Strike a Balance

You might notice some visual changes to this blog--new colors, new links to some of my work and coming soon, links to other blogs that I read. I'm slowly getting the hang of the technology and beginning to stake my claim in the cyber-world of self-promotion.

It was in the process of developing the links to some of my work that I ran into the very same stumbling block over which television writers have taken to the picket line--the issue of internet rights and residual payments. You might notice that my links do not contain any to commercial magazines, for which I have indeed written. Those articles are available only to subscribers of those publications, usually for a fee.

So while the magazines pay me for printing my work one time, they earn the residuals every time any one clicks on my story via their website. In other words, they are getting paid many times over for my work and I am not.

It's a complicated issue of work for hire, in which the author usually gives away his/her rights to the work in order to get paid, versus retaining the rights to the story and earning money every time the story is reprinted. Truth be told it never was much of an issue until the proliferation of electronic publishing but now, as the television writers strike indicates, it is indeed very much an issue.

Compare the situation to songwriters who earn royalties EVERY TIME their song is played regardless of where--on the radio, on television, in a bar, and technically even every time a wedding band plays it. ASCAP is a huge and powerful force that has taken care of its own for a very long time. The Writers Guild is not quite as powerful but they are certainly trying to make their voices heard.

You can probably figure out where I stand on the issue--hoping that television writers will make an impact on the way the rest of us get paid--but realistic enough to understand it may take a very long time to trickle down.