Monday 23rd April is International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day

SF author Will Shetterly sparked a passionate discussion about how Web technology is changing the business of writing when he posted a rant by Dr. Howard V. Hendrix on a LiveJournal discussion board.

Dr. Hendrix, the vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), referred to writers who give their work away for free online as "Webscabs". He blasted what he called "the downward spiral that is converting the noble calling of Writer into the life of Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch." The resulting comment thread is good reading.

(Examples of writers who give at least some their work away online in order to drive print sales include John Scalzi and Eric Flint. There are many others, lot of them baffled, angry, dues-paying SFWA members.)

 I agree with Dr. Hendrix when he says, "...I persist in insisting that people have a right to push back against technology they perceive to be destructive to their ways of life and their beliefs." But are specific marketing strategies and business models really "ways of life" to a writer? To a publisher, sure. But a writer's way of life consists of writing and being read. The Internet doesn't stop anyone from writing, and dramatically increases the likelihood that your words will be read.

It does change the business around writing, though. It changes customer behavior and expectations. These customers increasingly do their reading, sharing, and talking online; but so far, they've shown little interest in paying to read something online.

Dr. Hendrix isn't interested in reaching that audience. "...I won't blog, wiki, chat, post, LiveJournal, lounge or lurk -- and I'll be the happier for it," he writes. "I'd rather be chopping wood for my woodstove, maintaining my own well, and working endlessly on our twelve acres of pines, oaks, and cedars than futzing with these electrons."

I wonder how many other people are thinking the same thing, who've spent the last several decades making, say, toasters and are now being told that they have to talk to their customers on computers if they want to remain successful?

Meanwhile, author Jo Walton has declared a holiday:
In honour of Dr Hendrix, I am declaring Monday 23rd April International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. On this day, everyone who wants to should give away professional quality work online. It doesn't matter if it's a novel, a story or a poem, it doesn't matter if it's already been published or if it hasn't, the point is it should be disseminated online to celebrate our technopeasanthood.

Whatever you're posting should go on your own site. I'll make a post here on the day and people can post links in comments to whatever they're putting up on. If you are a member of SFWA, or SFWA qualified but not a member (like me) you get extra pixel-spattered points for doing this.

John Scalzi adds:
If you're not a pro-level writer, April 23rd might be the right day to submit work to pro venues, because, after all, the pros are going to busy elsewhere. And if you're a reader, well. International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day should be a lot of fun for you, now, shouldn't it?

Tags: Howard Hendrix, SFWA, writing, writers, publishing, marketing, pixel-stained technopeasant
Published 16 Apr 2007 by Wade Rockett
Filed Under: ,

Comments

 

R.S. Imper said:

In a recent opinion piece, Joan Smith, who writes for The Independent, offers food for thought about how the Internet affects writers and public expectations. She writes:

“If anyone can write, and much of what they produce is either information or complete rubbish, it's no wonder that the public is losing respect for writers who spend literally years finding the right form of words for a poem or a novel.

The act of writing is being de-skilled to a point where it is no longer regarded as work, and what follows is a demand that all written material should be available to anyone who wants it without charge.

In this pseudo-democratic universe, the novel that has just taken me nearly five years to finish has no more value than a blog that someone dashed off in 10 minutes. The sheer quantity of words available on the Internet has prompted a false analogy with the enclosures of common land in the 18th century, in which novelists, poets and historians are cast in the role of wicked landlords.
People who argue that the written word should be freely available on the Internet, regardless of its origin, behave as though the world is littered with glittering sentences and paragraphs, occurring as naturally as semi-precious stones. But what they are demanding, in reality, is the right to roam in my brain and my bank account.”
(See her comments in full at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/312391_words20.html.)
April 23, 2007 18:49
 

JenK said:

Many contributions are being posted at http://community.livejournal.com/ipstp
April 23, 2007 19:10
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