Writer should be paid!

Writer should be paid!

Philip Pullman has made headlines by resigning as patron from Oxford literary festival. Philip Pullman raised the issue of honorarium for upcoming writers.  Philip Pullman expressed his concern towards the craft of writing.

The festival become famous and many book-lovers and readers gather for these festivals as they get a chance to meet these authors and interact with them

OLF is making their 20th literary fest this year. Richard Dawkins, Simon Sebag and Alan Ayckbourn will be speaking along with 500 speakers this year.

Writing is a distinct art; students from high-school and college cling to tablet.  Tablet is considered as a study material and teaching aid. A leading news paper of India has initiated a service ‘write India’ a need to write for Indian audience. The senior editor of TOI Vinita Dawra Nangia is director of this initiative. They conduct the short story contest and it is judged by 11 renowned writers from India.

Do writers get paid in India? The answer is sad. They hardly get paid. Are there any job opportunities in India if one wishes to write? My take is yes, India has enormous opportunities for writers.

The growing craze of social networking and social media is nurturing the habit of writing. This activity of social network and social media app is called ‘online media’ this is the new coinage added last year. Surprisingly couple of other words also added in lexicography. The word ‘online real-estate’   means the online websites, blogs, and other presence of your company. The virtual reality of cyber world we have already gulped and now this is the new chapter added to it. These words have expanded their periphery by opening new business verticals on industrial landscape. It created different industry like Online Public Relation companies,  App designing companies, Online marketing companies and online branding companies, Online retail and many more.

These online service providing companies require many content writers, technical writers, blog writers, copy writers and writers. This is the dream come true time for the community of writers. Let us take a look at the fact, naukri.com need 6955 content writers today, and 7209 content writers’ job ads for content writers on shine.com, quickr.com1591, 1006 timesjobs.com.  These leading websites are posting the writing jobs on their portal. The more requirement of writing is coming from national and international level from various websites; these freelance jobs are available for all who wish to write. They pay you per assignment.  I have seen the students of mass communication choosing the career as freelance writer and leading very happy life ahead.

Today there is a trend of having more than one website to operate. One website for internal communication of employees, the other for their social initiative, one for their work and their past clients, one is for their achievements and latest news and for their new initiatives. This way every company nowadays has minimum 5 websites and to remain on the top position in search engine they keep updating their photos along with data. This data means text, tailored by the seasoned writer craft it.

The ever growing online media is the golden news for the breed of writers. The style of content writing or technical writing cannot be compared with literary writing but at the end of the day it is writing, it has just changed its shape and mold.

100years back when magazine appeared people were confused about its shape, size and life. The great literary scholars fought on the use of narration and the method of storytelling. People had witnessed the power of news paper and pamphlets which shaped the French revolution and immortalized many writers. People raised many question on personal and political boundaries.

Fortunately when content writing has appeared 2 years back with a bang of 3G nobody asked these questions. I recollect the words of Marshall Mc Luhan, ‘The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the image of a global village.” This quote connects me to Philip Pullman in strong bond. He is a successful writer of fiction. There are many who shoulder his opinion and there are many standing on other side but the truth is nobody can deny the payment of writer.

I find the Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ as a perfect song on this occasion. Bob Dylan who has been a singer, songwriter and this world honors him as a poet.

Writing is a craft and we as writers can do wonder with it. There are websites, organizations, celebrities, event management companies, Public Relation houses, e-learning companies, wannabe heart throbs, advertising companies and commercial entities who seek the help of a writer. Be proud if you are a writer.