[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.