Photography and writing

I continued thinking about the claim that images are worthless: "... the images that you and I produce are literally worthless when considered as a commodity. Selling images in the current market is like trying to sell sand in Sahara."

Does the same apply to other arts? Music? Painting? Performing arts? Writing?

As I don't have personal knowledge about any other art except writing, I can't give an widely applicable answer. But about non-fiction writing I do know something. (And significantly less about fiction.)

Writing has been my sideline for 20-30 years now. I started selling articles about 20 years ago, and started writing seriously about 27 years ago. All in all I have published in magazines and similar edited forums about 600-700 articles, essays and columns. And there are also several dozen books in my CV.

As I mentioned, writing is just a sideline - or a hobby - for me, altough I have benefited greatly from the skill in my work. My main work history has been within information technology - from specialist to manager to (currently) upper management. But writing is a serious thing for me still, and it makes me happy.

Has the supply vs. demand relation in writing changed in recent years? I must answer yes and no. The availability of writing talent seems to be about constant, and I don't see a great oversupply of it flooding the market. This may change, of course, but so far it hasn't happened. On the other hand, much of the published writing nowadays is not so well researched and though out. Opinion-type writing and even rumours get published easier than previously. The writers produce much more material than previously, for less pay per piece. But I think the situation is not so dramatic as it is in photography.

In photography there seems to be a dramatic change in the supply equation. A lot of photos are flooding the market so that only the top talent and those with a distinct style (and good networking skills) can survive. Or - as a different strategy - you can actually benefit from the exploding amount of amateur photographers, and target them as your market (photo sites, discussion forums, guides, photowalks etc.).

In any case, for me it is interesting to think about the similarities and differences of photography and writing.

As a sidenote, this summer has been completely different for me. I usually read and write a great deal during the summer vacation. This summer I did hardly any writing. Instead I took several thousand photos and learned a bit about photography.