How much do modern Russian writers earn? How much are filmmakers willing to pay screenwriters for fresh ideas? Authors receiving remuneration

...or "Writers"XXIcentury. Cruel. Cynically. Uncut"

Warning!

- If you think that the paper book is not dead, and for many years to come it will successfully compete in popularity with the electronic product, then you don’t have to read any further. This article is not for you.
- If you think that an e-book has no right to be called a “book”, and its author - a “writer” - do not read, return to your cozy Writers’ Union forum or to the eternal AIT community. This article is not for you.
- If you don’t want to admit that in modern reality, a writer is forced to take on the responsibilities of not only the author, but also pr -manager/publisher/promoter/literary agent/etc. - don't read further.

Everyone else is welcome!

This article collects and systematizes the experience of promotion and sales of Russian-speaking authors in Russia and abroad over the past five years.

Necessary introductory
This article is intended primarily for science fiction and science fiction writers.non-fiction. But it will be useful to any person who decides to connect his life with literature and wants to receive not only moral, but also financial satisfaction. If you think that these aspects are in principle incompatible, then why the hell did you go under the cut?

A few facts:
- in 2015, the number of Russian writers (not only those writing in the fantasy genre, but in general) whose circulation exceeded 100,000 copies decreased to one and a half dozen people.
- the number of officially downloaded e-books in the fantasy genre in Russia for the period from 01/01/15-09/01/15 is equal to the number of paper copies of the same genre sold.
- Russian publishing houses, including top ones, are cutting royalties not only for beginners, but also for seasoned authors. The old joke that writers will give away their texts for publication for free is no longer a joke. The average fee for a book in 2015 was now 20-25 thousand rubles (and now even less - 12-20 thousand rubles). But recently, cases have become more frequent when the most venerable publishing houses offer authors to publish them on a royalty-free basis;
- two thirds of the previous authors left the writing profession, since the current fees simply could not provide for them and their families. These losses were partially filled by young authors who were ready to work “for food”, but they too are published less and less often and in ever smaller circulations.

And at the same time:
- in 2015, the number of authors selling books by subscription and earning more than fifty thousand rubles from this exceeded two hundred people;
- the number of Russian-speaking authors whose monthly income from electronic sales ranges from ten to fifty thousand rubles, in 2015, according to various sources, ranges from 500 to 1000 people (for comparison, in 2014 there were less than two dozen authors);
- the number of Russian-speaking authors sold on the site Amazon . com independently (without the mediation of publishers), over the past year it has grown from 15 to 67 people;
- in 2015, the number of books published through crowdfunding tripled;
- in the same year, more than a hundred authors published books independently, collecting funds for publication and selling copies through their websites and groups on social networks .

What conclusions can be drawn from all this?
1) A novice author (especially if he writes works of such genres as science fiction, detective, romance (erotic) novel ornon-fiction) is much more profitable to initially promote yourself on the Internet, gaining an army of loyal readers. Piracy has not been a problem for a long time, as effective ways have emerged to minimize the damage from the illegal distribution of texts, and the number of Internet users willing to pay for the use of legal content is growing every day.
2) Writers who have received fame, fame, paper editions and substantial royalties from publishing houses in the last twenty years should think about the fact that the paper book market is no longer just in a protracted peak, but has collapsed. The crisis, the arrival of which we have been afraid of for the last five years, has already happened. In 2016, the number of authors, series and the amount of royalties for publishing paper books will be reduced by fifty to seventy percent. And yesterday we should have started preparing escape routes.
3) The Internet is not killing the writing profession. It gives it incredible possibilities that literature has not had in the past. He opened a direct path from the author to the reader, no matter what cities and countries they live in and what distance separates them. At the moment, of the 7 billion inhabitants of planet Earth, almost half use the Internet - 3.3 billion. It's worth thinking about, isn't it?

So, the introductory part is over. And, if you agree with my conclusions, then let's move on to the practical part.

What to do?
1. Understand and accept the fact that your work on the Internet is like a paper copy on the shelf of a bookstore. Only this store is not located in some city, and all Internet users have access there. And its assortment amounts to several million items. Accordingly, in order for your book to be noticed among hundreds of thousands of others, you need to attract attention to it. To the book itself, to my work and to my person. And the sooner you start doing this, the better. For, as one of my acquaintances accurately noted, we live in the era of the second nineties. And if before they divided money, territories and power, now we are seeing how the Internet is divided. And its opportunities are much more extensive and promising than any country on our planet. And the one who gets involved in the game earlier will reap the fruits of his labors earlier. It is important to realize: this work is now for the future. Not everyone will be able to receive 1, 5, 10,000 rubles a day right now for their writing (although some are already receiving it now). This will require time and effort.
2. Establish your presence on the Internet. As Dmitry Glukhovsky once said: " If I had not posted the book on the Internet, it would never have become so popular". An author's website is good, but provided that you already have a huge online readership audience. Otherwise, social networks and thematic groups will come to your aid. But here you should be careful and choose wisely. Don't waste your energy to communities of graphomaniacs and eternal MTAs, such as:
a) absolutely all communities of writers on LiveJournal, VKontakte, Facebook, etc.;
b) genre forums;
c) sites with low traffic;
d) Proza.ru and others like it.
On these resources you will not find your readers, but will only bathe in the poison and despair of the mentioned comrades. No, there are talented authors and good people there. But I repeat once again, you will essentially flush the time spent on these resources down the toilet.
3. HIt is good to recruit an Italian audience on the following resources:
a) SamIzdate - there are many readers and top authors who often notice publishing houses, but there is a minus - they do not allow you to provide links to purchase your books;
b) Fan book - the site is useful specifically for science fiction writers - it has less traffic, but it is fans of science fiction, plus there are competitions with publications in top domestic publishing houses, plus the chance of getting noticed by publishers is incredibly high;
c) Phantom Worlds - if you write romantic fantasy, fantasy and erotica, then on this resource you can find your reader and sell your texts.
d) Litera - useful not only for science fiction writers, but also for authors of other genres. Competitions with publications in publishing houses are also held here, but there is still the opportunity to sell your texts.
4. You will find some more practical tips on winning and working with an audience in the article by my colleague Dmitry Rus. I recommend reading: one and two.

