Nathan here! Well, actually it’s Nathan of November 12th writing this ahead of time.
So wow, it’s the future. Do we have flying cars yet? Did Nathan of November 19th get a haircut?
Today’s You Tell Me comes from Orange Slushie, and it’s a good one. Take it away, Orange Slushie:
“You go down to the crossroads and make a pact to have your novel and future novels published. You are given a conditional choice. Either you can receive the highest literary acclaim for your work, but a guarantee that you will never earn enough to give up your day job. Or you can always be considered a terrible hack, but make bucketloads of cash.
Which do you choose?”
Yat-Yee says
Right now, acclaim. If I lose the financial security, then cash please. Now where do sign up for one of the other?
Miss Viola Bookworm says
Acclaim.
Anonymous says
What is disingenuous about it? I’m merely pointing out that getting many people to buy something, anything, does not necessarily make that thing a good thing. And I do think that applies to books, even some best-selling ones.
And no, it is not like saying “only X number of people are qualified/smart enough to read one’s work.” The fact is, many people CHOOSE crap over good stuff because they don’t want to expend any effort or have to have their ideas challenged. That is a perfectly legitimate choice. It’s just not mine.
My only point was that selling a lot of any product doesn’t make it good.
A Writress says
Cash.
Acclaim is totally subjective anyway. Someone’s hack is another’s hero. Stephen King will never get the Nobel Prize, but who cares? Surely not the people who love his stories.
Vivian says
Literary acclaim.
sex scenes at starbucks says
Cash. Screw acclaim.
bryan russell says
I want to write something truly great. The rest is just smoke and mirrors, tantalizing though they might be.
Anonymous says
Stephen king won an O’Henry award for one of his short stories, and in 2003 he was the recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for
Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. I would say that constitutes acclaim.
Julie Weathers says
One, it would depend on who I was making a pact with. If it was the devil in O Brother Where Art Thou, then no. Soul is not on the bartering table. We’ll discuss the rest.
Otherwise.
Cash. I can always improve my work and “being considered a hack” is an opinion.
Cash, would provide me the luxury of writing full time. My dream. It would also mean I had the money to do more for my children. Every mother’s dream.
Many books that are considered literary greats, I couldn’t force myself to read if someone held a gun to my head.
And, finally, if I am getting enough money to just write that means someone must like me.
No American is going to get the Nobel for literature anyway, so why worry about it?
Aaron Hanlon says
It’s a tough one but i supect i would go for the money.
Mark Wise says
I would choose neither. Other people’s acclaim is fleeting, fickle, and meaningless. Loads of cash only brings loads of trouble.
I write because I have to write. If I didn’t write these stories, then something of my life would have gone unfulfilled.
Dara says
Acclaim. As much as I don’t care for my day job, to know that my novel is considered a great read by a small amount of people is worth it. That and it’s more likely that it will stand the test of time and may be enjoyed by people generations from now.
Though I suppose I’m confused; I would think a great deal of acclaim would start earning you the $$…then again I’m probably thinking about it too much 😛
Ann Victor says
South African Nadine Gordimer has won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
JM Coetzee (when he was still a South African before he joined the chicken run to Australia)won the Booker Prize twice.
They may not be billionaires from their literary efforts, but both received pretty good prize money(and all those extra sales arising from their wins) when converted into South African rands.
For myself? Hmmmm. Acclaim or cash? Cash or acclaim? Is there any reason why I can’t aim for a healthy mix of both?
Anonymous says
“No American is going to get the Nobel for literature anyway, so why worry about it?”
Actually, many Americans have received the Nobel Prize for Literature, including Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow, and William Faulkner.
Anonymous says
I agree with writress when she said, “Acclaimis totally subjective anyway. Someone’s hack is another’s hero.”
As for me, I’d take the cash. My day job is a good one, but writing is my passion. When I feel the writing is as good as I can get it, I send it out. Sometimes it’s published, sometimes it’s not. The published work is obviously being read by someone, so if I can keep those someone’s happy while enjoying my passion, then all the better.
