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by bamfly 1060 days ago
For a time, you could make a living writing short stories for genre rags. A matter of a few decades, but still. Without needing to be a household name, even.

They're still the only places that pay non-famous and non-trendy people any money for short fiction. Most literary fiction publications below the tippy-top don't pay a dime, and lit-fic fosters a culture of accepting that state of things, even shaming people for asking about pay. Can't make a living in genre short fiction and the odd hastily-written pulp novel anymore—hasn't been enough demand for decades—but getting a check feels good, at least, even if it's two figures, and you won't get that in lit-fic.
2 comments
s1artibartfast 1060 days ago
This model is coming back in a few small ways. Established writers I like Brandon Sanderson have shown that you can crowdsource funding for full length novels. They're also a large number of less established authors that produce chapters and are funded by patreons are equivalent as they go, similar to the magazine model.

Lasting probably at least there is a cool ecosystem of essentially book club podcasts. Some of the more successful have patreons of Their Own and kick back a percentage of donations to the original authors.

I think it's very cool to see some more diversity in literature funding models

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vkou 1060 days ago
> Established writers I like Brandon Sanderson have shown that you can crowdsource funding for full length novels.

... If you're already an established household name.

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s1artibartfast 1060 days ago
That's exactly what I wrote. And it's cool
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Finnucane 1060 days ago
> For a time, you could make a living writing short stories for genre rags

If you could write fast and didn't mind the occasional can of dog food.

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bamfly 1060 days ago
True—it usually wasn't an amazing living. But it was a not-totally-implausible direction to go, if perhaps not the best move. Isn't even that, now.

IDK what the equivalent poorly-paid-but-is-a-career-in-fiction-writing move is now. Probably video game writing, though you won't be getting to come up with your own stories at the bottom rungs.

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Finnucane 1060 days ago
Supposedly Bob Silverberg at his peak, could do 10,000 words a day. He shared an office with another writer who was driven mad by the nonstop typing.
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