The Best for the Money
Last Sunday our family spent quite a bit of the day watching Wimbledon’s Gentlemen’s Championship. It was one of the most exciting athletic events I’ve seen in some time. Both Federer and Nadal are amazing athletes and tennis players, and the fact that it was the longest match ever played at Wimbledon spoke to the power, talent, and sheer mental energy they both embody. I was probably more exhausted by the end than either of them.
This got my family talking about athletes and how much they get paid when they are the best in the world. It’s an insane amount of money, no matter what sport you play — tennis, soccer, baseball, football, golf… And it also made me think of different careers, and how there are a minimal number of people judged to be “the best” who get paid fortunes to do what they do: develop computers, manage large corporations, practice law. The list goes on.
But what about the arts? There are a very few people in the entertainment industry who make the same kind of money as top tier athletes. We can all name some of them. But I have to ask myself…when it comes to writing books, are those authors who are getting paid millions really “the best?”
In sports, there are effective ways to judge who is the best. Statistics, namely, but also by simply observing them. Who could watch Tiger a few weeks ago and not think he is one of the best golfers ever? Who could watch tennis this last Sunday and think that these two men are not at the top of the game? The men and women competing in the Olympic trials continue to match and beat U.S. and World records.
So I’m wondering…how can books be judged in this way? There aren’t statistics when it comes to writing, unless you count grammar or typos, and those generally get edited out. There are, of course, sales numbers, but we all know how that can be taken care of pretty much by the publisher’s marketing scheme. But there are no hard core facts to say, “Yes, this is one of the best writers ever.”
We all have our favorite writers. There are those who really can tell a story better than most, or come up with amazing characters and plots, or write with a prose so beautiful it makes you cry. It’s such a subjective enterprise. But are those the people who really sell? Who get the numbers?
What if, when it comes down to it, it really is what the consumer wants that counts? Do we all write a thriller if that’s what they call for? Perhaps that will get us the sales, but does that make what we write “the best?”
Yes, I’m sure some of the writers who make the millions (yes, there really are people out there like that), are great writers, and not many of us will ever be able to do what they do. But there are a lot of others out there who can write just as well, who haven’t been able to break into the business because of any number of reasons.
I’m really not being cynical. I know the world and business are complex and weird. But the whole thing has just gotten me thinking.
Any words of wisdom from the rest of you?
