The Right to Write

Some months ago there was a class action lawsuit against Amazon, aimed at gaining royalties for authors whose works had been published and sold electronically via the internet. I didn't join in the suit, but I was one of those writers invited to join in the fun. For years, Amazon sold copies of my book, A Christmas For Joey, but I've never seen a single royalty payment for any of these electronic sales. I'm sure the sales were small, and the royalty payments minuscule, but that's not the point.

These days, there is a growing trend against paying writers to write. There are those who say that writers don't have any rights to their work--work which writers produced (like me) in the wee hours of the morning or while slaving away in anonymity in some back room or basement and living on coffee and Kraft dinner. And there are even some who are trying to horn in on the writer's work and eat his bread by saying, "The writing you've produced belongs to me just as much as it belongs to you . . . even though I didn't write a word of the work and can't write a coherent sentence . . . you have no rights to your writing."

These are odd times. Somehow, I know it will all get worked out by the legal eagles, the publishing gurus, and the various writers unions in New York and Los Angeles . . . but in the meantime, it is essential that writers keep writing. Heck, I have "sold" so much free material, I might as well call my writing a hobby. After thirty years in the "business" I have yet to see a profit from any words I've placed on a page or website or file. It's not about the money. And besides, I've given all of my royalties away when I do receive a check. I can safely say I have not profited in any substantial way from my royalties. Not only are they paltry, but they are scarcely worth keeping, and certainly not life-changing. That's true or most writers, I'm afraid.

Just like being a pastor, few people actually earn anything of substance from writing. But again, that's not the point. The right to write is the point. The right to write anything one wants to write. And if, by some miracle of chance, people actually want to pay for the words or buy the books. . . the writer deserves the right to make a profit. The profits do not belong to the masses who had nothing to do with the work.