This all needs saying. One still sees aspiring authors (especially in the netherworld of Facebook writers' groups) full of hopes that they can make a good living.
My own history is possibly not typical but may shed a little light. For over 30 years I made my living from writing, in tandem with photography. For context I should add that my partner also had a professional career, and only in my best years did I bring in as much as she did, but I could have got by, though I might be mostly reliant on state pension now.
In this period I did 61 books, hundreds of articles, and a steady trickle of photographic commissions. All of this was related, more or less, to landscape, travel, and outdoor pursuits, particularly walking, climbing and cycling.
In the last ten years I've seen many of my regular gigs wither or disappear. A magazine I'd been a regular with for years went online-only and then ceased altogether. Thomas Cook, for whom I'd done several travel guides, stopped publishing guidebooks. There were others too.
And then there's another publisher, for whom I'd done a number of walking guidebooks, either from new or as revisions/updates. These had paid me more in cash terms than any other job, though with significant costs in travel and accommodation to set against that. Over 20-odd years the fee had remained static, while its real-terms value was approximately halved by inflation. And then they informed me that for the next job they would be offering ten per cent LESS.
With mortgage paid off and pensions coming in, I'm in the fortunate position of being able to turn down an offer like this. And for this and other reasons I'm now giving most of my energy to fiction, with very little expectation of ever making significant money from it. But I really feel for those who also have that itch to write but don't know how they can afford to commit to it.
This all needs saying. One still sees aspiring authors (especially in the netherworld of Facebook writers' groups) full of hopes that they can make a good living.
My own history is possibly not typical but may shed a little light. For over 30 years I made my living from writing, in tandem with photography. For context I should add that my partner also had a professional career, and only in my best years did I bring in as much as she did, but I could have got by, though I might be mostly reliant on state pension now.
In this period I did 61 books, hundreds of articles, and a steady trickle of photographic commissions. All of this was related, more or less, to landscape, travel, and outdoor pursuits, particularly walking, climbing and cycling.
In the last ten years I've seen many of my regular gigs wither or disappear. A magazine I'd been a regular with for years went online-only and then ceased altogether. Thomas Cook, for whom I'd done several travel guides, stopped publishing guidebooks. There were others too.
And then there's another publisher, for whom I'd done a number of walking guidebooks, either from new or as revisions/updates. These had paid me more in cash terms than any other job, though with significant costs in travel and accommodation to set against that. Over 20-odd years the fee had remained static, while its real-terms value was approximately halved by inflation. And then they informed me that for the next job they would be offering ten per cent LESS.
With mortgage paid off and pensions coming in, I'm in the fortunate position of being able to turn down an offer like this. And for this and other reasons I'm now giving most of my energy to fiction, with very little expectation of ever making significant money from it. But I really feel for those who also have that itch to write but don't know how they can afford to commit to it.