So, you have your own audience, what next?
Publish texts. Remember that even if you are an established author in the past, the modern audience on the Internet may simply not know you. To do this, I recommend publishing one or two novels (the main thing is that the rights to them belong only to you and preferably that these are the first novels of large cycles). Remember, now you will now be forced to spend almost as much time (if not more) maintaining your text as writing it. Unfortunately, this is a necessary measure. Yes, not every author is a public person, and writers are often not social at all (me, for example). Not everyone has the skills and abilities of an Internet project manager andpr-agent. Without this now, unfortunately, it is difficult to achieve success. Of course, if you have the means, you can find a specialist. But a) where to get it, b) it’s not a fact that it will cope with its responsibilities.

Do you have reader recognition, but want financial returns?

In principle, if you are only interested in satisfying your creative ambitions, and literature is just a hobby for you, then you don’t have to read further. Next we will talk about money.
1. You can receive your first influx of cash from grateful readers while still writing your novel. This method is called "book by subscription". What is it and what do you eat it with? I recommend reading about this topic from my colleague Vasily Makhanenko, one of the pioneers of this method. And if earlier authors collected money on their own, now there are entire sites that provide the author with special tools: Knigoman,Z elluloza, and the above-mentioned Phantom Worlds and Litera. Let's talk about them using the last example. Andrey Levitsky, another onemy colleague is a science fiction writer, sharing his experience, thoughts and tips on using this service. But to put it bluntly, Andrey is not the most popular author on this resource. Let's take, for example, an author hiding under the pseudonym Francis Woodworth - in the first days alone she has several hundred paid subscribers.

/Lyrical digression
Why might you be denied placement of your tests?
It's simple - the level of your works is very weak. Sorry, but no one wants to discredit their resource by selling graphomaniac novels and the work of the MTA. Can site owners be called assholes for this? Of course you can! Prove them they were wrong! Promote yourself on the Internet and break all ratings, gather around you a devoted army of readers ready to pay you in hard cash for all your work. Let these assholes bite their elbows.
Serves them right! /

2. When the text of a new novel is finished, the paid subscription ends. Now you need to decide:
a) sell it electronically?
- on the author’s website (as they do, Booksmarket, XinXii and others). They have more options for promotion within the site, but low traffic. You need to take customers there yourself.
b) sell to a publishing house for publication on paper?
Everything here is simple and clear. The classic method, which I won’t talk about now.
c) publish it on paper yourself and implement it using the Internet?
- order and pay for circulation at the printing house. This method is suitable for those authors whose level of trust from the readership allows them to collect from pre-orders alone the amount necessary to produce a circulation of three to ten thousand copies. As an example, I will give the writer Alexander Biryukov, who managed to achieve similar results in just a year. He documented his experience of communicating with publishers in .
- publish and sell a book usingPOD (“Print on demand”, “Print on demand”). In many ways, this method is similar to the first, only copies are printed as needed and their cost is higher.
- crowdfunding. I spoke a lot and often about this method of publishing books. So I won’t repeat myself, but will simply indicate the links: , .
- I’ll separately mention a new resource that deals with similar issues, which I haven’t talked about yet - Ridero. That's what

In 2013, two literary records were set. The initial circulation of the new novel by the Japanese writer Haruki MURAKAMI “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” amounted to 1 million copies, and the writer’s fee, excluding interest on sales, was $5 million. An unknown 15-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala YUSUFZAI, will receive $3 million for a book of memoirs about how her school bus was shot at by the Taliban and how difficult it is to get an education in third world countries. We asked our staff author, writer Vladimir KAZAKOV, to tell us how much writers earn in Russia.

