A Writer’s Life — is it worth it?
August 8, 2011 in Blogging, Misc, On Writing
Source: http://healthessays.webs.com
It’s been a while since my last post (by my standards). And no, it’s not because I’ve been sitting around thinking about just how awesome Rise of the Planet of the Apes was (and it was).
Apart from the usual and the unusual errands and chores and busted tyres and rodent extermination, I’ve been busy planning a few things. With my masters degree in writing almost in hand and another country move in the works (to Asia this time), it’s time to start thinking about the next phase of my working life. CVs, scans of published works, contacting contacts to make more contacts — I’m doing it all.
Naturally, if I wanted a life of material comfort (though it wouldn’t be much of a ‘life’), I could easily return to the law, but doing so would be against everything I’ve promised myself over the last few years, and to be frank, it makes my bladder shudder just thinking about it. I had a nightmare the other night where I was back at the old firm and if I hadn’t woken up from the fright I might have embarrassed myself in bed. Living in a constant state of stress and terror doing something that I can barely tolerate can’t be the answer for the next 30+ years of my life.
No, any career from here must be a career in writing. I don’t know if it will last or how it will turn out, but if I don’t at least give it a shot I’m going to regret it forever.
The first thing most people say when they hear about someone (such as myself) wanting to write, is that it’s really really hard. Really hard. Don’t quit your say job. Hardships are ahead — financially, socially, emotionally. Success stories are one in a million (well, I guess it depends on your definition of ‘success’ — is it JK Rowling or a relatively comfortable living?).
But surely it can’t be that bad, or else there won’t be that many writers out there. My advantage (or at least what I consider to be an advantage) is that I’m not fussy about the kind of work I do, as long as it involves writing (for the smart-arses out there, that excludes contracts and legal advices) and, as the great George W Bush once said, puts food on the family.
I’m quite flexible with the field or the area or the type of writing. I can write formal, technical, colloquial, serious, comical, satirical or just plain old conversational. Just looking around online in Sydney, there appear to be quite a few relatively well-paid jobs for someone in my position. Legal publishing is a pretty decent route to go, or at least as a stepping stone. Traditional publishing and media jobs are available — not quite as well paid but not as bad as I had expected.
But this time I’m heading to Asia and from what I’ve heard, writers get paid peanuts (sometimes literally). There are plenty of jobs that require English writing, so the concern is not to find a job, it’s finding the right job.
There are options. I can try educational publishing and write books which help local children learn English. I can go into media and work at a newspaper or magazine that publishes in English. I can try academic writing/editing, helping out local professors polish up their works in English. I can try technical writing for a company. I can even try something in government. None of these pay well by Western standards but at least I have absolutely no problem seeing myself in one of these roles. And all of them will provide me with much needed experience.
Perhaps supplementing a day job with freelance writing or editing might be feasible (I’m reading up on that), but it’s not easy for newbies without the experience or portfolio to back them up. I was just looking around online randomly for freelancing opportunities and saw that quite a few people offer $1 for every 500 words! Can you believe that? A dollar!
That said, a lot of freelancers I’ve come across love what they do and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I’d like to be able to say that one day.
I think I am prepared mentally for what lies ahead. I’m confident in my abilities but I know hard work and luck are imperative — though I believe former swimmer Grant Hackett said it best when he said that the harder he worked, the luckier he got.
If any writers out there are reading, please share your story and how you got to where you are today. Was it worth it? And any tips, pointers or pearls of wisdom you might be able to bequeath?
Farewell, Borders
June 5, 2011 in Blogging, Misc, On Writing, Social/Political Commentary, Technology
I had been wanting to write about this ever since news broke a few days ago but for whatever reason held off — maybe hoping that it wasn’t true or that it was a mistaken report.
Oh well. There’s no use denying it anymore. The last remaining nine Borders bookstores across Australia will close down over the next six to eight weeks. The fate of the Angus & Robertson chain, also owned by the in-administration REDgroup, remains uncertain at this point. The only good news is that its online bookstores will remain open.
I still remember the first time Borders opened up in Australia years and years ago. I loved them. They had the broadest range of books and I could spent literally hours and hours browsing from one end of the store the other. It was perfect for people with short attention spans like me, who just want to read the back cover, maybe read a few pages, and move on if it doesn’t interest me.
When I was living in Cambridge (which had all the big booksellers such as Waterstones, WHSmith, Heffers, etc), I pretty much camped out at Borders. Nothing to do? Let’s go to Borders and read all afternoon! Books, comics, manga, magazines, whatever. It was better than any library.
But that was the problem. People loved to browse Borders but not buy from them because their books were so bloody expensive, particularly in Australia (I’ll get to that in a sec). If they were on super duper special, then maybe, you’d consider buying a book or two, but everybody knew that Borders was a place where you went to do your research, not the place you’d ultimately purchase the books from.
These days, especially, it’s all online. Not just e-books but also paper books from places such as The Book Depository and Amazon. Yes, if all things were equal, Australian consumers would no doubt want to purchase locally — but when prices were, excluding GST, 35% higher, or in many cases, 50% higher, financial considerations always trumped loyalty.
No wonder Borders struggled so much. The stores tended to be in areas where the rent was ridiculous. They required loads of staff and the wide range meant stacks of inventory. Without competitive prices, they really had no chance.
Interestingly, the online chatter that has come out of the closures have been similar to my sentiments. Most bemoan the loss of a terrific place to ‘browse’ books, but not much more than that. Some were even glad that these evil big book chains which bully the independent booksellers have gotten their comeuppance.
Does this represent a fundamental shift in the publishing industry? If supposedly mighty bookchains such as Borders are collapsing, it makes me wonder what the future holds for other chains such as Angus & Robertson and Dymocks, and to a lesser extent, Kinokuniya.
Is it finally time for the parallel importing restrictions to be lifted? For those who don’t know, Australia has in place restrictions intended to protect local publishers and writers. If an Australian holder of publishing rights to a particular title decides to publish it within 30 days of the book becoming available elsewhere in the world, then Australian booksellers are prohibited from importing the title from overseas.
A Productivity Commission report in 2009 recommended that these restrictions be lifted, partly because the bulk of the benefits stemming from the restrictions flowed to offshore publishers and authors, rather than local ones. The recommendation was never acted upon because of campaigns from domestic publishers and authors, who also have very valid arguments. Opening the already fragile Australian book industry to the rest of the world has potentially frightening consequences for everyone.
No easy answers, unfortunately. I just hope the remaining bookchains in Australia have enough support to keep battling on.
Farewell, Borders.
Tags: Angus & Robertson, Book Depository, books, booksellers, bookstores, Borders, Borders Booksellers, Borders Group, Cambridge, closing down, closure, e-books, publishing, REDgroup, W H Smith, Waterstones
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