Yet over the past 30 years I think we’ve seen a major change in how all of those things are produced, and I think, for the better. There is more writing, art, music being produced, and it’s more diverse, however you measure that, because communication technology has enabled wider audiences. I don’t think there’s any possible scenario that’s going to make being a writer or artist a self-sustaining venture for more than a tiny group of people.

The idea of toiling away at my job, as much as I love it, for just the love of the job alone, is a completely alien concept.

Right. The point is that in some (not all) cases writing won’t be a job. Again, my wife “toils away” making hats, socks, and sweaters, with no realistic prospect of making a living at it. This isn’t a problem because she considers it a hobby, rather than a job. Likewise, at the moment writing this blog isn’t my job. It’s something I do in my free time because I enjoy it (and because it might benefit my career in the future, but that’s not the only motivation).

Now there are certainly some kinds of writing that I expect professionals can do better than amateurs. But there are other kinds (political punditry being one) where I think amateurs can do extremely well. The point is we shouldn’t assume that writing is always and everywhere a commercial activity. The mix of professional and amateur will be decided by market forces, and it’s not a bad thing if the amateurs dominate some categories–like blog comments.

So, how *DO* you pay for things, if you’re giving away your work for free, Mr. Lee? Trust fund? Lotto win? Grad-Plus student loans? Significant other with at least any two of these three: fat paycheck, deep bank account, and/or health insurance?

I am not an author (aside from a couple of tech articles published 20-plus years ago in a car-club magazine — for which I got paid!), but the idea of toiling away at my job, as much as I love it, for just the love of the job alone, is a completely alien concept. Self-enjoyment of the creative process and a hearty atta-boy from the boss doesn’t pay my bills.

From the beginning of recorded history, artists and performers have received compensation for their work: grants, retainers and commissions from royalty/governments/patrons, proceeds from the sale of their works, admission to performances (and sorry, a book tour signing appearance is not a “performance”. Writing is not usually a spectator sport, no matter what Monty Python might have done in a sketch), etc.

I still have no idea how people who do this for a living are supposed to, well, continue to do this for a living under your economic model. Will we see street-corner authors with tables and netbooks set up next to a tip jar?

Sorry, that dog just don’t hunt.

If I were any kind of a writer, I would be doing what was suggested earlier: make a website, blog chapters/sections of a book, then when finished, use the draft and offer a book either free, or for a nominal fee.

Ideally, that would even put me on an update schedule whereby I can finish a book in a decent amount of time, and it would be good exercise in organization. Self-publishing is a good option, but I would be willing to use a publisher’s expertise to help me finalize the product, especially if they can help me secure it. Use them as a consulting service instead of a publisher, giving them a share of the profits and/or royalties as incentive to help me for essentially free. At that point I’d already have a demonstrable fan-base to reduce our mutual risk.

Of course, I don’t have much interest in writing a book.

Haha, I dunno, I think 1.62 games per year might be manageable. I can easily take in about 80 games or so per season between attending minor league games and watching the big leaguers on TV.

Obviously this is not the point of your post, but as a proud baseball dork I feel the need to bug you about it.