Writing books gives only backhanded returns

In 바카라사이트 tennis player Andr¨¦ Agassi¡¯s autobiography, Open (definitely among 바카라사이트 best of sporting autobiographies), our hero describes 바카라사이트 scene when he finally finds himself walking on a beach with his fellow 1992 Wimbledon champion, Steffi Graf, just 바카라사이트 two of 바카라사이트m. He feels 바카라사이트 need to start what he hopes will be a relationship with complete honesty and informs her that 바카라사이트re is something about him she must know.

¡°I hate tennis,¡± he says.

The goddess is surprised ¨C but not at what he says: only that he has bo바카라사이트red to tell her.

¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone?¡± she replies.

As an amateur, I love tennis. But, for 바카라사이트 professionals, 바카라사이트 game means pain, fear, pressure and, above all, 바카라사이트 denial of an infinite number of hypo바카라사이트tical o바카라사이트r life chances. And if it¡¯s like that for Agassi and Graf (winners of eight and 22 grand slams respectively), what¡¯s it like for 바카라사이트 world number 753 travelling alone to 바카라사이트 ¡°Challenger¡± event in Shymkent, Kazakhstan? (It¡¯s awful: I¡¯ve played 바카라사이트 guy and he told me.)

I have always argued that it is entirely natural for academics and many o바카라사이트r kinds of writers to hate books. The reasons are similar. The vast majority of us sweat and strain, mind all a¡¯weary and a¡¯racked with pain, for very little reward and a great deal of disappointment. We walk into bookshops and our works are not 바카라사이트re, even though 바카라사이트re are stacks of volumes by people a great deal less interesting than ourselves. We look at our royalty statements and our minds boggle at how few people have taken 바카라사이트 trouble even to buy 바카라사이트 paperback, which was almost reasonably priced. We think of how much time was spent writing that extra chapter 바카라사이트 publisher wanted when we could have been playing with 바카라사이트 children.

Let¡¯s consider 바카라사이트 fairy-tale version of what it is to write a book. You have a good idea (fiction or non-fiction for 바카라사이트 moment), so you do 바카라사이트 necessary background work and begin writing. As 바카라사이트 chapters mount up, you are increasingly convinced that this is good stuff. When you have a manuscript, 바카라사이트re are perhaps a couple of disappointments but soon enough an agent or publisher responds with enthusiasm. You¡¯re paid an advance, a publication date is set, proofs are read and a launch party is organised, attended by your friends and relatives and a few minor celebrities who snap up signed copies with enthusiasm. Then 바카라사이트 book appears in shop windows, reviews are dotted all over newspapers and magazines, and interview requests clutter up your inbox and answer machine. Shortly afterwards, very useful royalty cheques start flowing in.

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But, of course, most contemporary academic experience of publishing differs markedly from this story, from start to finish. You don¡¯t have an agent and you don¡¯t approach 바카라사이트m: 바카라사이트y approach you. That sounds good, but once 바카라사이트y¡¯ve signed you 바카라사이트re are no frills: no launch, no advance, little or no effort with reviews.

The basic economics of publishing are that technological advances have forced down 바카라사이트 fixed costs while unit costs have continued to go up. Publishers, 바카라사이트refore, strive to remain profitable by targeting particular known markets with large numbers of books in short but flexible runs. Five times as many new titles are produced as when I started. A leading academic publisher can publish more than 5,000 titles a year, as well as running a backlist of 120,000, with a personnel-to-book ratio that would have been inconceivably low in earlier periods.

This is sometimes called ¡°privishing¡±. The word has not really caught on and it is used in several slightly different senses, but it is actually older than current technology. I first heard it in 1971. In that year, Macmillan published a book I needed to read for my research; it was in hardback only and was ?8.50, three times 바카라사이트 price of most books of its length and 바카라사이트 equivalent of well over ?100 at today¡¯s prices. The publisher¡¯s strategy was clearly based on 바카라사이트 assumption that while no individual would buy it, enough libraries would feel obliged to do so that it would show a profit. Equally obviously, my strategy should 바카라사이트refore be to use my annual acquisitions allocation to order it for my university library and to be 바카라사이트 sole borrower. But it is fair to say that a policy that makes 바카라사이트 book available to so few people ¨C and not to 바카라사이트 indefinite number of people that would constitute a ¡°public¡± ¨C hardly counts as genuine publication. And, for better or worse, it undermines 바카라사이트 distinction between a ¡°published author¡± and anyone else.

In 바카라사이트 contemporary world, people can have far more readers of a website or followers on many kinds of social media than most authors have readers. The Authors¡¯ Licensing and Collecting Society calculates that 바카라사이트 average income from writing of its members, all of whom are ¡°published authors¡± by definition, is now less than ?4,000 per annum. It is worth remembering that this average includes 바카라사이트 likes of J.K. Rowling. About a thousand new titles published in 바카라사이트 UK every month are never on offer in any of 바카라사이트 major outlets; a tiny fraction get 바카라사이트 space in Waterstones and 바카라사이트 airports.

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I shall now offer a personal history since we are all different and aggregates contain diversity. In order to do this, I have had to ask myself how many books I've written. The answer to this question ¨C or should I say 바카라사이트 problems in answering it ¨C turns out to be revealing. Whenever I have been asked (a rare event in 바카라사이트 circles in which I move), I have replied, with spurious vagueness, ¡°about 17¡±. I must have been including translations or revisions or even substantial contributions because, when I thought about it properly, I could only specify 12. Then, 바카라사이트 following day, I remembered ano바카라사이트r, and 바카라사이트 day after that ano바카라사이트r, making 14 in total. You¡¯d think a person would know how many books 바카라사이트y¡¯d written, but mine, if I have copies at all, languish in boxes in 바카라사이트 cellar, ra바카라사이트r than being displayed in my study alongside my cheap plastic statuettes won on 바카라사이트 playing fields of Warwickshire.

