This morning I talked about a podcast I listened to yesterday. I've just remembered something else that came up: writers don't have much control in Big Publishing.
Which make me think of the Oscars. And makes me mad. Aaron Sorkin, winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, got played off the stage. None of the actors did. Nor the director. And three producers got to talk about their Best Picture win. Three. Of the above-the-line talent, only writers get drowned out and thrown off.
Writers get no respect. You want another example? Only one (1) of the actors thanked their writer. One. (Go Colin.)
So, I am pissed. Hollywood: your movies wouldn't exist without writers. Publishers: your books spring from our imagination. Writers: It all begins with us. They need us. They should kiss our fucking rings. Every day. Without us they are nothing. Without us they couldn't even get started. So stand up straight. Take up space. Don't be cowed.
That's all.
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We're the keystone species in the publishing ecosystem, dammit.
ReplyDeleteMy rant is this: As a reader, I desperately want the books that writers are aching to write, but can't because of time and market constraints. I would pay a lot of money -- hundreds of dollars -- to read the fully developed dream projects of my favourite writers.
I'd like to see a Kickstarter-like organization that allows fans to donate funds directly to specific writers for specific projects. $100 from only 500 fans would net a writer 50K.
Kelly, I like this idea. A lot.
ReplyDeleteThis dollaraword project was around for a bit, but appears to have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to make this happen, you'd better start now, because Kickstarter does literary, and every good idea I've ever had for a website exists within a few minutes of my thinking of it. Or months, anyway. Just a thought.
Anon, I want someone else to leap on this idea! I've got novels to write. I want someone else to build the infrastructure to make it happen...
ReplyDeleteYou know how writers are always called the low man on the totem pole?
ReplyDeleteThe low man on a real totem pole is the person who supports and sustains the community on top of the totem pole.
Which is to say that the metaphor works either way -- from the misapprehension that the figure on the bottom is not important, and from the original, accurate depiction as the base on whom the rest of the community stands.
Vonda
Vonda, oh, yep. But why are people so bloody careless and stupid and ungrateful? It's a mystery. (Uh, that is, it's a literary work with broad popular appeal...)
ReplyDeleteI feel so lucky to work with a publisher that seems to value its writers with fair contracts and decent, professional treatment. I don't need them to kiss my ring, but they do celebrate us on a regular basis, too.
ReplyDelete