If you're at all intrigued by crossword puzzles or the creative process behind constructing them, I commend to you this profile of ace constructor Merl Reagle. Most gratifying was the following tidbit:
He makes the bulk of his money, a handsome six-figure income, by leveraging his name and, nearly alone in the industry, retaining the rights to his puzzles, which he resells in book form under his own imprint, PuzzleWorks.
It's wonderful to see someone making a very healthy living from puzzlemaking, something I hope to achieve myself someday.
Posted by Peter at October 3, 2003 08:53 PMIt's wonderful to see someone making a very healthy living from puzzlemaking, something I hope to achieve myself someday.
It's hard. I know one person who is doing it and he's got there mostly through newspaper deals, with healthy chunks from work behind the scenes in TV (mostly, but not all, game shows). He's very good indeed at what he does. He's very much a people person in a way that I am not.
Books: my puzzle book only paid me slightly better than minimum wage and not even that until it was reprinted in the US. On the other hand, I wrote 40% of one quiz book and 35% of another quiz book, both of which were pulled and never saw the light of day, but which still paid me more than my entire puzzle book did for about half as much work. *shrug*
Posted by: Chris M. Dickson on October 4, 2003 05:40 AM