The revival of science fiction in China Science fiction isn’t new to China, as Cixin Liu explains in Invisible Planets, […]
research
A typical full-time writer earns £11,000 a year, according to research commissioned by the Authors’ Licensing and Collection Society (ALCS).
The number of those working as full-time writers has also dropped from 40% of all writers in 2005 to 11.5% now.
Chief executive of the ALCS, Owen Atkinson, said the research by Queen Mary University of London, suggested these are “concerning times”.
The typical income of a professional writer in 2005 was £12,330.
WERONIKA JURKIEWIEZ in The Columbia Spectator
After analyzing 800 books, Stony Brook’s researchers found that their most successful writers used more nouns and pronouns, as well as conjunctions such as “and” and “but,” than unsuccessful ones. Successful authors also described their characters’ thought processes by using words such as “recognized” or “remembered” instead of explicitly stating their characters’ emotions. Ground-breaking? Not quite. The average reader understands that good writing hinges on more than frequent use of nouns, pronouns, conjunctions and common verbs—and that well-written books aren’t always more successful than poorly-written ones. Stony Brook’s research efforts reflect an industry’s desperation to put its finger on exactly what it is that readers enjoy, even if the results are arbitrary at best.
