The Dagley Dagley Daily

By Janet Dagley Dagley
Covering the world from the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA

ISSN 1544-9114

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Union maid, part 3: Disintermediation

Union members have a tradition of calling each other "sister" and "brother" as a way of reminding ourselves that we're all one big family. Sometimes we argue, or even bicker, amongst ourselves, as brothers and sisters do, especially when sitting next to each other in the back seat (which is pretty much the position freelance writers find themselves in when it comes to the publishing industry: way in the back with the dog and the groceries). But -- like siblings -- we forget all about those differences when we're working together to protect our family.

As you know if you've been reading this series so far, the family of freelance writers is threatened from all sides. Rates for many publications haven't gone up in decades. And for those same old rates, publishers now want all the rights they can eat. If we don't like what they're offering, we can't exactly try to sell our work to a competitor, because chances are the competitor, if any, is owned by the same parent company. You've already heard about the problems of freelancers of all kinds who can't buy health insurance (because no company will sell it to them), about the offshoring of American jobs, particularly those of technical writers, about how we're not allowed to bargain collectively (which leads right back to the beginning of this list: rates for many publications haven't gone up in decades).

So what can we do about all that? Maybe we can't bargain or go on strike, but there is something we CAN do: we can disintermediate. (No, that's not one of the words I got when I was a competitive speller.)

We're lucky that way. Thanks to the magic of digital technology, disintermediation is happening in many industries these days, perhaps most notably in the recording industry. We don't need publishers anymore to make or sell writing. We can do that ourselves. Now I'll concede that there are still some advantages of selling your work to a book publisher, particularly if you get a big advance, as there are still advantages of selling your work to a magazine or online publisher. Readers (and viewers and listeners) are in the habit of looking to major publishers (or other media organizations) for the "content" they consume. The existing publishing industry has a well-established distribution system, and we don't really want to reinvent that: we're writers, remember? But when it comes down to it, they're nothing but intermediaries -- that is to say, middlemen. Unlike many union members who work in factories or offices or hospitals, we can cut out the middlemen and sell our work direct to customers.

Or we can try other, more radical business models, including the one I'm using here: the free-content model, also known as the Grateful Dead business model. Like, say, the Village Voice, we're giving away the content (the photos; what you're reading right now) in hopes of cashing in on ancillary sales: advertising like what you see there in the left-hand column; sales of products such as T-shirts. The Grateful Dead, of course, gave away their music by letting fans record concerts and trade those recordings, but until Jerry Garcia died in 1995, they made more money year after year than any other touring band.

I've invited my sister and brother delegates here not only to see, admire, and criticize my attempt at the free-content model, but also to demonstrate how the work of writers who sell their books, or sell rights to publishers who sell their books, can easily be sold online. I've just set up a special bookshelf at Powell's Bookstore (a union bookstore, by the way), featuring a few books by members of the National Writers Union.

Powell's is one of my partner booksellers; the other, of course, is Amazon.com: nonunion, but it offers much more than books so I use both. Just to give you an example, here are a few books by some of the people I worked with at the 2003 NWU Delegates Assembly:

John Dinges is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and former managing editor of NPR News:

Miryam Williamson is the NWU's Vice President for Internal Organizing:

Sue Davis is co-chair of the NWU's New York unit:

Jersey-born Jeff Perry has a Ph.D., but it hasn't spoiled him a bit:

Lynn Goya lives in an unusual Nevada town: one that doesn't allow gambling. She's also an expert on one that does, and she was kind enough to offer us a few handy hints about the city:

Al Blanchard is a mystery man:

Jules Older is a wise, laughing yogi who can twist himself like a pretzel, and who agrees with me that John Prine is the best writer in the English language:

And Tommye-K. Mayer wrote this book (literally) single-handedly. It's been endorsed by Sen. Bob Dole AND Dr. C. Everett Koop:

And those are just a few examples.

Union siblings, we don't have to do everything single-handedly. Look what I've put together here with just my two carpal-tunnel-challenged hands. Just imagine what we could build for ourselves if everybody, or even a bunch of somebodies, lent a hand. Actually, we don't have to imagine it: the AFL-CIO has already started building it right here.

Speaking of the AFL-CIO, the House of Representatives is set to vote on protecting overtime pay next week. Have you contacted your Congressperson about it yet? Let them know you're paying attention. And don't forget to take action on the National Writers Union's Rights for Creators campaign. If media companies can change their names, they can just as well change their contracts, too.

posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:00 PM

25.9.03