Scott Adam's theory on the death of author as a profession

[Dave Zeltserman]

This is somewhat related to the Garrison Keillor thread:

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_adams_theory_of__content_value/

"I predict that the profession known as "author" will be retired to history in my lifetime, like blacksmith and cowboy. In the future,
everyone will be a writer, and some will be better and more prolific
than others. But no one will pay to read what anyone else creates.
People might someday write entire books - and good ones - for the
benefit of their own publicity, such as to promote themselves as
consultants, lecturers, or the like. But no one born today is the next
multi-best-selling author. That job won't exist."

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

How much would that job pay?

I didn't start this. Jon is the one with all the ugly, vicious things to say about Laura Bush. Why does Loomis get to skate on this?

Do you think I should back off? I didn't realize I was causing so much offense. I thought I was simply responding in kind.

And all crime novels are not trashy. I am "hanging around" to try to learn something. And the latest news is that print is dead--rather grim.

[Dana King]

If we’re going to be snarky, let’s be accurate.

“She is not one of those rich prep school girls (like Barbara, Hillary, Jackie, Mamie, and Nancy)”

Hillary Clinton is the daughter of a small businessman, who went to public high school in the Chicago suburbs.

“They don't live in a McMansion. They live in a large older, used home (most McMansions are newly built 5,000 sq. ft. boxes on some zero-lot line lot where a tiny, ancient house in a close-in neighborhood was razed) on a very large lot in a cul de sac.”

You’re right; it’s not a McMansion. Based on your definition, it’s a LOT bigger. News reports of their move-in day in February 2009 describe it as “about 8,500 square feet, four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms and a wet bar. Local property records indicate the home on Daria Place is worth about $2.1 million.”

And, last but not least…
“I think she is pretty and takes good care of herself--unlike her immediate predecessor.”

That’s a cheap shot, no matter how you slice it. I’m not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton, though I have come to have enormous respect for her. She is not a particularly attractive woman—though she has learned to “take [better] care of herself” in recent years; I was unaware this was a qualification for a favorable reception.

Bonus coverage:
“I don't think we are allowed to speak our mind about the appearance of the present First Lady.”

I don’t even want to guess which aspect of the present First Lady’s appearance you don’t think we’re allowed to speak our minds about.

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

As I said and you proved: I don't think we are allowed to speak our mind about the appearance of the present First Lady.

Shallow? Do you think this was magnanimous: "she's always got that creepy frozen grin on her face--she looks like she's been preserved in formaldehyde and stuffed with sawdust. I'm guessing the answer is that she's heavily medicated, but you never know."

Sorry, I was wrong about Hillary's Secondary School. But, Wellesley didn't give full scholarships even to National Merit Finalists. I know because my daughter was one. So, I am willing to guess that her rich Daddy helped pay her way. And, in her favor--her hips don't come close to being as wide as Michelle's, nor is her chest as flat, neither of which have anything to do with "reception," but the Press effusing otherwise is offensive to me. And, while we are on Saint Hillary, my husband was a very successful Real Estate attorney in the 80's (and a National Merit Finalist and top scorer on the July 1977 Texas Bar exam and since Michigan State did give NMFs free rides and thanks to the old GI Bill he was able to go to law school. Otherwise, he would still be working at the Post Office.) And if he did what she did in the Whitewater affair he would still be in jail.
Is it required to disdain the Bushes to participate on this blog? I would think Dubya would be more likely to read easy, trashy, cheap novels sooner than Bill (he is a trashy novel) Hillary, Obama or Michelle. They are much too intelligent and refined! If it is essential that we insult the Bushes let me know and I will disappear, but you really should have that posted somewhere before we sign up. I thought this site was about writing and publishing. And someone besides me must like Laura or her book wouldn't be Numero Uno on the Best Seller List.

[Jon Loomis]

As I said and you proved: I don't think we are allowed to speak our mind about the appearance of the present First Lady.

Yet you did, and it was racist. But that's my fault for pointing it out, I guess.

my husband was a very successful Real Estate attorney in the 80's (and a National Merit Finalist and top scorer on the July 1977 Texas Bar exam and since Michigan State did give NMFs free rides and thanks to the old GI Bill he was able to go to law school. Otherwise, he would still be working at the Post Office.

Not sure what any of this has to do with anything, except it's worth pointing out that the GI Bill, Michigan State and the Post Office are all government funded and therefore socialist.

I would think Dubya would be more likely to read easy, trashy, cheap novels sooner than Bill (he is a trashy novel) Hillary, Obama or Michelle.

There's a phrase I'm looking for here, and it's just on the tip of my tongue. Starts with "Go" and ends with "fuck yourself," but I'm damned if I can remember the rest of it.

