Pop stars and authors: sinking in the same boat?

There’s an interesting article over on the BBC today at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34268474 which looks at how pop stars – even fairly famous ones – are now struggling to pay for the basics of life. The article might focus on the life of musicians and singers in the Internet age, but replace those job titles with ‘author’, and music with ‘books’, and every point they make in the piece is equally applicable to writers and authors, sadly.

Here’s the best quote from the article from a member of band Hot Chip:

“I find it quite strange that I’m struggling to buy a one-bedroom flat in London six albums into my career, 12 years down the line,” says Al Doyle of Hot Chip – a hugely successful British band.

It seems the band hit its stride at just the wrong time. Doyle recalls something he was told in a business meeting, by his management: “If you’d been making music just four years earlier, you wouldn’t be sitting here talking to us now… you’d be lying on a bed made of gold.”

Pop stars and authors: sinking in the same boat?

So, my current advice to would-be authors remains: keep your fiction writing as a hobby, and keep the day job until at least the first million in loot lands in your bank account!

Category: Writer's Dojo