Don't be a science fiction writer.

Well, that's interesting. I'm sure the "Dean Of Science Fiction," RAH, did a lot better than that, though.

So, invent a fake religion instead.

> So, invent a fake religion instead.

There's too much competition now. The New Age movement, infinate variations on Wicca, Pastafarianismm, the EU's Common Foreign & Security Policy, String Theory....

And his income has likely been increased greatly by folks like the Instapundit pushing his books every month or so.

When someone shoplifts a book, who loses the money? The bookstore, the publisher, or the author? My guess is the bookstore -- as far as the publisher is concerned, the store bought the book and never sent it back.

On a separate note, Dr. Rudy Rucker, who has been writing both SF and non-fiction for decades, claims in his latest opus (The Lifebox, The Seashell and The Soul) that the total amount of money all US publishers pay to authors in book advances is about $6 million per year, and is remarkably stable regardless of how many books get advances. Whether this is adjusted for inflation or not, I do not know.

Too late!