How Charles Dickens Nearly Ran Out of Money

Like almost all artists. Including me.

Charles Dickens has defined Christmas for over a century.

Christmas did not used to be such a big deal. It was dented by the puritans who had a crack at cancelling it. But for centuries, Christmas was just one of many feast days and celebrations, like Michaelmas or Whitsun. We’ve now paganised holy days, and called them Bank Holidays, demonstrating we now celebrate the temples that keep our money.

And there I go demonising money. Money is something we don’t like to talk about, especially in England.

So it’s awkward that this post is about asking you for money.

Remain calm. But that’s what the ‘click here’ buttons are all about.

The temptation for me is to immediately downplay this request. I could say that you’re probably over-committed, facing big fuel bills and have maxed out the credit card for Christmas, so don’t worry about it.

But I’m not saying that. You should worry about it. Here’s why.

Question #1 If you’re a Christian, do you want a Christian culture? Or at least some Christian culture? Would you settle for at least a bit of Christian culture? Especially in the mainstream media.

That’s what A Christmas Carol is, par excellence. It is a Christian story at the very heart of our modern secular Christmas, the glowing ember of a fire that’s nearly been extinguished by secular liberalism. (The story is much more Christian that it appears.)

But that was then. 1843, actually. This is now.

The Ghost of a Christian Future?

Have you ever wondered where is the next Dickens is going to come from? And the next CS Lewis? And JRR Tolkien? And GK Chesterton?

Question #2 Who is going to produce Christian culture? Especially the sort that plays in the mainstream, tapping into our shared humanity and what CS Lewis calls the Tao in The Abolition of Man.

Answer: It’s pretty obvious when you think about it: Christian writers, artists and musicians.

Question #3 What do they need to do their work?

Answer: Money.

Here’s the problem. We live in the age of ‘free’. The internet means virtually everything can be free, wants to be free and can be found for free.

Platforms

Most of us are paying for content via monthly subscriptions for, say, Netflix or Disney+. But the platform takes most of the money. Apple Music and Spotify charge you a monthly fee. But they pay pennies to the artists. Kindle Unlimited charges you a monthly fee and pays pennies to writers.

To be fair to Bezos, Audible is one of the more lucrative platforms in terms of margins, but it’s very hard to actually make a living via that one platform alone.

So it’s worth reflecting on this:

Charles Dickens, one of the greatest writers in the England language, nearly didn’t make it. He very nearly ran out of money.

Dickens was clearly bothered by debt, having had the shame of his father being thrown into a debtors’ prison. Money, and the lack of it, runs through many of Dickens’ novel.

Why did Charles Dickens write the majestic and ever-popular A Christmas Carol? For money. He was flat broke. Martin Chuzzlewit had not been a success and his growing family was on the breadline.

What would a pastor have told him to do? Most likely, he’d have told him to be a clerk, a clergyman, or something with a regular income: anything but a writer. This would have been a shame for Western Civilisation and the Kingdom of God. Who knows what Christmas today would be without Dickens’ tale of the supernatural, miserliness and self-examination?

Bootlegged Dickens

The sad irony, at least in the short term, is that Dickens didn't actually make much money out of A Christmas Carol. He only made £230 from the first editions, all 6000 of which sold immediately. There were bootlegged copies in circulation almost immediately, like a Dickensian Napster. When he successfully stopped pirated copies, he was liable for £700 in court costs when guilty party declared bankruptcy. Dickens just about survived and went on to write more truly great, culture-defining works that enshrine Christian values in our culture.

Yes, A Christmas Carol does that. Modern-day Christians are dubious about that, because it smacks of moralism. But actually, I think the story is based on a parable of Jesus. And I write about that in a chapter of my book, The Gospel According to A Sitcom Writer - which I’ve read for you on video to enjoy if you click the link and support this blog. So here are the numbers.

Each blog of about 800-1000 words takes me about 3-4 hours to think about, write, rewrite, format, illustrate and promote - and for my wife to proofread. So that’s at least £80-100 of labour. And my family lives entirely on what I earn through my writing.

Cry Me A River

In the words of the Spirit of Christmas Present, Michael Bublé, ‘Cry me a river’. Fair enough. No-one asked me to do this Substack. It’s on me. I could stop doing it. And I might. I could probably use my time more profitably in other ways, financially speaking.

But I’d like to keep doing this Substack for at least another year.

And I’d like it be free for everyone to read, especially so that it’s shareable. That’s important given what I’m trying to do here, blending church, faith and culture in a way that people seem to like.

I’m not setting up a paid subscription like others have. For them, that’s probably the right thing to do, especially if they are journalists and commentators. But not for this.

This isn’t really about me. I’ll muddle through. It looks like I’ve got a decent TV gig coming up which will help pay the bills, but it’s still not quite a done deal. Plus I need to set aside time to come up with more mainstream comedy ideas for TV. That’s a priority for 2023.

But I want you to click the link because it will increase my capacity to help identify, encourage and mentor other Christian voices, seeking out and nurturing Chestertons, Lewises, Tolkeins and Sayerses.

So in the season of good will, here’s your chance to contribute to all of the above and the last two years of blogs. If you’ve enjoyed them, could you consider paying something? Or pay something, and then go back and read what you’ve paid for. My top articles are here.

What’s in it for You?

As a thank you, you’ll receive a video of me reading An Angel in A Christmas Carol - plus a PDF of a long-ish essay I’ve written on how politics is downstream from culture, how the Church gave it all away and what Christians need to do about that. So, erm, click ‘Click Here’. Thanks. Merry Christmas.