Producer Ben Geisler: Look, you confused? You need guidance? Talk to another writer.
Barton: Who?
Producer Ben Geisler: Jesus, throw a rock in here, you'll hit one. And do me a favor, Fink: throw it hard.
From the film Barton Fink
The line separating insider and outsider writer is getting harder to see.
I would never have thought I would align myself with the WGA and the so-called "Hollywood writers" who are striking, but looking at the current state of corporate America and the level of greed that makes Gordon Gekko look like a Boy Scout, I have to say "picket on brother and sister scribes" (though I make a fraction of what they already make). I even feel something of a kinship with publisher Judith Regan, victim of the whims of The Man, in the form of Rupert Murdoch, whose relationships with writers I'd euphamistically describe as less than friendly.
But pretty much everything on the shelves of your local bookstore is the result of business decisions made by people like Murdoch, who if you showed him a print-out of your zine would probably blow his nose on it. I'm no fan of big business, but writers making money, especially on the Internet, is a pet cause of mine. As editor-publisher of Whirligigzine I pay my writers. I do know that the validation of even a small payday for a writer can make a difference in feelings of self-worth, while the beer that you've bought with your writing's rewards tastes better than any you have ever raised to your lips.
The simple fact is every writer deserves payment for their writing. I understand if you're a publisher that is so small that you use a free blog for your ezine and you can't possibly pay your writers. I've no argument with you. And our site, The Guild Of Outsider Writers, that is a "come one -- come all" place where writers can help themselves (and really, there are some sites that charge writers for the free listings, etc. we provide here), by its very mission is exempt from my criticisms. But the bigger sites that are dotted with ads, have (money-making) links to commercial sites, and don't pay their writers; some even go so far as to take unpaid-for work and anthologize it, after which contributing writers still get nothing...well, the mind boggles.
I had a decent relationship with the editor of one of the biggest online litzines, who ran my stuff, offered me helpful suggestions about my work when it wasn't quite web-ready and generally created a good editor-writer experience. But after a few times of getting my stuff on the site -- which has a large commercial publishing concern attached to it -- I thought it was time they show me the money. But no, they were happy to continue to publish my stuff, but at their current rate for non a-list writers, which was and continues to be...nothing. I don't submit to them anymore.
And please don't believe that old line that "we can't pay you, but we can give you good exposure". Do you know who you are exposed to? Others that can't pay you but can give you...
For more about writers, what they deserve for their work and how we should all get a piece of the pies that the corporate fatcats are hording for themelves go to Why We Write. And for inspiration there's the blog from someone who lives in the belly of the Lala Land beast and who has one of the best takes on writing, of any kind, that you are likely to find: Lee Goldberg's A Writer's Life.
In one of his posts Goldberg rhetorically asks why non-screenwriters should care about the strike. Here's his answer: "The answer is simple. Because we are a community of writers...not just book writers or screen writers. We should be concerned about any efforts to limit the royalties that writers receive from the commercial exploitation of our creative work."
I know you have to write. And you like to see your stuff in print/online. But really, do you know any other craftspeople or artists that give their stuff away? No? Then why do you?
Last update : 22-01-2008 00:52
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