The history of Russian royalties is complex. This word itself, translated from Latin, means “honor”, ​​hence the word “arrogance”. For the curious, I will say that “gonorrhea” is not from that opera; it has Greek, not Latin roots.
So, in Rome only foreigners and slaves could write for a fee. It was a shame for a real Roman to take money for odes, verses and other tragedies. Therefore, they came up with symbolic valuable prizes - a ring or some kind of golden cup. It was also considered indecent in Russia among the nobles - and literature was predominantly of the nobility - to take money for writing.
But Alexander Pushkin changes everything. This is the first time he has made writing his profession. Having spat on the vague concepts of noble dignity, he began to sell his poems. We are often told that Pushkin was a poor poet, completely in debt. This is only partly true.
Alexander Sergeevich spent a lot, squandered, and lost entire fortunes at cards. His wife Natalya Nikolaevna devoured a lot with balls and receptions. But contemporaries wrote that the poet’s favorite pastime was drunkenly throwing gold coins from the Anichkov Bridge and watching how they shimmered in the water in the sun. Why such excesses?

Pushkin’s salary in 1831 at the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, where he, however, did not particularly go, was 5 thousand rubles. per year. This is a lot of money. The Mikhailovskoye estate and 200 peasant souls that belonged to the poet gave another 3 thousand rubles. annual income.
And here are some figures from his fees:
1824 - publication of the first edition of “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”, 1200 copies, fee - 3 thousand rubles;
1825 - publication of the book “Poems of Alexander Pushkin”, 1200 copies, fee - 8040 rubles;
1827 - “The Robber Brothers” was published, fee - 1,500 rubles;
1828 - the second edition of “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was published, the fee was 7 thousand rubles.
In 1824, for “Eugene Onegin” he received an astronomical for those times 12 thousand rubles.
This is not all of the poet's fees. For comparison: a luxurious lunch in a restaurant, including sturgeon and caviar, cost no more than a ruble. And a skilled young blacksmith with his wife and two children for export cost no more than 500 rubles.

Dostoevsky counted Turgenev's money

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky went further in the matter of mastering royalties. He managed to receive quite decent sums for novels that had not yet been written. In 1869 from Florence, in a letter to the publicist Nikolai Strakhov, he, among other things, reports: “...This is what I am forced to answer: since I always need money extremely and live only by work, I have always been almost forced, all my life, take money in advance wherever you work. True, they gave it to me everywhere. I left Russia soon two years ago, already owing Katkov 3 thousand rubles, and not according to the old settlement with Crime and Punishment, but according to the new one. Since then, I have taken up to 3,500 rubles from Katkov. "Russian Messenger" will send me money this year too, although I still owe some money there.
It takes me six months to sit down and write a novel. To write it for six months, you need to be wealthy at this time... You constantly write to me such news that Ivan Goncharov, for example, took 7 thousand rubles. for his novel, and Katkov himself gave Turgenev 4 thousand rubles for his “Noble Nest”, i.e. 400 rubles each. per sheet. (A literary sheet is approximately 24 typewritten pages. - V.K.) My friend! I know very well that I write worse than Turgenev, but it’s not too worse, and finally I hope to write not worse at all. Why am I taking only 100 rubles for my needs, and Turgenev, who has 2 thousand souls, 400 rubles each? Because of poverty, I am forced to hurry and write for money, therefore, I will certainly spoil it.”
In those years, the highest paid writers were Goncharov and Turgenev. But, in principle, Dostoevsky also received quite decent income. I could afford to travel all over Europe, play in casinos and generally indulge in all sorts of excesses.

Gorky earned money for a villa in Italy

The end of the 19th century was marked by a rise in the salaries of writers. Leo Tolstoy receives 1 thousand rubles. per sheet, Nikolai Leskov and Anton Chekhov - 500 each. The aspiring “singer of the revolution” Maxim Gorky - 150 rubles, more than Dostoevsky!
The pre-revolutionary time was simply fantastic for literary income. Gorky receives 1200 rubles. per sheet, Chekhov - 1 thousand, Kuprin - 800 rubles, Bunin - 600 rubles. That is, again we take the average book of that time with 10 sheets, multiply it by Chekhov’s 1 thousand rubles and get three years of living in a luxury hotel like the Metropol. This is for one book. And they tried to publish every year and even more often. Chekhov, for example, realized in time and gave up the rights to all his previous creations to the St. Petersburg book publisher Adolf Marx for 75 thousand rubles. And he successfully maintained a large family, a mansion on the Garden Ring, the Melikhovo estate, and a house in Yalta.
Prose writer Fyodor Sologub was not one of the leaders of the then rating, but a valued and high-quality poet and prose writer, author of the famous novel “The Little Demon,” paid 135 rubles for an apartment on Grodnensky Lane in St. Petersburg. per month. The writer’s home looked prestigious: expensive Art Nouveau furniture, palm trees...
Leonid Andreev built a beautiful mansion in a prestigious suburb of St. Petersburg, on the Black River. Construction, including interior decoration, cost 38 thousand rubles. Andreev received a ruble per line.
For a ruble you could buy a whole goose, for 50 kopecks. - a couple of chickens. The monthly salary of an average official was 100 rubles.
Gorky rents a luxurious villa in Italy, on the island of Capri, and supports numerous relatives, mistresses and simply hangers-on.

