I was kind of trying to become an author, in my case a writer, and I spent a lot of time perfecting my style and polishing my chapters, and studying the novels I read to write well and interestingly. But a month ago I finally gave up when, after studying the material and asking other people, I realized that I had no chance.
And if there is a chance, then for a year or several to become the author of AI, and I did not want to stoop to such a level, for me it is the greatest shame and insult. Alas, soon there will be much more real art in the comments than in these generated empty shells.
Yeah, I’m damn offended, and yeah, I think I’ve made a post like this before, but now I just want to have a heart-to-heart talk, and now I’m damn hurt, and I keep writing, and I don’t even know why, but I feel like I have to.
Yes, unfortunately, in addition, I am not a native English speaker, so this post may read strangely or stupidly, alas, but I apologize.
You either give it away for free or nobody’s ever going to see your work. That’s the hard truth. You’re never going to make money with your stuff no matter how good you are.
OP, ignore this comment- it’s stupid
I have experience. You don’t.
Wrong
I worked in several art-related industries. You obviously didn’t. You don’t know anything.
It’s really fucking weird that you just keep assuming I have no relevant experience. Why do you do that?
This post is largely about writing; my book has been pre-ordered by several local bookstores.
Also, I made over $100 last year off my art without even trying- just doing it for fun
You mean per day, right? Please don’t tell me for an entire year. Because that would be worse than what I assumed. That’s nothing, that’s not even enough to pay a tax adviser. Sorry, but… are you still just a kid or teenager?
Like I said, I was just doing it for fun and happened to make some money along the way with literally no additional effort. Convenient that you ignored the more relevant part
Oh, it’s the harsh truth, there’s nothing to say about it. There used to be a tiny chance, on a miracle level, and now there’s not even that.
Either you work for free, like a [BAD WORD], or you’ll be thrown out in the trash like a mongrel.
There is still a chance but it’s so tiny that you better leave it out of the equation. Almost nobody makes it to the top, with the top beginning at “I can focus purely on writing my books and don’t have to do side jobs like lecturing, writing bogus articles for tabloids, teaching writing at evening school, making covers and frying burgers anymore”, but you’re still sitting in a tiny broken apartment and eat cheap ramen, you’re still forced to shit out 300-page-books every 1-2 months for some niche genre and you’re still working at least 80 hours per week and you’re still only self-publishing using Amazon’s print-on-demand service and you still have to crawl all kinds of social media groups and forums to advertise your books and to remind your audience that you’re still alive. This is how it was before the AI boom. How many decades can you go like that, hoping to reach the point where you get an actual contract with a publishing house? Twenty? Thirty? And even then you’re still far from that point when there’s a demand to translate your books into another language (which would be the point where you can actually rent a small house and earn enough money to feed a pet like a cat or dog too). Do not fall for the apex fallacy. This is hard work. Ask yourself how much shit you can eat and if shit cakes are your favorite thing in the world. Because this would be your life then. Most authors give up because they want to live at some point.
So ask yourself: How much are you willing to sacrifice? If the answer is “Everything!” without any doubt or hesitation, then you might get somewhere in a few decades. If you’re talented enough, insane enough and very lucky. And if the AI bubble bursts too of course. This is the hard truth.
Well, there’s nothing particularly surprising about that, I’ve already learned the hard way what a hell it is, if anything, I write light novels because I’ve received information that regular books or just novels are a very bad idea and few people can make money from them, and with light novels the chances are higher, but they’re still shitty, and because of AI people have become suspicious now, so you have to be damn unique and talented to get noticed by even a few people.
In short, it looks like I’ll have to find my niche instead of chasing money and popularity.
I used to make a living with helping artists stepping up to a higher level. I’ve seen a lot fail but a few succeeding.
Don’t look for your niche, create it. Write something that is too unique to be replicated easily - not by humans, not by AI. This applies to both content and style. It’s also important to be present as an author so (possible) fans can get in touch with you (“The artist next door”). Try to get a foot into other fields as well. How about writing stories and scripts for video games for example? This also helps with networking and slapping your name onto all kinds of products.
Another tip: Attend business classes. Learn how economy works. You would be surprised how many successful artists did that silently. This alone gives you a huge advantage over most artists who don’t know anything about starting (and keeping) a business (Heck, they don’t even know anything about taxes). Turn yourself into your own company. With this mindset you will work more efficient and effective. It’s no fun but it’s very helpful in the long run if you want to make a living with art some day.
Yes, I think everyone who wants to do art in our time simply has to know how business works, otherwise, alas, most likely nothing will come of it.
And you are also right about creating a niche, I forgot that proverb, if you want to shine among the bright stars, to be noticed, you will have to at least change your color to a unique.
And let’s give a bonus excerpt: an experienced mercenary was walking through an overgrown forest, he had not been able to find an exit to any path for several days, although he was warned not to go deep into the forest on Monday, but he didn’t care because he heard that the same dryad milker had finally woken up and he, as a brave warrior, could not miss such a rare opportunity…
Can you imagine yourself doing all kinds of “bubble work”? The writing of your books, lecturing the books of others, cover design, maybe teaching writing to a small class, enabling you to stay inside the writing bubble? Then you have a better chance. This is similar to how other artists make a living. As a painter you’ll do all kinds of image-related work like logo design, gretting cards, prints for cloths and so on. As a musician you make loops people listen to while on hold, sound effects for all kinds of media, sample libraries for other musicians (basically virtual instruments), some audio engineering for small gigs and so on. Those are the people who can actually make a living with no or rare occasions of having to work a normal job. You still need to have a frugal lifestyle but it helps to not get lost in the usual grind. Lots of small jobs which aren’t paid that great, but ideally it adds up and you can your bills. This is something I would recommend as well. You’ll learn many things which will be helpful later on.