Let's talk about the value of creation | Jin Motor Fund Announcement No.57

A few days ago, Deng Xiaohua, the chief curator of the Hong Kong Literary Life Museum, and Hong Kong writer Liao Weitang had a discussion on Facebook about the manuscript fee, which attracted attention. On the one hand, it is an indisputable fact that the manuscript fee in the market is relatively low, and the writer should also strive for proper remuneration for his labor and creation. On the other hand, in the era of the decline of serious media, editors of literary journals often have to worry about the survival of the journals, and they cannot give writers higher manuscript fees, which may be a collective helplessness and pain point.

In August of this year, Matters Lab co-hosted three salon events in the United States with local groups ( Living Room Salon Transcript | Web3 Era, Types of Content Media ). During the event, Zhang Jieping said that in the Chinese writing world, the reason why serious creators have difficulty surviving is due to the long-term "structural injustice". Extreme wealth inequality. On the other hand, most Chinese-speaking creators have neither the help of the state nor a real support network.

However, the reader-creator relationship may be slowly being upended. Whether it's Matters' donation mechanism to connect authors and readers directly, or Patreon's subscription membership system, the concept of "paying for creation" is increasingly challenging established rules. With the theme of "Creation is Valuable", this issue of Golden Motor reviews the changes in the creative environment with creators and discusses the development direction of the new creative reward mechanism. When the brilliance of the paper media is no longer, how should full-time writers make a living by writing in today's increasingly diverse means of obtaining information and entertainment? Matty would like to explore the answer to this question with you.

Differentiated personal experiences vs common environmental issues

Also talk about the manuscript fee (the real problems of Macao literature) —— by @loneliness

Those were the good old days of the 1990s. There was a period of time when I was in a state of writing frenzy. There were both newspaper and magazine columns, and daily serialized novels. At that time, the royalties were considerable income for me. In addition to making money, I did absorb a lot of experience in dealing with various matters, such as insisting on royalties. In the early years, I encountered some older editors who asked me to write articles, usually saying that I did a good job in a major newspaper, and then said that the subject matter of writing in the newspaper would be limited, and they might not be able to speak freely. I set up a column with any subject matter, but the fee for writing is half as low (even I have encountered someone who directly stated that they would not pay the fee). I have always felt that this type of invitation is a scam.

The big newspapers no longer serialize novels, the print media declines, and the era of crowdfunding is coming... Since the 1990s, I have been writing silently in Macau, and I have also changed from a guy who earns royalties crazily to a netizen who simply likes to write. The author lamented that in this local literary environment where "horses are required to be good, and horses not to eat grass", it is becoming more and more difficult to earn royalties.

Talking about my writing experience - by @DuncanLau

A piece of manuscript paper for an article is 400 words. At that time, many deputy editors’ columns used this as the standard. Paper printing, typesetting calculations are very strict. The calculation of the manuscript fee is mostly based on the number of words. The basic standard in the industry at that time was one cent (ten cents) per word, so for an article of 400 words, the author could get forty yuan. The value of words is the basic. Of course, those famous columnists have their own set of calculation methods. Over the years, they have increased in line with the speed of inflation and social progress. Now, the fee for print media has been promoted to one yuan per piece. Words, an article of 2,000 words is equal to 2,000 yuan, which is actually not bad.

The rise of the Internet has impacted the print media, and the author who has also experienced the rise and fall of the print media shared his experience. Although there are still regular manuscripts, the online media who talk about it, "almost all do not pay the manuscript fee."

About the value of creation—— by @Chin

The fee per word for foreign manuscripts written in other media is about seven times as much as what the editor of the publishing house told me. Converting royalties and sales into a fee per word, it is only NT$0.2 per word. When the editor told me this, I felt strongly that he wanted me to give up fighting them for royalties, or maybe he was just giving me a shot. After all, I studied law. Maybe they were worried that I had an opinion on the contract, and they reminded me again and again. It's hard to do in the publishing world right now, but it convinced me to publish this book.

Whether it is paper media or physical books, creators seem to be unable to escape the vicious circle of "generating electricity for love". In the creator's self-report, she wrote, "I can make about as much money writing a book as I do five articles in the media."

