If you haven’t read an unmitigated whine-fest recently, check out this story from The Globe and Mail last week in which a couple of writers complain about the internet. British writer Ewan Morrison is particularly impassioned about how the internet’s culture-of-free is devaluing the art, which will ultimately result in “no more professional writers in the future.”
Predatory pricing from Amazon, self-publishing, amateurs who are willing to work for little or nothing, ebook piracy, the Huffington Post - all of these phenomena are conspiring to bring down the publishing and journalism industries, to the point where it’s hard to make a living as a writer anymore. Or so the complainers say.
Oh please. What utter bunk.
Yes, it’s true that freelance rates haven’t gone up in ages and yes it’s true that book advances are falling, but to paraphrase one great writer, it’s the best of times and it’s the worst of times - both for established and up-and-coming writers.
Not only are the biggest of the big - the likes of J.K. Rowling - finding it more lucrative to go into business for themselves, there has also never been more opportunity for those just starting out thanks to websites hungry for content. Just about every site out there is looking for contributions, which means there are plenty of writing gigs available for budding writers of every stripe. Those sites, some of them “content farms,” may not pay well if anything at all, but they do provide opportunities for writers to practice their craft, get exposure and perhaps even build a name for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
