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Blogs by Rolf Richardson
Pace of change 11/6/2019 7:07:08 AM
How long does an industry last these days? Okay,let's try one more blog, see if anyone is listening.
Trigger for this is the recent arrival of a couple of sales statements from my photo agents, which confirm a trend that's long been obvious: the photographic industry is in its death throes.
Some thirty years ago, I went for photos rather than writing to provide a revenue stream and this proved a wise decision, because in those days running costs in film and processing were substantial and capital costs for equipment high,thus deterring the average Joe. With only a few of us seriously into selling photos, we could make a decent living out of it.
Came the millenium and an almost instant change from film to digital. Most of the old photo agents, with roomfuls of films that were now useless, went bust, but photographers had a ball: for about seven years; that was all it took for the average Joe to discover he could now shoot saleable stuff for nothing. Those of us who had been in the business for years found our sales dropping off the edge of a cliff. Selling photos is now frankly no longer worth the hassle, the time that digital made any money for us lasting less than a decade
What, if anything, has this got to do with writing? Everything, although the process in the written word has not been so abrupt. It's called dilution; everyone is now at it. In Jane Austen's day few people had either the ability or time to pen best sellers; now Amazon is bursting with several million hopefuls.
If you are a sporting hero or other sort of celeb, traditional publishers will no doubt see you to the airport bookstall, but the rest of us will have to settle for writing as a hobby, like collecting stamps or running racing pigeons. Have some fun, but don't expect to cover your expenses.
If there's anyone out there who can break even with Indie publishing, I'd love to know!