What is the translation circle arguing about—— by @Sharon

I think the key to lowering the price is still this: Taiwanese don't pay attention to the quality of words. Those high-cost translation industries, such as patents, technology, contracts, medicine, etc., should be more precisely called localization, which is much different from the translation that ordinary people recognize. For example, the word create is cultural in software. In the field, most of the enterprises in Taiwan would like to translate it as "establish", but in China, the same word would be translated as "create".

The battle for royalties occurs not only among creators, but also in the translation industry. This article documents the controversy caused by a post asking for translators with a salary of NT$0.60 in "Chinese characters". Prices have risen, while salaries for translators have remained the same for ten years. In a weakened environment for translators, who should the critics target?

A guide for writers to persuade them to quit

Not talking about ideals, not talking about art, this book talks about "money" from beginning to end. The so-called entry is the first time to make money by writing; the so-called full-time is to be able to use writing to earn enough money to support yourself. Writers are also human beings, and they also need to eat. Few people are great enough to devote themselves to art. Who would want to create in a situation of poverty and poverty, starvation and cold? Once you realize this, you will find that the writer's profession is not romantic at all, and there are only a lot more bad things than other professions.

Zhu Youxun's book "Strategy for Writers' Survival" pointed out that "freedom of creation is an unrealistic fantasy, a writer's words are a product, and publishing a book is just a writer's job". For young people who ideally regard creation, these words sound like It may be cruel and vulgar, but it may be a reminder that as a creator, it is impossible not to be involved in the mechanism of the industry.

What are you writing for? Who are you writing to? ——A side note of IATC TW 2018 Annual Forum "Art Writing and Art Practice" —— by@Sometimes Comment

Wang Weizhi first asked a question about the current situation of the commenting environment. With the continuous evolution of contemporary new media operation modes, the vigorous development of social media, and the coexistence of multiple online publishing platforms, the number of writers continued to increase. In this case, the comment is "for what? And to write? Who should I write for?"...The value of written products is not valued in Taiwan, and the pay for writing work is low. In Hong Kong, one word is 1 Hong Kong dollar, and one word in China is 1 yuan. Compared with Taiwan, it is 1.5, 1.7, 2 NTD.

This is a side note of the 2018 Annual Forum of the Taiwan Chapter of the International Association of Drama Critics, where three panelists had a dialogue on visual art criticism and theater criticism that may be relatively unfamiliar to the public. Among them, Xu Bosong, editor-in-chief of UDN Naruto Hall, from the perspective of mass media and public writing, put "the labor value of writing workers" together with "the comprehensibility of the comment itself" and "the publicity of the Internet platform" in a sincere discussion. Many The angle is also suitable for reference by writers in other different fields.

Experiment, stir, re-experiment: jointly determine the ecology of "our"

From Patreon and Appreciating Citizens, see monthly support for creators - in fact, it can be more actively promoted - by @米高和puppies ThankYou

The hardest thing for creators is not being able to estimate their monthly income, and while watching Patreon in action, I assumed myself to be one of the Patreon creators. If I have 100 monthly users, I already have a basic monthly income of US$500 per month (that is, NT$15,000 per month, or HK$4,000, or RMB 3,500). If I have estimated that I will also have this monthly income, I will continue to "create with peace of mind". In addition to being able to reduce the worry of living and living for bread, you can also know that there is a fixed-paying readership and continue to write with your heart, just like publishing a book. As a result, they will focus more on creating better content.

Due to the changes in the media environment, in the past year or two, many Hong Kong journalists and media people have opened Patreon, and while creating content, they can earn income through subscription membership. The author of the article observes and learns the operation of Patreon, and thinks about the various realization paths of "creation is valuable".

Encourage genuine copies, allow piracy, and eliminate piracy -- by @高建

What we pursue is the openness of information and the circulation of knowledge. What the team is worried about is not content theft, but the information that the poor have access to, the knowledge they have learned, and the rich people are not. The most valuable thing about NFT is that you can own content without hindering its circulation. Copying is spreading, and genuine is supporting. While spreading, don’t forget to encourage the other party to buy genuine, so that mindfulness pays it forward.

