How The Decline Of Newspapers Impacts Comic Strip Writers

These questions originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answers by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, author, entrepreneur, on Quora.

Q: How has the decline of the newspaper industry impacted major comic strip writers like yourself?

A: In my case, it made almost no difference. If a city had two newspapers and one went out of business, Dilbert was either in the remaining paper already or moved there when the rights were released by the dying papers. So my client base has grown even as the number papers declined.
And the Internet opened up more opportunity than ever before.

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Q: Do you believe the Dilbert Principle: that the least competent people are promoted to management?

A: You can get this effect in big companies that promote from within. You wouldn't promote your best technical worker to management because that person is hard to replace. It makes more sense to promote the person with the least skill to management so you don't waste talent.

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Q: How does a comic strip writer come up with new material after so many years?

A: The short answer is that some people are wired for creativity. I can't turn off the flow of new ideas even if I try.

But in terms of inspiration, people send me ideas, and I manage several lines of business, including co-founding a startup, so I'm always near real problems.

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