contracted work. IE, wedding photographers will be in demand long after any mass-market commercial photography dies out.

[ghaff]

Although, even in that case, as was discussed on another thread recently, there's a lot of hollowing out going on. Tier 1 wedding photographers with distinctive styles in big demand will continue to be able to charge big $$ for those willing and able to afford them. But the guy that used to have a local monopoly mostly by dint of having spent some dollars on gear and an office-front is being undercut by gig workers with DSLRs. Most people don't care about their wedding photos being "art." And many young couples will take the package that costs half as much.