Happy Thursday, writer friends!
Thanks to those of you who wrote to check up on me after I missed last week’s newsletter. I was under the weather and feeling sorry for myself, so I spent most of the week lying on the sofa watching shows on Apple TV (Dear Edward and Morning Show, in case you’re wondering.)
I also decided to hop on to a webinar for debut authors that was hosted by an organization for professional authors. The event promised to give debut authors business advice that would impact the trajectory of their books and careers. I quit 20 minutes in when, in response to a question about contracts, the panelists answered, “Read your contracts. It’s really important to read what you’re signing, even if you do have an agent.”
Really? Not “is there a clause that specifies what happens to a book if fewer than 50 copies are sold in a year?” or “under what circumstances can you get your rights back?” or “what happens if your payment is past due?” but “read your contracts.” It’s advice that my 11-year-old would scoff at, and yet, here’s an entire body of professional authors being told this.
I’m so tired of writers being infantilized by the industry, aren’t you? Sure, there are newbies to the writing world who need the advice to “make time for your writing” and “you don’t have to start at the beginning” but I’m assuming that if someone is a debut author, they’ve managed to not only write a book, but get an agent and a publisher interested in selling it. No one ever tells us to read our contracts when we’re accepting a job offer or buying a house—it’s assumed. So why are professional writers treated like idiots who can’t figure out the basics of business?
It’s this frustration with a lot of writing advice that led me to start The Wordling. The publishing and media worlds are changing rapidly right now, and it’s not just AI that’s causing the changes. Even as the demand for content skyrockets, journalists, authors, and content writers are getting paid less and being asked to give away more and more rights. You don’t need to be told to read a contract; you need to be shown what to look out for, the rights you could sign away that harm your future earnings, and how sometimes the very people who claim to help you profit from your work are looking to do so at your expense.
That’s the shit I created Wordling Plus for. Real, honest advice and conversations for writers who are looking to better their art and their business.
This week, I’m recording a training on how I write 15-20 articles a month for my content marketing clients. And perhaps next month, I’ll do a training on publishing contracts as well. Check it all out here if you’re interested.
Cheers,
Natasha