Dear Fellow Writer,
A writers’ strike seems a bit weird to a lot of people, especially when they hear about the massive amount of money a few movie writers earn. They don’t know that the vast majority of writers (and actors, and artists of all kind) struggle to make a living wage, and that a year of feast can be followed by seven years of famine. Some may wonder why it’s important to ask for a fair share of the income from the new media, when that income barely exists. It’s because the same argument was used when videos and DVDs first came out—“agree to take a tiny share now and we’ll talk again if and when there’s any money in it.” We took it, and “if and when” arrived, but the producers haven’t been willing to talk again.
That led me to daydream this morning about what would happen if writers of all kinds went on strike. What would they ask for?
Maybe they’d ask agents, if you want more income, why don’t you focus on getting us more money rather than raising your commissions from the standard ten percent to the now almost-standard fifteen percent?
They might say to certain editors, why don’t you give us the courtesy of a reply, via an email or the self-addressed stamped envelopes we provide, rather than telling us that if we don’t get a reply it’s a ‘no’? That way we’d know to move on, rather than wondering whether you’ve rejected our material or are still considering it.
They might say to certain publishers, why don’t you drop the demand that we submit our manuscripts to you exclusively when your response time can be three months, six months, or even more?
They might say to certain profitable magazines, why do you still pay a pittance for the articles that are the reason that you have readers at all?
And maybe most of all, they (we) might say to each other, why do we too often see ourselves as supplicants rather than colleagues of the people who need our work? Why don’t we demand the respect that we deserve?
Maybe that rebellion needs to start in our hearts.
Your colleague,
Jurgen