Mayakovsky became an official millionaire

In Soviet times, writers were also not bored. In the 20s, the highest paid writers were Vladimir Mayakovsky and Sergei Yesenin. Mayakovsky was considered an official millionaire. He ordered cars of prestigious brands from abroad, traveled a lot, and supported the Brik family.
In later Soviet times, the issuance of royalties in connection with the formation of the USSR Writers' Union was streamlined. It must be said that the union, in addition to fixed prices, also provided a lot of advantages that did not exist under the tsarist regime. Rent benefits, getting an apartment out of turn, an increased pension, the opportunity to relax and create for free in numerous creative houses scattered in the best resort areas of the USSR. An opportunity to purchase a dacha in writers' villages like Peredelkino or Komarovo for a symbolic price. The state stimulated intellectual and literary work.

Venerable writers, sometimes quite mediocre, sometimes received fantastic money. For example, there is a well-known case where the now forgotten writer Anatoly Sofronov, editor-in-chief of the Ogonyok magazine, member of the CPSU Central Committee and laureate of three Orders of Lenin, received more than 200 thousand rubles for a collection of works in 6 volumes, published for the 70th anniversary. A three-room cooperative apartment in a prestigious area could be bought for 15 thousand.
But even ordinary writers were guaranteed solid, very good earnings. For example, for poetry and plays they paid two rubles per line. Plus copyright, additional payment for circulation, etc. For one book, the writer was guaranteed to receive several annual salaries of an ordinary Soviet person. By the way, if a writer wrote a book in Russian and it was translated into one of the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, then the author was entitled to an additional 60 percent of the royalties paid for the first edition. If the book was translated into a foreign language, then the original author was entitled to 30 percent of the first royalty.
One friend of mine was a Mordvinian, he wrote poetry in Russian, he was published, then he translated himself into Mordvinian, he was published again, and that’s how he lived.

Writers also made scripts out of books. The average script cost 5 thousand rubles. - this is the price of a Zhiguli, a prestigious car at that time. They also wrote plays based on their works.
The leader here was Vladimir Voinovich, who in the 70s created stupid stories about real Soviet construction workers on socialist construction sites and successfully turned them into plays.
“While the performances were on,” the writer recalled, “my fees grew in arithmetic progression. One month - 600 rubles, another - 800, third - a thousand. When the monthly fee reached 1,200 rubles, the accountant, writing out a money order for me, became nervous and shouted to her employees: “Look at the living millionaire!”
That is, the very mediocre writer Voinovich, churning out dreary plays about everyday work, received monthly the annual salary of an ordinary person only from theatrical productions. Being a writer in the USSR was prestigious, and simply very good.

JK Rowling outdid

The USSR collapsed. Different times have come. 99 percent of writers fell into poverty. But one percent began to receive even larger fees. Of course, they are not comparable to the fees of writers in the West, where the income of the top is equal to the fees of pop stars and show business. For example, Joan Rowling's income exceeded $1 billion. Of course, this is mainly money for the film adaptation of her Harry Potter, but the millions of copies of the saga also bring her considerable income. In total, about 500 million copies were produced. books about a wizard. But she is not among the leaders of the modern Western ranking. Forbes magazine published the earnings of the most successful writers over the past year.
1. James Patterson - $84 million. The author of numerous thrillers and detective stories is best known for his series of books about the American psychologist Alex Cross.
2. Danielle Steele - $35 million. The total circulation of her women's novels exceeds 800 million copies, thanks to which Steele took eighth place on the list of best-selling authors of all time.
3. Stephen King - $28 million. An unsurpassed master of horror, during his long creative life he managed to work in many genres, including mysticism, science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and drama.
4. Janet Ivanovich - $22 million. She became famous thanks to a series of adventurous detective stories about the adventures of Stephanie Plum, who, after losing her job in a lingerie store, decided to start catching criminals.
5. Stefania Meyer - $21 million. The American housewife and mother of three children wrote a series of novels about vampires - “Twilight”.
6. Rick Riordan - $21 million. Author of mystical detective stories about a private detective and professor of English medieval literature Trese Navarre.
7. Dean Koontz - $19 million. An English teacher from Pennsylvania is considered one of the masters of action-packed thrillers and horror films.
8. John Grisham - $18 million. Master of “legal” dramas and thrillers, many of which were filmed.
9. Jeff Kinney - $17 million. The online game developer and animator gained fame as a writer thanks to the children's series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”
10. Nicholas Sparks - $16 million. From his pen came 16 novels, the main themes of which are personal tragedies, amazing destinies, fidelity and love.

