Surviving as a writer (Doug Rushkoff advises...)

Galleycat features an audio interview with author Douglas Rushkoff, who is branching out from magazine articles, books and comic books into a games-related graphic novel (“X”). His advice for writers now:

"My real strategy now is to survive by any means necessary. There's less money out there [for writers]. In the old days, between books, you'd call Playboy or GQ and pick up a $3-a-word article for something ... Now you're lucky to get a buck or buck-fifty from a major magazine. All you can really do is diversify and focus at the same time…”

 He means that you should focus on your expertise and branch into any medium into which you can take it. That could include gaming—which, Rushkoff points out—has all the money and is where some of the most innovations in narrative are taking place.

His site is rushkoff.com and his most recent book (other than the graphic novels) is Life Inc (How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back).

 (For help with creating your writing career, get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, WHSmith and many other online and offline retailers.)