[I. J. Parker]

Still laughing my head off.
I've come to like Michelle Obama a lot. She has represented this country with total class and still does. I also like her husband, even if he stays cool, calm, and collected when all the Southern conservatives want a president who is "furious" and calls BP names.
And Hillary is doing just fine, as is her husband.

Should we really let everybody vote? I like a constitutional monarchy myself. My faith in the common sense of people has just about disappeared this past year.

[Jon Loomis]

My faith in the common sense of people has just about disappeared this past year.

Hanging out on the intertubes will do that to you. :0

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

Just what the heck was "racist." I do like Obama. I was very happy when he won the election, because it meant so much to the African-American people with whom I work and to the young people. My son went to the inauguration, stood in the cold and watched it all on a Jumbotron. It was a pivotal moment for the good of our country. I wish Obama well. But, that doesn't give Michelle a good figure. And, all of the blah, blah about my husband is to point out that he has the credentials to know that regardless of what she looks like, Hillary is an entitled crook. And to illustrate that Hillary was, in fact, somewhat well-off. And he paid for his GI Bill benefits in advance with service in the Navy. And way back then he probably was a socialist. He has only voted for two men for President. He voted for McGovern (because of the draft). Then, he voted for Papa Bush (because of the draft). He is no longer a socialist. He also earned the free ride to Michigan State by being smart as the dickens and studying hard.
And as far as Michelle's ethics go. Do you think her job in Chicago should have paid her $350,000? Pretty good for someone just out of school in a government job. And, yes--they should at least return to a Poll Tax--might keep illegals away from the polls. No, actually, he probably would not have worked for the Post Office. He probably would be working in his Dad's restaurant--for cash.
And by the way: Dashiell Hammett said it so much more elegantly: a gutteral verb followed by "you."

[Jon Loomis]

Just what the heck was "racist."

Your idea of what makes a woman's body "proportionate." It's apparently based on some kind of ideal of white beauty that very few African American women would fit.

And, yes--they should at least return to a Poll Tax--might keep illegals away from the polls.

Good God, lady, you really don't know when to quit. Free country, though. If you like that hole you're standing in, by all means, keep digging.

[Dana King]

A poll tax? Honest to God? I can't believe someone with your keen sense of history and fashion sense wouldn't know the poll tax was a keystone of racist Jim Crow policies, expressly created to prevent poor blacks from voting. (Denying the vote to poor whites was a bonus.)

Michigan State did give NMFs free rides and thanks to the old GI Bill he was able to go to law school. Otherwise, he would still be working at the Post Office.

You say "working for the Post Office" like it would be a step up to clean public toilets. I'm glad he was spared such an odious fate, but have one thing to say. I've known real estate attorneys, and postal workers, and I'd much rather spend my time with the postal workers.

And way back then he probably was a socialist.
He is no longer a socialist.
It's always harder to be a socialist when you already got yours.

I would think Dubya would be more likely to read easy, trashy, cheap novels.
Not true. Someone would have to read them to him.

What I'm most curious about is why you even deign to soil yourself with our trashy environment. You started a discussion by asking why anyone would read this stuff, and your comments here have been more like a wounded animal lashing out because someone poked a little fun at the Bushes. There are several things i could say, but, since we're being elegant, I'll merely see your gutteral verb, followed by "you," and raise you "the horse you came in on."

[Joyce Ann Fugit]

Dear Jon,

Obviously, you didn't look in the back of the National Geographic in elementary school or you would know that white women and African American women don't have one particular body type--They come in all sizes. My problem isn't with Michelle's body, it is with what she chooses to put on it and the unrealistic attitude the Press has about her fashion sense. For example, she should never again wear a pencil skirt.

[minervaK]

I love predictions. Everybody is predicting these days. I can't wait to see what really happens.

If this one turns out to be true, well then -- que sera sera. I'll bet there are people who will still keep writing books, and maybe people who will keep reading them.

Just to be a lugnut, I'd like to point out that everybody already IS a writer -- all humans, except for those too young and those functionally illiterate, write at some level. The job of author is not to simply put words down on a page, it's to tell a ripping yarn. That's not something everyone can do. Which is why I view these sorts of predictions with a jaundiced eye. My six year-old nephew can paint; is he therefore equal to Degas?

[Dana King]

Adams is right, to a point, but he goes too far. There will always be a demand for higher quality; the existence of a web site such as this, and other review sites and blogs, proves there are a good number of people who won't just read any old thing. Somewhere along the way, someone is going to figure out a way to make money from that, and they're going to have to have content. That's the niche the writers fill.

Can you make a living from that? How many writers have ever made a good living from their work? We tend to think it's worse now because we're here now, and it sucks to be us. I wonder if there were any more people earning good livings solely as writers fifty or a hundred years ago. Hard to say, because those who didn;t make the cut are forgotten; those of us who aren't making the cut are still here.