Besides, acclaim alone won’t allow me to write full time.
Sandra
Anonymous says
Aye, there’s the rub. (and the essence of my schizophrenia)
Dal Jeanis says
You can’t get lots and lots of money without providing an incredible reading experience that satisfied lots and lots of people, who then told all their friends.
Money is a measurement of how well I have served others. I’ll go for that.
And if the critics like it, that’s good as well.
Anonymous says
For all of you saying that acclaim is worthless because it’s subjective I ask: Why is acclaim any more subjective than money?
Money is just someone subjectively deciding to spend $20 on a certain book. That’s a subjective decision of an anonymous person. At least acclaim is a subjective decision of someone who reads a lot, and thinks about books for a living.
Kristi says
I’m not in this for the fame, or even the attention. I use it as a break from my day job, which give me a good living but bores me to tears most days.
I want the cash, and the opportunity for a career shift that could come with it. A job where I could actually go outside and still be productive? Hell yes.
Marilyn Peake says
Thank God we don’t have to make such decisions in the real world. Genre writers are not the same as “hack” writers. Writers like Margaret Atwood write within genres and also win major book awards. Sometimes the real world – with all its options – is a very nice place. 🙂
Kimber An says
As long as I get to share my stories with the world, I really could not care less.
It is true I consider grammer guides to be a plague upon this Earth, so I doubt literary acclaim is an option for me.
Karen says
I feel so much less shallow now!
While I don’t write for the money, given those two choices, I’d pick the paycheck over the acclaim. Because, seriously, who really cares about literary acclaim besides a certain niche group? Money means regular, every day people are reading my stuff. And that means that they must think it’s decent and readable.
And that’s all the acclaim I need.
Kat Harris says
Acclaim. I don’t want to be known as the Spice Girl of the literary world.
nancydrew212 says
TOTALLY take the cash!!! Write what you love (rule to live by, yes?) and if it makes you Big Money — then, HELLO Buenos Aires and leave the naysayers behind…
Adam Heine says
Cash. Because more than cash, I want to be read, and clearly the hack is getting read. Furthermore, if so many people are buying the hack’s work, who is calling them a hack? As Vieva said, “Lit people.”
calunes says
I’m merely pointing out that getting many people to buy something, anything, does not necessarily make that thing a good thing.
Pet rocks have cultural cachet; they can be used as a symbol for faddishness, whimsy, or excess; they’re something to groan and reminisce about with your friends, and when you mention them, people know what they are.
Things don’t have to be “good” to be worthwhile.
Luc2 says
“Literary acclaim?” A bunch of elitist critics who decide that I”m wonderful? No thanks. I write fantasy, so what chance would i have at literary acclaim anyway?
If I make a lot of cash, apparently a lot of people would love to read my stuff. That’s acclaim enough, and the money is a nice bonus.
Surly Jason says
Is both too much to ask?
Anonymous says
Those “elitist critics” are often people who LOVE literature, and devote their lives to it. Why do you think it’s okay to dismiss people who are genuinely trying to get out the word about books they love?
I don’t understand how being someone who reads widely and thinks critically can be seen as a deficit.
I thought the Bush days when being an intellectual was a bad thing were over….
Ulysses says
Hack.
Acclaim would be nice, but as Woody Allen put it, “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying.”
Actually, I just want to be read, and cash is a decent measuring stick as to how much reading is going on. It’s also handy to buy things with. Like food, shelter, and shelter for your food. Refrigerator’s ain’t cheap, y’all.
So call me hack if you will, but buy my work and read it so that your opinion will be informed and accurate.
Amber says
Money, honey. Gotta have the cash. I write Genre anyways, so never going to get the acclaim 😉 Of course, I’m thinking Rowling type money…
I do what I love, and if it’s called hack, well, at least I’d have something to show for it.
Perry says
I’d take the glory. Money is vulgar, anyway.
Anonymous says
Acclaim. Money doesnt make you happy.
