If I were a young author anxious to make a good living, I'm not sure that I would aim for the Man Booker Award. The prize of £50,000 is certainly not to be sneezed at but many might feel that Man Truck and Coach AG, given their huge not to say obscene profits, could do better than that. Obviously the prestige is important but that is not what attracted writers to the trade in the first place.
As a supplementary source of income, the Folio Prize (£40,000) merits consideration but I was particularly impressed by the International Impac Dublin Literary Award (100,000 euros). Now you're talking!
Man Booker is not unheedful of the priorities of today's writers and has recently decided to accept candidates from the United States as well as from Britain, the Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe, in other words from people who don't even speak English. Fair enough, but what about the prize money? Not a word from either Man or Booker on this question.
In view of the difficult economic climate in which they currently have to operate, I am surprised that so few authors are prepared to accept advertisements in their books. I am not suggesting that an ad should appear on every page but I do feel that they could go some way down this road without too much damage to their story. On television, for example, works of art like Downton Abbey do not appear to suffer for being sprinkled with commercial breaks. They suffer for other reasons.
It is true that I myself decided at the outset not to accept advertisements on my blog, but I am lucky enough to have private means and do not depend on Google to make a living. Just as well as it turns out.
As a supplementary source of income, the Folio Prize (£40,000) merits consideration but I was particularly impressed by the International Impac Dublin Literary Award (100,000 euros). Now you're talking!
Man Booker is not unheedful of the priorities of today's writers and has recently decided to accept candidates from the United States as well as from Britain, the Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe, in other words from people who don't even speak English. Fair enough, but what about the prize money? Not a word from either Man or Booker on this question.
In view of the difficult economic climate in which they currently have to operate, I am surprised that so few authors are prepared to accept advertisements in their books. I am not suggesting that an ad should appear on every page but I do feel that they could go some way down this road without too much damage to their story. On television, for example, works of art like Downton Abbey do not appear to suffer for being sprinkled with commercial breaks. They suffer for other reasons.
It is true that I myself decided at the outset not to accept advertisements on my blog, but I am lucky enough to have private means and do not depend on Google to make a living. Just as well as it turns out.
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