Will fiction writing survive as a paying profession?
By Awinds
@Awinds (2468)
United States
August 25, 2011 9:56pm CST
Fiction writing - the job where authors get paid to write fiction. Some fiction writers, like J.K. Rowling, can make a living from their fiction. However some people out there think the days where one can make a living as a fiction author will soon be over. Why? Cheap ebooks, illegal piracy and a culture that demands more and more that entertainment products be free. (www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/22/are-books-dead-ewan-morrison).
There is no doubt that non-fiction writers will survive (make that thrive). The internet is exploding and is here to stay. With the internet comes a huge demand for content. As long as the internet is here, that demand will never go away. However some say the story is different for fiction side of things.
What do you think? Will fiction writing in the form of a paying job survive? Will fiction authors adapt or go extinct?
2 people like this
3 responses
@celticeagle (189927)
• Boise, Idaho
26 Aug 11
I think fiction will be around along time yet. I have wondered about this for the last twenty five years or longer. I do however also feel that, as it has already been over the last few years, it is going to get harder to get things published. But when so many books are being baught by production companies and being made into movies it is obvious to me that movies are going to need fiction writers for some time to come.
@celticeagle (189927)
• Boise, Idaho
26 Aug 11
Have you read Farenheit 451? If you haven't you should!
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
26 Aug 11
It will probably go back to what it was in the past, a rich man's pastime. I mean if one was a fiction writer, one had a job or a career and he did fiction writing on the side. Or else it was like Agatha Christie, who had a husband, had lots of money, so she could get out the old typewriter. The period where people like Tom Clancy and Stephen King could make a living was just a short period in our history.
The cost of producing, typing, buying boxes and papers, ink, etc. is taking away from fiction writer;'s way to make a living. And there is reality Tv now. Too bad. WE do need more novelists.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
27 Aug 11
I just hope with the ebooks, it does not cheapen fiction writing. I would think that with an agent, they would not accept anything that is not up to par, but with someone who puts his story on an ebook, or online, or self publishing, they might let little mistakes slip by and then if someone buys the story or a whole lot of someones, then others will say, "he got his novel published, and look at all the grammatical mistakes, and my story is better, "
@SpikeTheLobster (6399)
•
26 Aug 11
Of course it'll survive. "Writing is a dying career" is just stupidity and scaremongering by people who want to publish an article that gets a lot of hits.
Proof? J.K.Rowling. First billionaire author. End of debate. 
@SpikeTheLobster (6399)
•
27 Aug 11
Only until my astounding, amazing, ground-breaking, awesome time-travel novel comes out to the resounding sound of... pins dropping... 