Once, resisting copying and piracy was the only way to protect the rights and income of creators. In the era of Writing NFT, there is a subtle difference between reprinting and piracy. Taking his just-published "I Don't Invest" NFT book as an example, Gao Reconstruction introduced the publishing experiment concept of "encouraging genuine copies, allowing piracy, and eliminating piracy".

Writing NFT: For less than 1 yuan, you can publish digital creations at the specification of a book - by @徐明恩

We understand that what the author wants most is to focus on creation...other marketing-related processes can be waived if possible. Writing NFT handles two headaches for authors: 1) Pricing; 2) Quantity. The pricing of Writing NFT will change with the market supply and demand, and it will rise according to a curve. The greater the demand, the price will automatically increase... When the price reaches an unacceptable height in the market, no one will be willing to bid to create a new NFT. , the total circulating quantity thus stops increasing.

The article discusses the operation mechanism of LikeCoin's newly launched Decentralized Publishing (DePub). Today, when creation has gradually shifted from paper to digital, the "dynamic pricing mechanism" of decentralized publishing allows publishers to better grasp the market's supply and demand, bringing new opportunities for the publishing industry. When there is no need to worry about inventory issues, will the relationship between authors and publishers change, and will they get more protection and income?

The Application of LikeCoin: From Appreciation to Writing NFT —— by @Makzan

The mechanism of Writing NFT starts with a small number of LIKEs. The more people collect, the higher the collection price, calculated in multiples. So if an article with long-term impact is expected to bring in LIKE revenue, it will be better than a lot of ordinary articles. In this way, the author can be more encouraged to create with heart, and secondly, high-quality articles can stand out from the crowd.

Unlike Patreon's paywall, LikeCoin directly "turns praise into appreciation", readers can support articles individually, and if the collection value is high, they can be permanently saved in the form of Writing NFT. The author believes that for creators and readers, LikeCoin, a medium that directly carries creative value, may be a better choice for reward and support.

[Thinking about Matters x LikeCoin campaign] "Let 99% of creators realize their value" vs. Winners Take All —— by @fide

This phenomenon of a product is only its attributes, and it is not necessarily bad. The cost of developing an iPhone may be 50 million US dollars, but hundreds of millions of consumers are willing to share this cost and get a mobile phone with high performance. However, in the content industry, there is often a strange situation: everything is determined by the market and consumers, and it should be diversified and rich, but there is an effect of declining quality and bad money driving out good money.

The article from three years ago, but I still often read Changxin (which mentions the long article " I bought a likecoin and became an investor in all Matters users " by @Unidentified Flying Rabbit , as well); message area @高Reconstruction's response to "value vs price" and other extended discussions are believed to be an important "literature review" for both new and old text ecological experimenters.

[Transcript/CN] Can Web3 allow Chinese creators to make money standing up? —— by @Web3 Revolution

What Web3 released is that we could only be passive donors and funders before. We originally crowdfunded to support a documentary or a book, but now it has become a voucher and an NFT to buy a book. It instantly became an investment, and what I invested was freely tradeable. I think this event will greatly stimulate people's investment behavior. It will bring great investment potential, which will give creators a lot of space, and it will raise the overall ceiling of direct payment in the content industry.

Zhang Jieping was a guest on the Web3 Revolution podcast, reviewing the process of establishing Matters' autonomous and open creative community. In Zhang Jieping's view, Matters based on Web3 establishes a direct connection between creators and readers. Here, attention and the market are no longer monopolized by leading authors, and even novice creators can get more than in the Web2 period. economic returns, and more purely creative.

Matty once launched a community activity, inviting creators to share their experience in publishing on Matters and earning income, explaining the concept of "creation is valuable" ( Community activity report | How to create valuable in Matters? This is the collective experience of the authors ). Recently, Matters has also launched the USDT support function that is settled through Polygon and has a lower handling fee, hoping to let you truly "write what you get". How do you see the creator situation and how the reward system has changed? You are welcome to share your experiences and feelings, and you are also welcome to tag articles or writers related to this topic in the comment area.