thread: 2006-01-12 : Year-end sales chart
On 2006-01-12, Ben Lehman wrote:
For reference:
Advances on novels (which is usually most of the money) are between $3,000-20,000. Although some range as high as $250,000. Novelists aren't paid per year, they're paid per novel.
So Vincent is making about as much as a mid-level novelist. I've made (so far) about as much as an entry-level novelist.
Is writing a novel or writing an RPG harder? Well, one doesn't involve playtesting...
yrs—
—Ben
This makes VB go "man..."
I would rather design games with a staple in my eye than write a novel.
This makes MSW go "Me too."
The thing about the game is that I tell the same story as the novel, but other people are helping me.
This makes BL go "Fear of the unknown"
The big barrier between me and publishing a novel is that there's isn't anything like RPGnet or the Forge for promoting fiction. So I fear floppiness. (Trad publishing is better for fiction than RPGs, but not by much.)
This makes DC go "Novel is harder, imo"
I write novels. Playtesting is easy compared to my current 6th edit of a 2nd 100k-word draft. And eventually an editor will send it back for corrections, then a copyeditor's, then I read the proofs . . .
This makes BL go "I don't know, man..."
Polaris went through four complete rewrites. The burden of writing isn't any less, there's just the added burden of design and playtesting.
Of course, novels have the added burden of plotting and dialogue.
This makes JBR go "Different Animals?"
I think the question is comparing apples and oranges. Both are large writing projects, with different requirements on their content. (And DC, if a designer isn't doing three or four rounds of full-bore edits, they're skipping steps.)
This makes JCL go "according to Orson Scott Card"
it takes 29 years to write a novel.
This makes JAK go "Card is also an arrogant fruitcake"
But the aphorism is striking, I must admit. I love his work, too, but I can't stand to hear him talk about anything, ANYTHING, other than "I released a new book; please read it".
This makes BL go "Are we in Marginalia or what?"
I mean, seriously off topic :-) Card is a git, but a creative git. He has a way of destroying good ideas by desperately trying to make them Mormon.
This makes DC go "No, and furthermore..."
Ben, my friend's a struggling novelist here in nyc. You over estimate your novelist payouts muchly.
DC, bring it. I go through the same process with BW.
HOWEVER, I don't think the editing process is the hard part. I think writing a novel -- the structure of it -- is really fucking hard.
This makes BL go "Novelist payouts..."
...are based on reports from friends of mine and F/SF writer's groups. (I, too, am a struggling novelist.)
Outside of a first novel, are people really consistently taking less than 3K an advance? That's awful!
