a cold day in paradise by steve hamilton

Hamilton is the two-time Edgar Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of two highly acclaimed mystery series – the first is the Alex McKnight series (11 novels) which features an ex-police officer from Detroit living in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. I spoke with prominent mystery writer Steve Hamilton, who in the past few years has been very visible in his efforts to shake up the publishing industry, about the daunting situation facing most novelists.

The Author's Guild speculates that the declining situation for writers is caused by reasons including Amazon's dominance in book sales given its lower sales margins, lower advances being paid for mid-level books due to fewer books making money for publishers, and declining royalties that have been driven by lower royalty rates for ebooks and more discounting of traditional books.ĭead Man Running. This means that most writers who want to stay active must either work another job, be supported by a spouse or family money, or else live in poverty. While results also verify that the few authors who make it to the very top are able to score millions, the average writer generally struggles to make ends meet. A survey of a large sample of writers reported a median income of $6,080, which represents a decline in real dollars of 42% from 2009. The results of a survey by the Authors Guild, a major trade organization for writers, provides especially sobering numbers.

While there is some controversy as to how many novelists can make a living by writing alone, the best estimates suggest that there are only between 1,000 and 1,500 fiction authors who make enough to support themselves.

A cold day in paradise by steve hamilton