Most of these citizens, with the exception of King, Steele, Grisham and a few Meyer, are unknown to our people. What about domestic writers?
Finding information is extremely difficult. And checking its authenticity is even more difficult. Because the circulation of books in one case is artificially low in order to avoid paying taxes, and in others they are inflated to the skies in order to emphasize the importance and popularity of the author.
On average, the author receives 10 - 15 percent of the publishing price of books sold. This is the so-called royalty. By the way, the selling price of a publishing house is on average less than 100 rubles. for a book. The rest is cheating from distributors and stores. Plus a fixed amount for the transfer of rights.
Having published two books during the “fat” years of the Russian economy, in 2007 and 2008, I received 150 thousand for the first, 300 thousand rubles for the second. Plus 300 thousand - for the third, which the publishing house never released. This is a lot, because I am not Daria Dontsova. I did not receive any royalties, and it is almost impossible to check how many books were published and how many were sold. This is the biggest secret of any publishing house. (By the way, the volume of the book market in Russia now ranges from $2.5 to 3.5 billion annually. This is a fantastic amount, comparable to the proceeds from the arms trade.) Alas, now the kind of fees that were paid to me no longer exist.
All this, of course, does not concern our conditional “stars of the pen.” According to rumors, Daria Dontsova earns about $150 thousand a month from books. I think Viktor Pelevin, Boris Akunin receive the same amount and Dmitry Bykov receives a little less. This amount includes fees for new books, reprints, royalties, film adaptations, and performances.
At the peak of Boris Akunin’s popularity, in 2005, Forbes magazine published data on his income: from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, he earned just over $2 million.
In short, if you rise to the top, you can live. Another thing is that, unlike pre-revolutionary sales leaders, modern writers occupy an honorable place as writers is not entirely deserved. But that's a completely different story.

05/10/2010

This fall, Steven Spielberg was almost sued... for plagiarism. The living classic of Hollywood risked his freedom because of the film “Paranoia,” of which he was the executive producer. Indeed, the plot of this youth thriller is, to put it mildly, “with a beard.” The film's director and Spielberg collaborator DJ Caruso told the story of a bullying high school student who finds himself under police house arrest. Restricted in his movements, he sat down to watch the house opposite. After some time, the guy figured out that his polite and silent neighbor was a sophisticated maniac.

IN disappear in the air
It would seem that there is no need to fence the judicial garden: the budget of the film is only 20 million dollars. However, Paranoia received several nominations for various film awards such as the Peoples Choice Awards and even competed for a box of golden popcorn from MTV for the best kiss of actors. And the film’s box office speaks of popular recognition - ordinary viewers bought $117 million worth of tickets. And now the heads of the Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust legal foundation wanted to take a piece of this American pie. They claimed that Spielberg and Co. had actually remade Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Hitchcock legally shot a film of the same name back in 1954 based on the story by Cornell Woolrich. And the rights to it belong to the Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust. Therefore, Spielberg cynically took advantage of Woolrich's literary heritage. However, the court rejected the plaintiffs' claims and closed the case. Yes, in both Hitchcock and Caruso, a person with limited mobility stares out of the window out of boredom and solves the crime. However, apart from this, nothing else fits: the heroes are different, the criminals are different, the murders are different, the time and place of the action do not coincide... so the films are different. The case, as they say in such cases, is dismissed.

These hearings would have remained an unfortunate misunderstanding if Spielberg had not been the first director to be caught by Themis in a plagiarism case. After all, if wild actors, as a rule, are held accountable in court for fighting, drunk driving and drugs, then directors are usually accused of appropriating someone else’s intellectual property. Thus, a certain Mexican filmmaker said that Mel Gibson copied some scenes from his film “Return to Aztlan” in his “Apocalypse.” Another master who paints the end of the world, Roland Emmerich, was put on trial twice: first, a professor from Harvard accused him of plagiarism - he said that Emmerich had brazenly borrowed ideas for “The Day After Tomorrow” from his novel “The Ninth Arctic Day.” And then Emmerich was caught stealing ideas by a certain Chinese playwright. The Chinese even counted the number of scenes from two of his plays that Emmerich reproduced verbatim on the screen - 308. American screenwriter Dennis Hunter in court demanded a million dollars from Quentin Tarantino: they say that the enfant terrible of Hollywood stole the idea of ​​​​the Kill Bill duology from him. The creator of Avatar, James Cameron, also got it.

Of course, the main argument of the “defense” is the memorized mantra: they say, ideas are in the air. And everything has already been invented before us, so almost any director can be accused of plagiarism if he did not pay money for the rights.

H then how much
And what remains for the “poor” cultural masters? Interpret well-known stories in your own way. It is no coincidence that the rights to a remake, plot, or film adaptation of a book, comic book or computer game are much more expensive than the so-called original script (screenplay). The average salary for a Writers Guild of America member is only $50,000. It is for this kind of money that you can buy a high-quality script for a medium-budget film like “Paranoia”. While the amounts that producers spend on purchasing a truly fresh story almost always amount to millions. For example, Joan Rowling was sold into cinematic slavery by a Potter film for two million dollars. And she bargained with Warner Brothers for a percentage of the rental of subsequent films and all merchandising produced based on the film. Today her fortune is estimated at almost a billion pounds.

After selling the rights to the novel Below Zero, the bank account of the cult American writer Bret Easton Ellis was replenished with a million dollars. 20th Century Fox had to pay $10 million for the right to turn the Halo video game into a film. The original plot of "Terminator" - if someone wants to make a sequel or remake - will cost $29.5 million. The comic book company Marvell does not even consider offers below ten million. Thus, the production budget for the second part of Spider-Man increased by $20 million only because the acquisition of the rights to graphic novels about Spider-Man cost that amount. But by paying such mind-boggling money, the creators are counting on super profits. We are talking about works that have already proven themselves commercially. But no one wants to spend money on high art.

