The Death of the Artist: Why Creators Can’t Make a Living in the Digital Age
Can you really make a living as an artist in 2025? After publishing six books, I’ve learned the hard way: the answer is more complicated, and bleaker, than most people realize.
In this episode, I sit down with William Deresiewicz, award-winning essayist, cultural critic, and author of The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech. After interviewing 140 artists—novelists, filmmakers, visual artists, musicians—Deresiewicz uncovered a troubling reality: even “successful” creators are barely keeping their heads above water.
I’ve experienced this firsthand. I’ve published six books and dozens of articles and essays, and yet my quarterly royalties usually amount to pocket change. My 2023 collection of short stories, The Healing Book, sold 128 copies at $17.99 each, but after Amazon, printing, and distribution took their cut, I made just $450 that year. A journalism piece for a major newspaper that took weeks? $300. An essay for travel magazine. $0.
Meanwhile, I’ve spent thousands on editors, designers, and illustrators just to get my work publish-ready. So how do artists survive in the 21st century? And what’s broken about the economics of creativity in the digital age?
In this conversation, we explore:
• Why the internet promised to democratize art but ended up demonetizing it instead
• The hidden costs of being a “successful” artist today
• How streaming, Amazon, and tech platforms reshaped the entire arts economy
• What 140 working artists revealed about their financial struggles
• The death of the middle-class artist and the rise of the side-hustle creative
• Why artists need to talk openly about money—and why we don't
• Surprising strategies creators are using to generate their own opportunities
• Whether there’s hope for a sustainable creative career in the 21st century
📚 Learn more about William Deresiewicz: https://billderesiewicz.com/
X: @wderesiewicz
💡 About Curiously: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/curiously/id1678333848
📖 My books: https://www.dustingrinnell.com/bio