Peter gives a brief update on current developments in the Colony; when will all the construction work end? And then, he tackles a subject that’s looming large on the writing horizon – the way in which writers are increasingly being used as slave labor. Maybe writers are their own worst enemy?
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This podcast was GREAT, and tremendously educational for people like me, who didn’t actually know the definition of “hack writer” (though I feel like I assumed that I knew, somewhere in my foggy backbrain).
I had no idea that publishers paid writers to hammer out assigned ideas, and if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have thought that the pay would be so low.
And Peter mentioned that there are so many writers who are so eager (“I would use the word ‘desperate,’” he says) to be published that they will accept slave wages. I have to say, from what I’m learning…I agree. It seems really terrible, and I wish they wouldn’t, but I can see how easily an “eager” writer could fall into that trap – giving up their rights, money, and creative control for the chance to be published, and in exchange for the “learning experience.” The most tragic part of this news was finding out that some authors hack-write laboring under the assumption that it puts them a step forward in the publishing/writing world, when Peter says all it does is label the writer as a hack and prevent them getting any further than that.
But maybe there are many writers who don’t see it as a trap, and who count it a fair wage for the work done. I just don’t see how that’s possible, though. I shudder to think that this might become a standard business scenario in the publishing world.
And then the prediction of major publishers becoming “less adventurous.”
But is there such thing as “safe publishing?” I mean, it seems like it’s at best an educated guessing game, and at worst a drunken game of blindfolded darts. It seems like the biggest successes are the ones that couldn’t have been predicted, however smart the crystal ball, and the “safe” ground already trodden by these superstars has little left for the shadows that follow them.
But saying all this as a new (and unpublished) writer, and someone well outside the biz.
Catwake – you may be unpublished and “outside the biz” but you’re going the right way about being informed.
By the way, in my early days of being published, I also did some “hack writing”, writing to order, and was very well paid indeed. Much better paid than I am for writing novels!! For example, in three weeks I earned twice the advance for my last full-length novel. I am not joking.
That’s interesting… I wonder if the same would be true today?
I do realize that this kind of writing can be good writing experience… what worries me is the vast and ever-increasing potential for publishers, packagers and others to ruthlessly exploit the eager young writer.
Having just returned a few moments ago from a rather grumpy meeting with a certain publisher who is continually trying to cheesepare authors’ e-book royalties, the direction that the publishing business is taking is all too clear.
It wasn’t very long ago – did the last ones maybe six years ago, and turned down some decently paid stuff more recently – but I realise I was lucky. Mind you, many of my friends amongst children’s authors do depend for their living on this sort of writing and it often does its bit to pay the bills. I also hate hate hate it when authors undersell and undervalue themselves – it undermines all of us then. I suppose what I was saying was not trying to disagree with you (would I dare?!) but to say that there is also some decently paid horrible work being done. I’m with you on the cheese-paring, too – I’ve seen a lot of that through my work with other authors. It’s also worth noting that authors who argue earn more… (Though with a scary agent, they don’t need to!)
By the way, the site is looking very clean and lovely. Have you been doing some housework?
Yes, thank you! The new Litopia site is finally open. Not just a redesign, but a move away from the old software to a completely new system behind the scenes. We’re still swatting bugs, but I think it will be worth it.
Thinking further on this (and reading Nicola’s comments), I can see where Peter’s prediction might easily come true, even if “hack writers” (what an awful little term) are being paid decently right now. Looking at my own industry, the world of theatre, there’s a clear trend, especially in this economic climate, of artists being exploited for their sheer eagerness to be a part of the business.
I’ve been surfing the job boards in search of work (as a stage manager), and I’m appalled at some of the wages being offered. It’s ridiculous, especially when you consider the amount of work and time needed to fill the position (much like being a writer). But people are taking these jobs, and someone always will, because they just love it so, so much. You practically MUST be a union member to earn anything approaching a decent living (akin to being a previously published author). But these jobs are continuously offered and taken, and for lower and lower pay each time, it seems.
All of which to say, I can see Peter’s prediction coming true, if the artists of the writing world are similar to those in theatre.
Catwake – I quite agree, and I also agree (and agreed) with Peter’s prediction. Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely hate it when artists of any sort undersell themselves. I also know that I’ve done things in the past for nothing or too little, just because as a self-employed person you feel you can’t say no (at least at first). I think what we have to fight against, though (or as well), is that too many people think that words should be free and that art is fed only by passion. Too many people don’t value quality and are prepared to take rubbish for free instead of paying for beauty. Too many readers want to pay little or nothing for our work and don’t understand the mechanism by which we earn. I came up with the idea of Fair Reading, which is based on the idea of paying, when possible, the best price you can for a book, or borrowing from a public library; it’s based on the idea of public education about how artists earn and what will happen to art if artists can’t earn except through selling out to utter commercialism.
We are all responsible for that education. We need to speak up (not stridently but persuasively) and explain why the consequence of not paying for art is the death of art.
Every time we fail to pay or charge appropriately, we contribute to that.
Off my soap-box and back to writing!