In the early 1990s, writer John O'Brien allowed director Mike Figgis to make a film based on his book Leaving Las Vegas for just two thousand dollars. In 2002, Graham Greene's widow received about a thousand pounds sterling for the rights to remake The Quiet American, based on the novel by her famous husband. However, the writer himself, when there was talk about film adaptations of novels, preferred to smoke on the sidelines. In the literal sense of the word: so, in 1949, without haggling, he parted with his classic novel “The Third” for just a few hundred pounds and... a box of cigars.

E then in our opinion
Only Soviet cultural masters were equally careless about their intellectual property. The classic of Russian cinema, Eldar Ryazanov, admitted to Itogi: “In 1994, Emil Braginsky and I sold the rights to the film adaptation of two of our films, “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” and "Office Romance". The times were strange, Emil and I were completely unsavvy in legal matters and received pennies for it. We’ve already seen “Easy Steam” in a new form, but I’m not even going to watch “Roman.” Premiere of the film “Office Romance. Our Time" is scheduled for February 17, 2011. The production was carried out by the Leopolis film company. However, the company is not eager to discuss the legal underside of the project. There is information on the website that in the 1990s, Alexander Atanesyan became the copyright holder for the play “Colleagues” by Emil Braginsky and Eldar Ryazanov (it formed the basis of the film). Some time ago, they were bought from the director and producer by the head of Leopolis, Sergei Livnev. He also became one of the producers of the new version of the Soviet hit.

In general, fresh ideas in our new cinema are very rarely converted into crisp bills. The number of profitable films can be counted on one hand, one of them, by the way, is “The Irony of Fate: The Sequel.” It is not for nothing that producer Sergei Selyanov says in almost every interview that cinema in our country is an unprofitable business. So why not try turning to well-established old hits? Vladimir Menshov did not even suspect that director Andrei Kudinenko was making a remake of his 1976 film “The Hoax.” “I was informed about this when the picture was finished,” Menshov told Itogi, “and was invited to the premiere. Formally, I don’t even know whether the authors of the new version should have contacted me. The plot of this new film is very indirectly related to my film.” The scriptwriter of the original film was Semyon Lungin, and the new film was shot at the studio of his son, director Pavel Lungin. “The rights to the “Raffle” script have never been transferred or sold to anyone,” Pavel Lungin told Itogi, “they belong to me as an heir. We were not remaking the film, but the plot invented by my father. The script has been changed almost beyond recognition."

Today's screenwriters, directors and writers are much more pragmatic. So, according to rumors, the famous Boris Akunin asks filmmakers not to bother him if they cannot offer more than 500 thousand euros. Smart books and scripts are still inexpensive. National Bestseller Award winner Andrei Gelasimov admitted to Itogi that he sold the rights to the film adaptation of one of his award-winning novels for $25,000. The original script, according to one well-known producer, costs more - about 30 thousand euros. “On average today,” says Gelasimov, “a non-profit author is offered 10-15 thousand dollars for a book. And this is negligible. The global crisis has greatly affected film production, and rates have dropped significantly. At times. I recently met with an employee of a large film company and asked how much they would pay for the rights to a film adaptation of, say, a book by Lyudmila Ulitskaya. She said: “Not at all. We won’t sell such a film.” Here's the price you've been told. Zero. This is despite all the significance of Ulitskaya for modern culture. Draw conclusions."

The conclusion suggests itself is this: the Russian market for rights to cinematic versions and remakes is developed almost like Hollywood’s in terms of royalties. But the quality of films in most cases leaves much to be desired. We even learned how to buy and sell rights. True, so far serious money paid for plots and stories is increasingly being thrown away. Something is not visible while the Spielbergs are in their native land.

Is it possible to make money from writing? Easily! And whole millions! This is proven by the annual ranking of the richest book authors on the planet, compiled by Forbes. How much do writers earn? And why are there no Russian names on the Forbes list? About this in the material of the studio "BOOK".

Write and get rich: how much book writers earn

Every year, the American magazine Forbes calculates how much book writers earn and compiles a hit parade of the richest writers in the world. In 2017, its leader was Harry Potter's mother Joanne Rowling. From June 2016 to June 2017, she put $95 million in her wallet.

American James Patterson is slightly behind the British novelist. The writer of adult detective stories and stories for teenagers became $87 million richer over the year. In third place by a huge margin is Jeff Kinney, the creator of the popular children's series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” His account was replenished with “only” $21 million in 12 months.

The remaining places in the top ten were distributed as follows (amounts are indicated in millions of dollars):

• Dan Brown (responsible for conspiracy novels about Professor Langdon received $20);
• Stephen King (the king of horror got $15 richer);
• John Grisham (author of numerous detective stories sold them for $14);
• Nora Roberts (mystery novelist's earnings increased by $14);
• Paula Hawkins (bestselling author of The Girl on the Train, $13);
• E.L. James (the author of the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy got $11.5);
• Danielle Steele (the queen of women's fiction was able to add $11 to her account).

What about us? How much do writers earn in Russia?

