出版与作家生涯2019terribleminds.com编辑精选
如何成为职业作家，而不是尖叫着饿死
How to Be a Professional Author and Not Die Screaming and Starving
导读
这是查克·温迪格（Chuck Wendig）关于如何靠写作谋生的职业建议文：把写作生涯当成一场不断冲向悬崖边缘、必须持续做风险缓冲的长期工程，要有多层计划、多元收入和对出版业现实的清醒认识。对写作者来说，它值得一读，因为它讨论的不只是技巧，还有如何让写作这件事可持续地活下去。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
为写作生涯准备“计划之上的计划”：设想类型没落、经纪人离开、预付金过低、经济下行等情况，分别做一年、五年、十年的打算。
- 02
把作者生涯视为“悬崖缓冲”：你永远在高速冲向崖边，所以不要等风险出现才开始准备退路。
- 03
别把希望全押在出版社营销上：畅销书通常来自作者自己积累的、活跃的读者群，出版社的常规宣传作用有限。
- 04
在成为全职作者之前或之外，用代笔、给大媒体撰稿等副业换取收入弹性，从而保住创作自由。
HN 评论精选
靠写作谋生高度依赖语言和市场，非英语市场的空间小得多。
很高兴听说有些作者能靠写作谋生。但遗憾的是，这基本只适用于英语图书市场。我用德语写作，据估计德语区只有几百位小说作者能靠写作维生。而且科幻在德国几乎已经死了，人们要么读英文小说，要么读译本，这对出版社来说风险更小，也能接触到大量优秀而专业的作者。
jonathanstrange查看英文原文
Glad to hear that there are some authors who can make a living of their writing. Unfortunately, this mostly only applies to the English book market. I'm writing in German, where it is estimated that only a couple of hundred authors can make a living from writing novels. Moreover, science fiction is pretty much dead in Germany. People are reading English novels or translations thereof, which means less risk for the publishers and access to many great and professional authors.
多层长期计划与风险缓冲适用于任何职业，写作尤甚。
“计划之上还要有计划。如果你的类型突然崩了怎么办？经纪人不干了怎么办？下一笔预付金低到活不下去怎么办？经济崩盘怎么办？要有明年、五年、十年的计划，想清楚你怎么留在这个游戏里。写作生涯，正如我以前说过的，是一项悬崖缓冲工程。你永远在加速冲向悬崖边缘。”这对任何职业都是好建议——哪怕你正舒服地窝在一家超级成功的公司里。事情会变，你的事业可能只是反垄断案的附带损害。
Merrill查看英文原文
>"Have plans on top of plans. What if your genre collapses? What if your agent quits? What if your next advance is way too low to survive upon? What if the economy shits the bed? Have a plan for next year, for five years, for ten. Envision how you remain in this game. A writing career is, as I’ve noted before, a CLIFF MITIGATION EXERCISE. You are eternally speeding toward the cliff’s edge." That seems like good advice for any career - even if you are comfortably cocooned in an uber-successful corporation. Things change! Your career could be collateral damage from and anti-trust proceeding.
作者自建受众比出版社营销更关键，不值得为此放弃高额版税。
这类文章总让我恼火的一点是，它们大大高估了出版社的能力。我职业生涯大部分时间都在图书出版业，既和出版社合作，也和独立作者合作。相信我，出版社的营销策略没什么特别的。除开那种极其罕见的“好到自然成为爆款”的书，一本畅销书和一本平庸书的差别在于作者平台的大小。出版社对每本书都跑一套僵化的公关营销流程：把样书寄给同一批媒体联系人，有时能换来报道，报道有时能带来销量。如果某家出版社按行业标准算非常前卫，也许会投资给作者建个网站或帮忙运营社交账号。但真正登上畅销榜的书，作者通常自己已经积累了庞大而活跃的读者群。出版社营销预算的影响通常很小，绝对不值得为此让出八成以上的销售分成。
finestkludge查看英文原文
One thing that always annoys me about these sorts of posts is how much they oversell the competence of publishers. I've worked in book publishing most of my career, both with publishers and with independent authors. Trust me, the publisher's marketing strategy is nothing special. The difference between a successful book and a middling book, barring the impossibly rare "so good it organically becomes a world beater," is the size of the author's platform. Publishers have a rigid PR/marketing process they run for every book, involving sending galleys (press copies) to the same press contacts, and sometimes those efforts net press coverage, and sometimes that coverage will result in some sales. If a press is very forward-thinking, by industry standards, they may invest in building the author a website or helping manage social. However, books that hit bestseller lists are typically written by authors who have a large, engaged audience they've built on their own. The impact of a publisher's marketing budget is typically small, and definitely not worth giving up 80%-plus of your sales due to royalties.
多元副业收入能为写作提供经济缓冲和创作自由。
我觉得现在作者的收入渠道比以前多多了：代笔、给大媒体供稿、卖外链（我知道这有点不上台面）等等，全职写作之外还有很多可做。这些小活带来的收入能给他们更多自由，让他们继续当作者。
flywithdolp查看英文原文
I think that nowadays authors have many more ways for revenue streams than before Doing some ghost writing, being contributors in large publications and selling backlinks (doggy I know) and more stuff writers can do beside their being full time Author The money they can make from those small jobs can help them to have some more freedom to continue their profession as Authors
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