Art and Commerce
Art takes time, work takes time, life takes time... things give.
After novelist Cormac McCarthy’s death, an ex-wife recalled years spent with him living in poverty — eating beans, residing in a barn and bathing in a lake — even after he had become so prominent that he received four figure speaking engagements from universities (which the author turned down, preferring to express himself entirely through his writing).
There’s plenty for the creative soul to unpack here about responsibility, reality and what’s reasonable. One truth is that, for many decades now, there have been only a handful of “livings” to be reliably made from writing fiction, particularly that labeled “mainstream” or literary. Thirty or so years ago, there were more opportunities writing in various genres, but even those were hard to attain, with the gains going to a select few writers. JK Rowling revitalized writing for young audiences, but nobody has since made money on her scale (back when I was a reporter at Forbes you could estimate Rowlings earnings by looking at the royalty expenses of Scholastic — most all material sales went to her!)
Among the bigger name writers of fiction you’ll find a lot of people who are also lecturers, speechwriters, professors and store owners. It’s also true for many authors of well-received nonfiction, where many continue to work as journalist. Also, you’ll find a few grant recipients. If you look at any writer or artist, blessed by the MacArthur Foundation, you are generally looking at somebody who really needs the money — this is especially true in 2023 for artists who have not “learned to code,” and will be true in 2030 for those who have, as computers are learning to code each other.
More than a decade ago, I favorably reviewed a work of nonfiction by a prominent writer who had won major awards for the prior book, which became a bestseller after being adapted into an Oscar-winning film. I had recently left journalism for a job in investment marketing and I missed my old job terribly. I was very excited to hear from the author, though. She had left me a voicemail, so I had plenty of time, before calling her back, to imagine all of the possibilities she wanted to discuss. Perhaps she had been so charmed by my review that she would pluck me out of obscurity by offering me some collaborative role in her next project. I got her on the phone. "We chit-chatted.” She cut to the chase: “I’d heard you were writing for investment managers now,” she said. That would be the moment. Her next words, I imagined, would be, “That’s a shame. I need a co-author for…”
Instead, she asked: “How do I get a job like yours?”
My disappointment should rightly have been fear — the people who had accomplished what I aspired to and whose professional lives I desperately wanted to trade for my own, were coming after my job.
Recently, I wrote a program note for the production of a play by Jose Rivera, a renowned playwright. I was surprised to learn that, despite writing many plays, produced all around the world and receiving numerous awards and accolades, that he made a lot of his living writing television for young audiences, including adaptations of Goosebumps. We all have to eat. As The Middlebrow writes this, Hollywood’s screenwriters remain on a long strike. Writing for film and television was once seen as the way to build a comfortable life, though it was always hyper-competitive. But changes to how such works redistributed and paid for threatens even that.
I’ve long enjoyed performance artist Richard Foreman and once asked somebody who knew him just how he was able to produce such uncompromising and challenging work since the late 196os, despite all of the changes in the theater scene. The answer? “Independent wealth.”
Economists don’t worry much that there are not enough painter, musician, writer, film director, video game designer, digital artist and sculptor jobs to go around for all the people who want them.
Thing is, most people do appreciate arts and culture, but they have limited time and attention for it, which means they can only afford, financially or by opportunity, to patronize the work of a few, proven producers. People spend thousands to see Taylor Swift because they know what they’re getting, even if the price is steep. Painters with skills that rival Picasso have existed before, during and after his lifetime, but Picasso has won unique trust from the art-buying (and viewing) public. How many new authors do I miss every month as I continue to buy everything new by the authors I follow?
Unlike McCarthy, I never say no to a paying job. I rarely say no to not-paying and barely-paying jobs. It’s an issue — a life hunting for opportunity and hope that this moment will be the one that changes things. It’s easy to admire McCarthy, sticking to his goal, barn and beans and lake baths and all. But, dang, it’s just a struggle for everyone, isn’t it?