[f17]

Short stories don't make a lot of money. $100 is a huge accomplishment. The goal is usually to have them spike sales for a novel, but even there (a) it's iffy, and (b) most novels only sell a couple thousand copies.

Writing, unfortunately, remains something you have to get financially comfortable to be able to do... not a way to become financially comfortable. It's surprising that even in 2022 we haven't fixed that.

[corrral]

> It's surprising that even in 2022 we haven't fixed that.

If anything, it's much worse now than in the early 20th century. There were tons of working-class writers making a living at fiction writing, then. Tons as a proportion of the population, relative to today, anyway.

Compared to then, now, nobody reads fiction. Except porn (romance novels & erotica). Only genre that's still kinda, almost doing as well as several genres did back then. Possibly even better.

[majormajor]

In the early 20th century written fiction had far less competition from filmed fiction, televised fiction, audio fiction, and video game fiction.

If looking at the ability to make a living off a creative pursuit we should make sure to account for the broader ways to do that today.

One thing we have done with writing (or music, or even video to some extent) is make it far easier to do as a hobby without it being a day job.

[6gvONxR4sf7o]

I wonder if it’s fair to include other fiction media in that comparison. Or even fiction + nonfiction. Specifically, I’m thinking about your comment about how now, nobody reads fiction (relative to then). Should we count consuming books then to books and TV now, since TV wasn’t a thing yet? I wonder how many people make a living working in entertainment media now compared to then.

[shubb]

I read a lot on online fiction platforms - AO3 and Wattpad are popular platforms but I mostly read Royal Road which seeks to copy asian web novel platforms.

Most of the writers are amateurs but they have diverse means of getting paid - some platforms like Wattpad and Webnovel help writers paywall later chapters, some writers do manually with a paid blog. Some ask for donations on kofi or patreon.

The thing is, speaking about someone who is putting in the effort and skill you'd need to publish for $100 in an anthology magazine - I wonder how much a writer like that makes on these platforms. $100 is only 25 five dollar doners. Maybe "1000 fans" is more profitable.

Here is a top writer from Royal Road - you can see they are pulling $1000 a month. This is surely unusual but it isn't bad https://www.patreon.com/MonroeByJahx