Kathleen says
Probably the cash. It may be hack-like, but I want my books to be widely read (and the option of writing without running myself ragged is nice, as well).
Katiek patrianoceu says
I hate to think of myself as greedy, but nonetheless I take the cash. My justification being, because that means people are reading what I have to say. They don’t have to like it, they just have to read it.
Gottawrite Girl says
Bad self-esteem says I’ll be heckled anyways, so… I chose people purchasing my “hack” book!
Marilyn Peake says
I love how books like The Road by Cormac McCarthy break through so many boundaries. The Road is classified as science fiction, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, made the New York Times Best-Seller List, and was featured in Oprah’s Book Club. Cormac McCarthy also reports thinking about the book for a year, but writing it in only three weeks.
jnantz says
That’s easy, I write mysteries. Cash all day. I got mouths to feed, and if I never hit the NYT list but I can afford to write fulltime (especially if my wife can quit her job, which wears her out), then I’ll take it any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
jnantz says
Better yet, Mr. Bransford, email me requesting my ms, and let’s find out!!
😀
Anonymous says
I like jnatnz’s answer (above mine).
I answered cash before, but after more thought, let me add to that.
At this point I’d rather just get something published. Anything. If it falls under acclaim or money, I don’t really care.
It can’t be either if it never makes it to a bookshelf. I’ve done the whole “this is a beautiful book” thing and while editors were praising me for the, “beautiful book with rich, engaging writing” they also said, “Thanks, it’s not for us. But I’m sure you won’t have a problem selling it.”
Guess what? It’s not sold.
Suzan Harden says
I write what I’d look for and want to buy in the bookstore, a good entertaining yarn where I forget everything for an hour or two. If that be hackdom, so be it.
Sam says
I have two goals when I write: 1) enjoy myself, and 2) entertain as many other people as I can. The first goal is always covered. I enjoy the creative process–so if I never get published, at least I feel fulfilled. If I DO get published and make tons of cash, that suggests I’m succeeding at the latter as well. So I’d take that option… because then I can also buy myself a yacht.
Anonymous says
I’d undoubtably…cough…cough…hack…hack…go with…hack…hack.
SF writer says
Acclaim. If cash came with it, that would be nice, too. =)
Lisa Iriarte says
Terrible hack is fine with me. I want people to read my stories, enjoy them and escape reality. Lots of people. In cheap paperback.
Lisa Iriarte
lotusloq says
Big money, baby! I’m not smart enough for literary acclaim, and, frankly, I love a book that is not completely angst ridden.
Nathan, it’s cool that we’re getting questions from the past. I’d be even more impressed if you could send them from the future.
Erika Robuck says
Cash.
(The little artist on my left shoulder was just squashed by the little businesswoman on my right.)
Accalaim won’t send my kids to college, fund my Starbucks habit, or allow me to buy other people’s books.
Luc2 says
Anonymous 11:33 Those “elitist critics” are often people who LOVE literature, and devote their lives to it. Why do you think it’s okay to dismiss people who are genuinely trying to get out the word about books they love?
I don’t write literature, and so few of them seem to even try and take fantasy seriously. And those same people who genuinely try to get the word out on books they love, will not hesitate to bash books they don’t love. On what basis? Isn’t the whole writing thing subjective?
“Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they are unable to do it themselves.”
Stacey says
Um, I would probably go for the cash…because what many people think are Hack books that make lots of money are my favorites.
Kristan says
Yeah, I’ll be honest, I don’t know which one I choose. I guess I’m hoping for half of one AND half the other, haha. But given everything I know about the industry, I’d probably take either.
… Leaning more towards the money side of the scale, though. (Again, I’m cheating/ignoring the question and thinking of this as a scale.) Because my dream has always been to BE A WRITER, a writer who supports herself off her writing, NOT someone who writes “on the side.” (God I hate that phrase. Not because there’s anything wrong with people who do that, but because that’s what everyone tells me I could do, and it’s not what I want.)
Anyway, was that long enough?