Mr. Nobody, when you mention the typewriter, you mean the one Bobbi used to write via telepathy? I think the book's name was "The Buffalo Soldiers"?
As for Clancy, I don't know how many books he sold, but he did generate that big videogame franchise, as well as all those book series he didn't write. And I have to say, it may be Little League, but what is happening at Amazon's self-publishing platform is actually very interesting.
Yep. Bobbi's magic typewriter. Though, these past couple of days, I'd just as happily settle for 'the word processor of the gods'. Man, would I ever get creative with
that.
For the money thing...what people are worth via stocks held in companies, etc, has to be open and transparent because they're the rules of the road when it comes to company accounts/share values and holdings (I think that's certainly the case for listed companies, so the value Bill Gates' holdings are a matter of public record whether he likes it or not and I'd assume the same thing applies to any stock options Mr King may hold).
For anything else...it's true that SK has mentioned figures in the past, and - again AFAIK - there's probably a way to find out what any author's deal is/was worth via examination of the publisher's/publishers' financial records - it'll be a separate entry in a ledger somewhere or other.
I just don't really see what peoples' earnings have to do with me, or what mine have to do with anyone else, should they be interested. I accept that shareholders will, necessarily, be interested, and I expect certain information is or can be made available to potential investors without it being completely in the public sphere. But if I don't own shares in, say, CBS and have no intention of acquiring any, what difference can knowing or not knowing possibly make to me?
In any case, let's say I did acquire shares in CBS. If I think SK (or anyone else) is overpaid, what difference does it make? I can either trust the judgement of the people who arrange these things and live with it, or I can contact my broker and sell my stock.
As you say, though, it is interesting...but, IMO, only to a certain point. After that, I think it's nothing to do with me and can live with not knowing. (Thanks for the recommendation, though. Where he's chosen to be open about things...well, that's no foul, right?
)
Amazon's KDP
is interesting. No argument there. I just can't see someone of SK's standing being overly concerned. He's 'too big to fail' now, and could publish new books for nothing and still make a ton from the back catalogue alone. Maybe it'd be different if he was 20 years younger or in either of his sons' positions, but as it is...
Skipping to another post...
Dreamcatcher isn't a great book (or even a good one, if I'm being harsh), but that's not a surprise given the circumstances under which it was written. It's fair to say 'So why publish? He didn't need to', but here's a thing for both that book and
Insomnia: usually, you sign a deal to provide x books in exchange for x in up-front payment plus, say, 8% on profits/extra sales. That deal could cover 3 books, or 5, or 7. However many. However, most deals will stipulate a time limit. It could be that they want 5 books in a maximum of 7 years. It could even be 5 in 5. In those circumstances, you'd
have to submit something for publication, even if you felt that it was no good. And yeah, maybe a lot of people would just bang it out and think of the money, not caring about the quality or relative merits of the work. A lot of people would also see their reputations suffer, if not go completely down the pan, and while SK can be reasonably sure that people will buy whatever he produces, regardless, there would still come a point where his deal expired and it was time to renegotiate, and if he just went down the 'any old crap will do' route, publishers would notice and downwardly adjust their offers accordingly. So, for me,
Dreamcatcher and
Insomnia (probably
Desperation, too) only made it out into the world because that's what he'd completed, and like any story, you never know how they're going to turn out until they're written; that fantastic golden idea that wouldn't leave you alone at 3 in the morning could turn out to be a pile of old brown
merde on the page. It's like dipping into Gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get.