In more good news on the don't-try-to-make-a-living-from-writing front, author Scott Thurow laments the "slow death" by a thousand cuts of the American author in the New York Times. The usual suspects -- the Internet and the erosion of intellectual property protections in general, further consolidation in the book business, as well as Amazon's attempt to corner the market on everything -- are in play. Also, U.S. authors have fewer rights than European ones, just dumping more crap on the sludge pile that is the financial black hole in which all but a few bestselling authors find themselves.
(If there's an award for mixed metaphors, I'm entering the above sentence in the contest.)
I confess I pretty much agree with Thurow; the picture looks pretty bleak out there to me. Perhaps you feel differently.
Anyone see any glimmers of hope on the horizon?