It is easy to notice that there is not a single Russian author on the Forbes list. And this trend has continued for decades. Is it really impossible for us to get rich by writing? According to experts, it is theoretically possible! However, the main problem is the circulation - too small compared to Western ones. Even the cost of book production plays a smaller role in how much writers earn.

Daria Dontsova, Dina Rubina, Boris Akunin - these and some other domestic writers have very good sales. Thus, the total circulation of Dontsova’s legacy is approximately 200 million copies. But Rowling's novels sell 400 million copies - only the Bible has more. At the same time, the circulation with which a book is published in the Russian Federation today is on average 4.5 thousand copies.

Another aspect of the difference in income between Russian and foreign prose writers is related to the language barrier. Many foreign authors get rich faster, partly because they write in English. After all, this language is spoken by a much larger number of people than Russian. Meanwhile, not all of our novelists are translated. Dina Rubina, Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Dmitry Glukhovsky were lucky in this sense. However, in comparison with international circulations of the same Rowling, this is minuscule.

Another important point is the size of the fees. If you have just come to literature, the fee is usually only 25 thousand rubles. And they are quite willing to pay a well-known creator a whole million. So, how much book writers earn largely depends on their length of service in the literary field.

And finally, the price of book products. How can a modern writer make money if the cost of printed and electronic literature in Russia has hardly changed lately?! In Europe and the United States, books are much more expensive, which is reflected in the authors’ profits, which are calculated from final sales. But if now the price of literature in the Russian Federation increases, the number of readers and circulation will decrease significantly.

How can a modern writer make money? Don't rely only on your gift!

Taking into account the above, how can a writer make money in Russia? Almost everyone has to look for additional income. Even accomplished novelists are forced to write scripts for TV series and television films, engage in journalistic or entrepreneurial activities, and teach. It will be good if you can sell the rights to the book abroad. But still, how much writers earn in Russia is very little compared to Western countries.

The majority of domestic prose writers, including nominees and winners of prestigious awards, earn about 80–100 thousand rubles from writing. per year. Only commercial authors specializing in science fiction, detective stories and romance novels can live on income from their creative work. For example, Daria Dontsova’s fee for one work often reaches $140 thousand. Alexandra Marinina receives an average of $100–150 thousand, Boris Akunin – $25–30 thousand, and Tatyana Ustinova – $25 thousand.

However, in the West, not every writer, even the most famous and beloved, is a millionaire. Writing a good piece is not everything. For example, “Harry Potter” is not just a great story about growing up, magic and the fight between Good and Evil, but also a successful marketing project that brings in huge profits. Considerable amounts of money have been invested in its promotion, but Russian publishing houses simply do not have the money for such PR campaigns.

And Rowling herself gets rich not only from her writing. The lion's share of her income comes from the sale of rights to the film adaptation of Potter. And in 2016, the writer’s personal funds increased due to the film adaptation of the book “Fantastic Beasts” and the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” In addition, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter amusement park transfers a certain amount to the novelist.

So, in order to make money from their creativity and enter the Top 10 from Forbes, a creator from any country will have to try hard. Not only talent, hard work and perseverance will lead to success, but also competent marketing and a fair amount of luck.

Based on material from Rossiyskaya Gazeta

P.S. Over the course of two years, we wrote several dozen articles about how to take the first steps in writing. Read them on our blog. And now you can select a reader or speaker for the future audio version of your book.

Examples of work

Prose| "Novella". Fragment

Prose| V.I. Nemtsev "Perovsky"

Business book| "Be obsessed or be like everyone else"

Fairy tale| "The Uninvited Guest" (Russian fairy tale)

Fairy tale| "Somersault" (Scythian tale)

Christian literature| "Spiritual Consolation"

It's free and there's no obligation

Author's survey

Check the statements with which you agree.

