Que poderão os escritores aprender com os argumentistas norte-americanos?

Tendo como pano de fundo a greve dos argumentistas norte-americanos, Kate Pullinger, num artigo no The Guardian, explica porque razão deverão os autores unir-se para que os seus direitos não sejam subtraídos, ou ignorados, com o advento do digital.

«Writers of the world arise! It's time to throw off the shackles of traditional publishing contracts and face a brand new digital future with a brand new set of priorities. Let's copy or, should I say, learn from our brothers and sisters in Hollywood: don't let the industry take our digital rights away! Give us our digital dues! In the shift from print to digital, writers are in danger of losing out big time»

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Here is a breakdown of the figures: with a book, the author will usually receive a royalty of 10% on hardcover and 7.5% on paperback, that figure rising as sales figures rise. So for the sake of simplicity, let's put it this way: for a book that costs the customer £10, the writer will receive something in the region of £1 per copy sold. (Though when books are subject to heavy discounting in supermarkets or other promotions this figure will often drop dramatically but that's too complicated and annoying to go into here.)

The £9 the author does not receive covers the following costs: editing, book design including cover, any advertising including the publisher's catalogue, printing, paper, shipping and other distribution transport costs, warehousing, and the surprisingly large cut taken by the retailer. Oh yes, and profits. I know that it is said that the way to make a million in publishing is to start with £10m, but somebody out there is making some money out of publishing, trust me.

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Invisible digital content aside, shifting to digital formats dramatically reduces the costs of publishing. No more warehouses, no more lorries full of books trundling up and down the land, no more paper and printing and ink, no more acres of expensive retail space

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...why should we sign contracts giving us a paltry 15% royalty in an industry where actual costs are being massively reduced overnight? Why aren't writers jumping up and down over this?»

Para ler aqui, no The Guardian.