How the Internet Affects Writing

An article in the LA Times articulates a crisis in freelance writing.  And while it doesn't lay the entire blame at the Internet's door, it is easy to see how the ability to publish reams and ream of material (like many of us do as book bloggers) may cause the market for materials that must be purchased shrink.  Why go out and buy a magazine with a load of book reviews, if I can travel the internet and find more book reviews that I can shake a stick at?

And there is some truth to this as well.  There is among blogs material every bit as good as that published in magazines.  Editorial whim no longer controls my access to good reading.  The downside of this is that people who work on blogs don't get much in the way of remuneration for the work.

For some of us--who would write whether there was any outlet in the world or not, that is no big deal.  No one wants to pay me for my thoughts--well that's okay, I have an excess of them and if they don't get out, they build up until I have headaches and my latent sociopathy becomes overt--I find myself "cutting" people with my harsh glance and my acute verbal ripostes.  (Or, more likely, boring them to tears with my attempt at wit--it's all in the eye of the beholder.)

But there are people who have begun to earn a living and desire to earn a living by their writing.  I have been among them as well.  I do earn my living by my writing, though not in the traditional magazine/novelistic sense. It may be that we have come to a place where the freelance writer needs to consider new business models.  Perhaps the group blog, once it has enough éclat can go commercial  (you see now why I write rather than run a business.)

The internet has its ups and downs--positive and negative effects.  For those of us who have an excess of words, it allows an outlet and a small, occasionally attentive audience.  But, it also erodes those more traditional markets in which writers have made their money in the past.  Let us hope that new models come to recognize that excellence in writing is worth pursuing and paying for.

Comments

  1. Well said, Stephen. I've earned a supplementary income by writing a couple of books, but I happily blog with no reward other than the occasional kindly comment. But I value professional reviews and I expect to pay for them. The problem is how, as new online models develop. I often come across snippets of a review where I can only read the rest if I subscribe, but most of the time I don't want to, because I'm only interested in that particular article.
    What would work for me would be a simple, you-want-to-read-the-rest-of-this-article? button, linked straight to PayPal and so that I don't have to get up and hunt for the credit card, and I don't have to subscribe for a whole year. The price would have to be low, just like iTunes are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Anzit--

    I think that you hit on two important points for any viable model--ease of use and price. And I agree with both. Thanks.

    shalom,

    Steven

    ReplyDelete

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