February 19, 2018 February 20, 2018 February 21, 2018 February 22, 2018 February 23, 2018 February 24, 2018 February 25, 2018 February 26, 2018 February 27, 2018 February 28, 2018 March 1, 2018 March 2, 2018 March 3 , 2018 March 4, 2018 March 5, 2018 March 6, 2018 March 7, 2018 March 8, 2018 March 9, 2018 March 10, 2018 March 11, 2018 March 12, 2018 March 13, 2018 March 14, 2018 March 15, 2018 March 16, 2018 March 17, 2018 March 18, 2018 March 19, 2018 March 20, 2018 March 21, 2018 March 22, 2018 March 23, 2018 March 24, 2018 March 25, 2018 March 26, 2018 March 27, 2018 March 2 8 , 2018 March 29, 2018 March 30, 2018 March 31, 2018 April 1, 2018 April 2, 2018 April 3, 2018 April 4, 2018 April 5, 2018 April 6, 2018 April 7, 2018 April 8, 2018 April 9, 2018 April 10, 2018 April 11, 2018 April 12, 2018 April 13, 2018 April 14, 2018 April 15, 2018 April 16, 2018 April 17, 2018 April 18, 2018 April 19, 2018 April 20, 2018 April 21, 2018 April 2 2 2018 April 23, 2018 April 24, 2018 April 25, 2018 April 26, 2018 April 27, 2018 April 28, 2018 April 29, 2018 April 30, 2018 May 1, 2018 May 2, 2018 May 3, 2018 May, 2018 May 5, 2018 May 6, 2018 May 7, 2018 May 8, 2018 May 9, 2018 May 10, 2018 May 11, 2018 May 12, 2018 May 13, 2018 May 14, 2018 May 15, 2018 May 16, 2018 May 17 , 2018 May 18, 2018 May 19, 2018 May 20, 2018 May 21, 2018 May 22, 2018 May 23, 2018 May 24, 2018 May 25, 2018 May 26, 2018 May 27, 2018 May 28, 2018 May 29, 2018 May 30, 2018 May 31, 2018 June 1, 2018 June 2, 2018 June 3, 2018 June 4, 2018 June 5, 2018 June 6, 2018 June 7, 2018 June 8, 2018 June 9, 2018 June 10, 2018 June 11 , 2018 June 12, 2018 June 13, 2018 June 14, 2018 June 15, 2018 June 16, 2018 June 17, 2018 June 18, 2018 June 19, 2018 June 20, 2018 June 21, 2018 June 22, 2018 June 23, 2018 June 24, 2018 June 25, 2018 June 26, 2018 June 27, 2018 June 28, 2018 June 29, 2018 June 30, 2018 July 1, 2018 July 2, 2018 July 3, 2018 July 4, 2018 July 5, 2018 July 6 , 2018 July 7, 2018 July 8, 2018 July 9, 2018 July 10, 2018 July 11, 2018 July 12, 2018 July 13, 2018 July 14, 2018 July 15, 2018 July 16, 2018 July 17, 2018 July 18, 8 July 19, 2018 July 20, 2018 July 21, 2018 July 22, 2018 July 23, 2018 July 24, 2018 July 25, 2018 July 26, 2018 July 27, 2018 July 28, 2018 July 29, 2018 July 30, 2018 July 3 1 , 2018 August 1, 2018 August 2, 2018 August 3, 2018 August 4, 2018 August 5, 2018 August 6, 2018 August 7, 2018 August 8, 2018 August 9, 2018 August 10, 2018 August 11, 2018 August 12, 2018 August 13, 2018 August 14, 2018 August 15, 2018 August 16, 2018 August 17, 2018 August 18, 2018 August 19, 2018 August 20, 2018 August 21, 2018 August 22, 2018 August 23, 2018 August 24, 2018 August 2 5 , 2018 August 26, 2018 August 27, 2018 August 28, 2018 August 29, 2018 August 30, 2018 August 31, 2018 September 1, 2018 September 2, 2018 September 3, 2018 September 4, 2018 September 5, 2018 September 6, 2018 September 7, 2018 September 8, 2018 September 9, 2018 September 10, 2018 September 11, 2018 September 12, 2018 September 13, 2018 September 14, 2018 September 15, 2018 September 16, 2018 September 17, 2018 September 18, 2018 September 19 , 2018 September 20, 2018 September 21, 2018 September 22, 2018 September 23, 2018 September 24, 2018 September 25, 2018 September 26, 2018 September 27, 2018 September 28, 2018 September 29, 2018 September 30, 2018 October 1, 018 October 2, 2018 October 3, 2018 October 4, 2018 October 5, 2018 October 6, 2018 October 7, 2018 October 8, 2018 October 9, 2018 October 10, 2018 October 11, 2018 October 12, 2018 October 13, 2018 October 14 , 2018 October 15, 2018 October 16, 2018 October 17, 2018 October 18, 2018 October 19, 2018 October 20, 2018 October 21, 2018 October 22, 2018 October 23, 2018 October 24, 2018 October 25, 2018 October 26, 2018 October 27, 2018 October 28, 2018 October 29, 2018 October 30, 2018 October 31, 2018 November 1, 2018 November 2, 2018 November 3, 2018 November 4, 2018 November 5, 2018 November 6, 2018 November 7, 2018 November 8 , 2018 November 9, 2018 November 10, 2018 November 11, 2018 November 12, 2018 November 13, 2018 November 14, 2018 November 15, 2018 November 16, 2018 November 17, 2018 November 18, 2018 November 19, 2018 November 20, 018 November 21, 2018 November 22, 2018 November 23, 2018 November 24, 2018 November 25, 2018 November 26, 2018 November 27, 2018 November 28, 2018 November 29, 2018 November 30, 2018 December 1, 2018 December 2, 2018 December 3 , 2018 December 4, 2018 December 5, 2018 December 6, 2018 December 7, 2018 December 8, 2018 December 9, 2018 December 10, 2018 December 11, 2018 December 12, 2018 December 13, 2018 December 14, 2018 December 15, 2018 December 16, 2018 December 17, 2018 December 18, 2018 December 19, 2018 December 20, 2018 December 21, 2018 December 22, 2018 December 23, 2018 December 24, 2018 December 25, 2018 December 26, 2018 December 27, 2018 December 2 8 , 2018 December 29, 2018 December 30, 2018 December 31, 2018 January 1, 2019 January 2,