A Brief History of How Writers Earn a Living

Most writers take it for granted that they deserve to earn money from their creative labor. In fact, it’s common for publishers to be publicly shamed if they pay in “exposure” or charge fees. But historically speaking, the idea that writers should be paid for their work is a relatively new one. And it was the emergence of publications like Writer’s Digest, 100 years ago, that underlined a complete and utter transformation: a golden moment when writing could be pursued by anyone as a profitable profession, a profession that one could learn, and a profession that people would pay to excel in. But before any of that could happen, writing had to become a salable product.

THE EARLY AUTHORS

The birth of authorship—or at least authorship as we’d recognize it today in the Western world—came about with the invention of the printing press and the wide distribution and sale of books. At first, printers focused on producing the classics, or ancient texts that were in jeopardy of being lost and were in high demand. Up until then, manuscripts had to be reproduced by scribes, and it was a slow process. But once printers satisfied that demand, they started looking for other things to print and sell, and it