Hacker News: adamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=adamfletcherHacker News RSShttps://hnrss.org/hnrss v2.1.1Sun, 02 Aug 2026 02:18:28 +0000<![CDATA[New comment by adamfletcher in "The End of an Era"]]>The biggest problem facing authors is not battles over whether something is AI vs. human. Most readers don't care.

AI has made creating content almost free. What it hasn't done is add free hours to our day to consume all this new content. The number of people who want to read a book this month is roughly what it was five years ago, and roughly what it'll be five years from now.

Supply is exploding into demand that is stagnant (at best) or falling. Upload a book to Amazon today — good cover, sharp title, a blurb you sweated over for a week — and there is no longer any reasonable expectation of an organic sale. The book goes up, and then nothing happens, indefinitely.

Five years ago that wasn't true.

The answer is paid advertising. Buy your way onto the shelf. Stand out from the slop. But every writer is being given the same advice at the same moment, and there are only so many slots. The price of the slots must rise. And will keep rising for as long as there are writers able to pay.

The old metric was it takes about $5 to sell a book via paid advertising. I think in a year we'll look back on that figure fondly.

]]>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:06:22 +0000https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122626adamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122626https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122626<![CDATA[That's an interesting starting point. Who is made out of meat?]]>Article URL: https://thelonggoodbye.net/p/thats-a-really-interesting-starting

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747760

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

]]>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:48:34 +0000https://thelonggoodbye.net/p/thats-a-really-interesting-startingadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747760https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747760<![CDATA[Visiting Transnistria: perhaps the most corrupt “country” in the world]]>Article URL: http://soyoudonthaveto.co.uk/transnistria/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22727199

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

]]>Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:47:52 +0000http://soyoudonthaveto.co.uk/transnistria/adamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22727199https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22727199<![CDATA[Clicking the World Away: Drugs, Addiction and the Future of Consciousness]]>Article URL: http://www.hencewise.com/addiction/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11351113

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

]]>Thu, 24 Mar 2016 07:12:10 +0000http://www.hencewise.com/addiction/adamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11351113https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11351113<![CDATA[Ideas are like children… most of them are horrible]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/ideas-are-like-children

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5478374

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

]]>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:38:23 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/ideas-are-like-childrenadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5478374https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5478374<![CDATA[Startup Satire - the 5 major startup stereotypes. Recognise anyone?]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/anatomy-of-a-startup-meetup

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5374386

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

]]>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:05:15 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/anatomy-of-a-startup-meetupadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5374386https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5374386<![CDATA[Focus not on your To-do List, but on your Already Done List]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/to-do-2013

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4943002

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

]]>Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:36:13 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/to-do-2013adamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4943002https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4943002<![CDATA[Why my favourite person to discuss startups with is my 80 year old Grandma]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/grandma-tech-hype

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4727120

Points: 38

# Comments: 8

]]>Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:24:37 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/grandma-tech-hypeadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4727120https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4727120<![CDATA[The secrets of my failure – why “winning” is not our natural state]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/the-secrets-of-my-failure

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4553562

Points: 8

# Comments: 0

]]>Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:09:35 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/the-secrets-of-my-failureadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4553562https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4553562<![CDATA[Don’t drink the startup Kool-Aid – just find a problem and try to solve it]]>Article URL: http://venturevillage.eu/startup-kool-aid

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4443983

Points: 195

# Comments: 50

]]>Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:01:15 +0000http://venturevillage.eu/startup-kool-aidadamfletcherhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4443983https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4443983