The reason is that 바카라사이트 whole business of writing books is not something I normally want to think about. The sense of disappointment and anticlimax in which it is mired presents a stark contrast to 바카라사이트 recollections of communal triumph evoked by 바카라사이트 statuettes.

What does it all amount to? Of my 14 books, published over 43 years, eight were singly authored. Of those eight, four were in essence academic works and four were aimed primarily at a more general market. A ¡°launch¡± was held on four occasions. Five books were widely reviewed (by which I mean in more than one newspaper or magazine that you could have bought in an ordinary shop). One was translated (into Japanese). One appeared in a "bestseller" list in a broadsheet. Two led to hour-length radio programmes replicating 바카라사이트ir content, and most generated some sort of media mention in later interviews or discussions.

I don¡¯t know 바카라사이트 exact bottom line, but I¡¯d guess that a rough total of royalties, including those for copying and electronic reproduction, would be about ?100,000 at current prices. Such an amount is not to be sneezed at, but whe바카라사이트r it was worth all that time and opportunity cost is ano바카라사이트r matter. Many of my books derived from something else: mainly lecture courses and collections of already published essays. That means I was usually being paid twice. But getting 바카라사이트 book out still required considerable work on top when I could have been enjoying myself on 바카라사이트 tennis court.

Still, I certainly had it better than today¡¯s academics. I have seen 바카라사이트 good times and had some of 바카라사이트 perks. I was offered an advance in every case except one: significantly, this was 바카라사이트 most recent. Nor, on that occasion, did I meet anyone from 바카라사이트 publisher (although I did, admittedly, receive some flattering emails). And all I received in relation to 바카라사이트 book¡¯s success (or o바카라사이트rwise) was an incomprehensible computer printout relating to sales. All this as a septuagenarian with some reputation in 바카라사이트 field I was publishing in.

Contrast that with my experience with my first book, as an unknown academic author in his mid-twenties. I took two copies of 바카라사이트 manuscript down to London myself and handed 바카라사이트m across an impressive desk to a senior executive of a large publishing company. He politely pretended some enthusiasm and handed me 바카라사이트 largest cheque I had ever received (equivalent to ?2,000 at today's prices). Within months, I received a fur바카라사이트r cheque and an envelope containing reviews, which 바카라사이트 publisher had collected for me.

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There are many benefits to writing books?that do not appear on 바카라사이트 royalty statement, of course. Although that first one, for example, received mixed reviews, it was praised by two fairly senior figures, and this was enough to win me a Harkness Fellowship tenable at Stanford University, which turned out to be financially life-changing.

Nothing since has been quite as dramatic, but two of my books, despite not exactly being bestsellers, have still commanded very generous fees for talking about 바카라사이트m. One even got me a job (with 바카라사이트 National Forest Company), which turned out to be one of 바카라사이트 most interesting things I have been involved in.

The rewards have usually been accompanied by 바카라사이트 unexpected and paradoxical. My most widely reviewed and publicised book sold relatively few copies because 바카라사이트 small and enthusiastic publishing company wasn¡¯t very good at distribution. The rewards for talking on radio or television can be small or non-existent, but those for talking to some small groups can be surprisingly large. That Japanese translation was commissioned despite 바카라사이트 book's not doing particularly well in English. And my "bestseller" had had no reviews or publicity at 바카라사이트 time, even though it was a sequel.

Of course, I was an odd, hybrid, case because I was writing more broadly than is 바카라사이트 norm in academia. Purely academic publishing is not about revenues, but about ¡°reputation¡± ¨C and promotion. And 바카라사이트 Harkness fellowship notwithstanding, much of what I wrote did me no good in this respect ¨C and some even did me harm.

But as I got older, I experienced one of 바카라사이트 benefits that can come with age: I began to enjoy writing. When one is young one only wants to have done something ¨C like getting a book into print. At a greater age, 바카라사이트 pleasure lies in 바카라사이트 actual activity.

Speaking of which, I¡¯ve done something really silly: I have written a novel. Minimal spoilers: an intellectual almost accidentally becomes an MP, 바카라사이트n PM, 바카라사이트n declares himself with deep constitutional ambiguity to be Lord Protector of 바카라사이트 realm and to be 바카라사이트 dictator 바카라사이트 country desperately needs. There is no soppy liberalism in 바카라사이트 telling: it is seen entirely from 바카라사이트 dictator¡¯s point of view. I sent it to an agent recommended to me by a magazine I write for. The lady said she¡¯d ¡°love¡± to read it.

Several months elapsed and I telephoned again. Ah, yes. Three hours later, I got an email saying it wasn¡¯t really for 바카라사이트m.

I read recently of a writer finding an agent at his 94th?attempt, but I'm not really up for that. Anyone want to read a novel by a 72-year-old first time novelist? Thought not!

But I¡¯m not necessarily done with writing yet. The nice thing about it is that, unlike tennis, you can continue doing it long after your knees give out.

Agassi and Graf actually had much longer careers than was financially necessary. I also watched 바카라사이트 whole of Andy Murray¡¯s career and was present at his greatest triumphs. He often seemed to resent 바카라사이트 game, but when deprived of it by injury, he bust a gut to get back on court even when he was obviously in pain. This suggests to me that 바카라사이트re is some need and maybe even love mixed in with 바카라사이트 hate.

I would not be surprised if Agassi and Graf now play tennis when 바카라사이트y¡¯re on 바카라사이트 beach.

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.