Should writers get paid?

As a lifelong member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), I believe that writers and photographers should get paid for their work. I also think tech giants shouldn’t be able to scrape our creative work to make huge profits out of Artifical Intelligence. Controversial, I know, but that’s why people come (or don’t come) to this blog for my ground-breaking, game-changing, earth-shattering opinions.

NUJ rate for the job

I don’t get paid to write this. I have been paid the NUJ rate for the job only once in my career, when I wrote an article about disability reporting for The Journalist magazine. But I have worked as a writer and editor all my life and, although it hasn’t made me rich, I enjoy my work, mostly. (The bits I don’t enjoy are what I get paid for, I think.)

I work for a charity. I donate more to charity than the average given by the top 1% of UK earners (a paltry £52 a month).

It isn’t charity, but I also pay for:

• The BBC
• The Big Issue
• Pink Un
• The iPaper
• The Guardian (only 2.4% of ‘Guardian readers’ do)

I also feel guilty for not paying for:

• The Price of Football podcast (I left a 5 star review, Kieran)
• Talk Norwich City (I donate to the Big C cancer charity when they ask)
• Edible Reading (get in touch, I owe you a lunch at Kung Fu Kitchen)

And I would pay for Reading Today to remove the pesky ads

Some people might say I’m a mug. Why pay when you can get it for free? But if you really like an writer or an artist, you’d want them to eat, wouldn’t you?

In 2022, primary occupation authors earned a median income of £7,000 in respect of their self-employed writing activities.

University of Newcastle

Most authors are not JK Rowling

Most authors are not JK Rowling. but even she started in a cafe nursing a slowly cooling latte.

I buy most of my books from charity shops. This means that I don’t pay my favourite authors. But I take their books out of the library so that they get the Public Lending Right payment.

One of my favourite authors, JL Carr, author of Month in the Country and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, once estimated that he earnt 27p an hour from his writing. He published his own books and when I decided to buy direct from him, I got a lovely note from his recently bereaved widow.

I also sent a fan letter to Patrick White. His agent wrote back to say he had just died. That’s why I don’t write to authors any more.

Are disabled writers free?

Often, disabled writers are asked to talk or write ‘for the exposure’. As polar explorers will tell you, exposure can kill. We should expose the people who want writers to work for nothing. I know one writer who sends his broadband bill to people who ask him to work for nothing.

If people ask during awareness-raising events like UK Disability History Month or Disability Pride, Channel 4’s Jordan Jarrett-Bryan suggests charging double your normal rate. Put another way, talk about disability for half price the rest of the year.

Dr Shani Dhanda launched Fair Dues for Disabled People, a collaborative platform where disabled freelancers and self-employed individuals can anonymously share their experiences and rates of pay.

#GetPaid!

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