If you knew you were going to be a successful creative writer (a very
big if - I do appreciate but, please, humour me ;) ) which format
would be the most lucrative?

[I KNOW, OF COURSE, THERE ARE OTHER REWARDS & PRIORITIES IN A CREATIVE
CAREER; I HAVE THEM & AM EVALUATING THEM ALSO. HOWEVER, HERE I AM ONLY
LOOKING TO GAIN SOME CLARITY AND RELIABLE FIGURES ON THE FINANCIAL
REWARDS OF SCREENPLAY VS NOVEL WRITING. THAT IS ALSO A VERY IMPORTANT
FACTOR)

To elaborate, leaving aside the staggering and exceptionally rare
success stories (J.K.Rowling, Stephen King, M Night S. etc.) and
basing the assessment on the 0.5 to 3% most successful bracket of
either profession, would you earn more money as a novelist or a
screenwriter?

How about if you considered the totals earned sub-divided by the hours
spent in front of the word-processor during your career, and slaving
away prior to making your breakthrough, how do the efforts to rewards
of both professions compare?

Thank you for taking the time to read my enquiry.
I'll be most appreciative of any statistical and reliable insight into this issue.

Yours,

Red.


PS. It springs to mind immediately that some very lucky novelists get
their novels translated to film. Thus, they earn even more money and
enjoy the pleasure of seeing their characters on the big screen as
well as in every bookstore.

Very few films are re-written as best selling novels. Maybe the novel
-> film translation is so rare, even for the best-selling 0.5% to 3%
of novelists, that it doesn't affect the figures that much?

Why not do both?

Many have ... Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, etc., etc.

dear reddyornot,

"the pleasure of seeing their characters on the big screen"
 .. .. beware the experiences of William Kotzwinkle, author of ET the
Extraterrestial (the book)

also, just for the fun of it, read his later book The Bear Went Over
the Mountain, all about the bastardization of an original written work
... it's hilarious ...

ts