Cory Doctorow isn't special...
Normally I reserve this journal for gaming stuff, but needed to post this up somewhere I could link back to.
There's been an argument going around on Twitter that SciFi authors in general, and Cory Doctorow in particular, are "special" in terms of ability to make money at the chosen profession, due to the subcultures tendency towards cults of personality. The counter examples given are romance writers and crime fiction writers. To me this feels like a false argument. Just because someone hasn't done it yet, and I don't stipulate that they haven't, doesn't mean that they couldn't.
Let's start by looking at What Cory Doctorow actually does, shall we? First and most obvious, he's a writer. Specifically, a writer of speculative science fiction. He writes about the way we interact with technology, and about the way's we might interact with it in the future, as well as about the way that shapes and might shape our culture and ourselves. Second, he's an editor for Boing Boing where he, say it with me class, "writes about the way we interact with technology". To his credits you could add blogger (craphound.com) and podcaster. And as a podcaster he gives away free electronic copies of all his works. That includes both readings of them, as well as text versions in just about every format there is. And let's go ahead and round it out with speaker. According to his responses he makes less than 10% of his income through lectures and such, but it's worth mentioning. Now let's see how these roles could be approached by the two listed categories.
I'll start with the romance novelist, quite simply because it's easier. So this Romance Novelist is writing his or her novels, and wants to expand sources of income. Well, we can start by adding a podcast to the mix. If sex is a major interest of theirs, then doing a review show of various products, or going the route of a sex educator (fighting misconceptions and arming people with the knowledge they need to stay safe) seems to me to be a natural outgrowth of that. Matter of fact there are quite a few podcasts out there following that precise topic, though none of those podcasters are romance novelists to my knowledge. This could well count as an added line of income for them in a way it doesn't for Mr. Doctorow, because he doesn't have any sponsors, but there is a precedent of sex education podcasts having sponsors (I'm sure there are other examples, but Sex is Fun is the one that springs most readily to mind). If our budding novelist were to add speaking at sex themed conventions to the list (SXSW, ShibariCon, GRUE) and were to speak at colleges that have degree programs for sex educators (yes, there are such things), then we can add that to the list as well. Can't speak much to editing, though I'm sure there are webzines out there that they could manage. Worst case they could create a literary magazine for themselves to edit. Include short stories, reviews, local and national events, maybe a news feature, and you've got a lifestyle mag that could actually have some use. This is one situation though where I wouldn't recommend giving away all content in free forms. While a few short stories would certainly be plausible, and while ebook versions make a level of sense, I'd imagine full length audio books of the authors works would somewhat undermine the actual book sales.
For me the hardest one is the crime novelist. Mostly because I've never read anything that was categorized as "crime fiction". Just never had any interest in it, no curiosity either. But as I see it there's two major paths the author could be following: writing about historical events from a narrative perspective, or creating wholly fictional situations and writing about them. Again, the literary magazine could work, though I've honestly no idea what kinds of conventions would be applicable there, though reviews of products (investigative and defense) and services (background searches, and the like) would certainly make sense depending on the target audience (are we aiming at the armchair detective, the PI, or trying to catch everyone?). Next up is public speaking. Here I think they actually have something of an advantage. Who would want to bring them in? Again I imagine that the schools PI's go to to get licensed would like to have them come in on occasion. I'd also imagine corporations would be interested in hiring them (depending on experience) to talk with their security guards. Honestly I picture that all happening as more of a consultant than anything else, and I don't really picture the other two categories of writers mentioned here really getting a position as a consultant.
I guess what I'm saying is that it would depend on how invested in the subject matter the writer is, and just how creative they can be that would determine how likely they are to be able to make their hobby (whether sex, crime solving, or thinking about technology) a viable source of income. But then we knew that already didn't we ;-)
... And now I'm imagining a consultant for authors who want to quit their day job walking them through these kinds of things to get their name out there. .lol.
There's been an argument going around on Twitter that SciFi authors in general, and Cory Doctorow in particular, are "special" in terms of ability to make money at the chosen profession, due to the subcultures tendency towards cults of personality. The counter examples given are romance writers and crime fiction writers. To me this feels like a false argument. Just because someone hasn't done it yet, and I don't stipulate that they haven't, doesn't mean that they couldn't.
Let's start by looking at What Cory Doctorow actually does, shall we? First and most obvious, he's a writer. Specifically, a writer of speculative science fiction. He writes about the way we interact with technology, and about the way's we might interact with it in the future, as well as about the way that shapes and might shape our culture and ourselves. Second, he's an editor for Boing Boing where he, say it with me class, "writes about the way we interact with technology". To his credits you could add blogger (craphound.com) and podcaster. And as a podcaster he gives away free electronic copies of all his works. That includes both readings of them, as well as text versions in just about every format there is. And let's go ahead and round it out with speaker. According to his responses he makes less than 10% of his income through lectures and such, but it's worth mentioning. Now let's see how these roles could be approached by the two listed categories.
I'll start with the romance novelist, quite simply because it's easier. So this Romance Novelist is writing his or her novels, and wants to expand sources of income. Well, we can start by adding a podcast to the mix. If sex is a major interest of theirs, then doing a review show of various products, or going the route of a sex educator (fighting misconceptions and arming people with the knowledge they need to stay safe) seems to me to be a natural outgrowth of that. Matter of fact there are quite a few podcasts out there following that precise topic, though none of those podcasters are romance novelists to my knowledge. This could well count as an added line of income for them in a way it doesn't for Mr. Doctorow, because he doesn't have any sponsors, but there is a precedent of sex education podcasts having sponsors (I'm sure there are other examples, but Sex is Fun is the one that springs most readily to mind). If our budding novelist were to add speaking at sex themed conventions to the list (SXSW, ShibariCon, GRUE) and were to speak at colleges that have degree programs for sex educators (yes, there are such things), then we can add that to the list as well. Can't speak much to editing, though I'm sure there are webzines out there that they could manage. Worst case they could create a literary magazine for themselves to edit. Include short stories, reviews, local and national events, maybe a news feature, and you've got a lifestyle mag that could actually have some use. This is one situation though where I wouldn't recommend giving away all content in free forms. While a few short stories would certainly be plausible, and while ebook versions make a level of sense, I'd imagine full length audio books of the authors works would somewhat undermine the actual book sales.
For me the hardest one is the crime novelist. Mostly because I've never read anything that was categorized as "crime fiction". Just never had any interest in it, no curiosity either. But as I see it there's two major paths the author could be following: writing about historical events from a narrative perspective, or creating wholly fictional situations and writing about them. Again, the literary magazine could work, though I've honestly no idea what kinds of conventions would be applicable there, though reviews of products (investigative and defense) and services (background searches, and the like) would certainly make sense depending on the target audience (are we aiming at the armchair detective, the PI, or trying to catch everyone?). Next up is public speaking. Here I think they actually have something of an advantage. Who would want to bring them in? Again I imagine that the schools PI's go to to get licensed would like to have them come in on occasion. I'd also imagine corporations would be interested in hiring them (depending on experience) to talk with their security guards. Honestly I picture that all happening as more of a consultant than anything else, and I don't really picture the other two categories of writers mentioned here really getting a position as a consultant.
I guess what I'm saying is that it would depend on how invested in the subject matter the writer is, and just how creative they can be that would determine how likely they are to be able to make their hobby (whether sex, crime solving, or thinking about technology) a viable source of income. But then we knew that already didn't we ;-)
... And now I'm imagining a consultant for authors who want to quit their day job walking them through these kinds of things to get their name out there. .lol.