It’s true that the money’s rubbish, but a writing life pays in other ways | Letters
Readers reflect on a letter from a novelist lamenting how little they earn, and on taking up a writing career later in lifeYour anonymous correspondent who earned £1,500 for writing...
By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion
Readers reflect on a letter from a novelist lamenting how little they earn, and on taking up a writing career later in life Your anonymous correspondent who earned £1,500 for writing two books over a 10-year period ( Letters, 16 January ) deserves to join the elite of ill-used scribblers, alongside George Gissing and his fictional antihero Edwin Reardon (whose name was stolen for the radio sitcom I created with the late Andrew Nickolds). Gissing sold his novel New Grub Street to the publishers Smith Elder for £150 in 1891 while his alter ego, Reardon, received £75 for his. Gissing is often characterised as the archetypal impoverished author, but £150 would have paid three years’ rent on his Marylebone flat. He could probably have built himself a house. Conditions for many freelance writers are worse now, and we are sometimes asked by salaried editors to work for nothing at all. Christopher Douglas London Continue reading...