December 11, 2012
A Note to You, Should You Be Thinking of Asking Me to Write For You For Free
John Scalzi in Whatever:
1. No.
2. Seriously, are you fucking kidding me?
3. Did you wake up this morning and say to yourself “You know what? A New York Timesbestselling author who has been working full-time as a writer for two decades, who frequently rails at writers for undervaluing their own work in the market and who is also the president of a writers organization that regularly goes after publishers for not paying writers adequately is exactly the person who will be receptive, through lack of other work or personal inclination, to my offer”? And if you did, what other dumb things did you do with your morning?
4. If you didn’t know that I was that guy in point three, and just asked me to write for free for you because, I don’t know, you heard I was a writer of some sort, although you couldn’t say what kind or what I had done, then what you’re saying to me is “Hey, you’re a warm body with an allegedly working brain stem and no idea of the value of your work — let me exploit you!” I want you to ask yourself what in that estimation of me would entice me to provide you with work, starting with the fact that you didn’t do even the most basic research into who I was. Rumor is, it’s not hard to find information about me on the Internet! Just type “John Scalzi” into Google and see!
5. If you try to mumble something at me about “exposure,” I’m going to laugh my ass off at you. Explain to me, slowly, what exposure you possibly think you could give me with your Web site or publication. Please factor in that this Web site gets up to 50,000 visitors on a normal day — with spikes into the hundreds of thousands when I write something particularly clicky — and that it’s regularly ranked one of the top ten book sites and top 100 entertainment sites on the entire Web by Technorati (at this moment, number five and sixty four, respectively).
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 08:42 AM | Permalink
Comments
Stick it to 'em, quill jockey. Only lawyers should have to expiate for their sins by doing pro bono work. In fact, maybe some of those lawyers (who, according to the ABA, give over 1,000,000 hours of free legal work a year) can work on eliminating the copyright laws that let you and your heirs, devisees and remaindermen enjoy artificially inflated prices for your wonderful little fantasy books that evidently you write just to make another buck. Sorry, but your work isn't "undervalued"; it's as bloated as a the price of Viagra (without nearly the impact). Keep championing free enterprise in such intemperate language (which wouldn't pass 3qd's comment policy)and just maybe you'll encourage the literate portion of the electorate to dump the protectionist monopoly that fattens your pockets. Then you will have your dream of being paid exactly what the marketplace says you are worth.
Posted by: jrand | Dec 11, 2012 10:13:13 AM
Very funny. If you are writing one of these "Why I should be paid to write" screeds, you should take care to write it well, however. I am quite sure I would not pay for this man's prose, and am uncertain whether others should. It's a bad sign, if you, yourself, have to insist on the quality and worth of your "product" as a writer.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Dec 11, 2012 11:48:11 AM
Reading this, I'm reminded of the fall of communism in Russia. Let me explain: Back in the Soviet era, the citizenry was taught that capitalism was a criminal enterprise run by heartless thugs and blackguards. So it was that when it came time for Russians to go capitalist, they behaved like criminals, thugs and blackguards. John Scalzi -- a pretty interesting guy, in fact -- has probably gained the notion from watching American movies and TV that successful businesspeople are smug assholes who get their way by parading their cold-hearted ruthlessness. So it is that in hoping to become a financially successful himself, Scalzi feels he needs to act like a smug asshole and signal that he prefers money to all human connections. This is funny. I personally make a good living as a writer and do a lot of free work -- often for people who could afford to pay me quite richly. I've discovered that no favors are wasted and have benefited greatly by casting my bread upon the waters in this way. That doesn't mean I write pro bono for all who ask. Anyone who is at all creative with words can come up with an expression that allows one to decline a request for free services without offending the other party and -- if one is very good -- even enhance your standing in his or her eyes.
Posted by: Faze | Dec 11, 2012 12:51:32 PM
One of the triumphs of Wall Street has been to convert all humans into a dollar sign. I know attorneys who require their secretaries to get paralegal certification so they can bill clients $150/hour for the secretary's work (vaguely described as "document processing"). They only pay the secretary $20/hour, so you can see the profit that goes into the attorney's pocket. When they review the secretary at year-end, they ask "how much did you bring into the firm." In the old days, secretaries were overhead, but today they are profit-centers.
If you're not bringing in money, you are useless. The brilliant professor who does not bring in endowments is considered useless. It's all about money.
I just read an article about which actors are overpaid. Calculated based on the amount paid to them to do a job, and the amount the film grossed. Sigh, I actually remember the days when actors were evaluated based on their performance. No more.
Wall Street, and its control of everything in this society, has created a new norm in which the only question that is valid is "How much did you make." There are no concerns about the value of work, elusive qualities like talent (which used to apply to writers), or even morality (is it a good thing to make a lot of money selling cigarettes to teenagers).
I believe that the demeaning of talent, art and creativity is all part of the process to coarsen our society, raise future generations of brutal factory managers who will fire their mother without hesitation. Burn the books. How much did it earn? Using that criteria, porn is important and worthwhile. Art is only important if Wall Street can create an asset bubble using it, then dumping it at the right time.
I work for a living too. The lament of the working person. I never understood the whole unpaid internship. Unpaid writing or anything else.
The truth is that "unpaid" only means you're not getting paid. All those unpaid writers for Huffington Post may not have realized it, but Arianna Huffington could and did have Wall Street put a value on that labor, and sold it to her own profit. "Unpaid" only means you're not getting paid. It's a con.
Posted by: NABNYC | Dec 11, 2012 4:09:58 PM
Heee, Elatia, your comment is what is funny. Can I come and live in your brain for a day or so? If only you could rent out such an experience; the lines would be longer than those in front of the Apple stores.
Posted by: OTT | Dec 11, 2012 11:02:29 PM
Ahem, is 3QD now thinking of paying its contributors? Curious minds would like to know.
Posted by: Feisal Naqvi | Dec 11, 2012 11:14:41 PM
First 3 comments here appear to be from morons. John Scalzi is not a rich man, he is a busy man, he is, by his own account, constantly pestered by people asking him to do, for free, what he has to do in order to earn a living. How would you like that? How polite would you be, to the 500th request? As for the plague of copyright, if it bothers you so much, f*ck off and write fanfic on the 'net for free, millions of people do. But don't expect someone who depends on writing for a living to start doing it for free just because you don't like paying for it - unless you're willing to come work for them for free in exchange?
Posted by: Dave | Dec 12, 2012 3:54:26 AM
Dave, my answer to John Scalzi had nothing to do with whether writers should be paid to work. Sure, they should -- like all people who work. My observation had to do with whether, in this particular essay, he demonstrates any special reason why a reader should gladly hand him money. Um, no, he does not.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Dec 12, 2012 9:16:14 AM
Agree wholeheartedly with Elatia. Who the f...is John Scalzi? I haven't heard of him, but from his poorly written rant, I can almost surely say he's no Melville or Faulkner, not even a Brett Easton Ellis.
Posted by: Pepito | Dec 13, 2012 10:04:27 AM
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