Great new markets are opening up for writers who unlearn their old linear ways and get hip to hyperlinks and multi-media approaches.
But writers who change to serve Internet and New Media approaches must fight to retain their reprint rights, which are fast becoming just another commodity to profit-hungry publishers.
So said writing teacher and New Media guru Harry Youtt in his presentation Some Professional Perspectives on the Writer in the 21st Century at a National Writers Union workshop on Nov. 18, 2000.
Youtt teaches at the prestigious UCLA Extension writers program, is a "recovering lawyer" who advises the NWU in its landmark Tasini v. New York Times case, and developed a cutting-edge website for the ABC-TV series The Practice.
"Writing for New Media is like writing the map [for readers], not driving the bus," said Youtt at the workshop, which the NWU's Tucson sub-local sponsored. "We let the readers decide what topics to read in what order. We can no longer control people [readers] in a linear fashion."
Writing will be brief and punchy, blurring the styles of information, education and entertainment, and will be accompanied by graphics, links and audio and video samples, he said.
There is no manual for new writing, but a few rules are clear, Youtt said: "Don't make readers scroll," and "build suspense. Each hyperlink is like a closed door. Don't disappoint readers when they open them."
"New Media will never replace books, but we can be innovative in ways we haven't explored yet. In the long run we get to create better content," Youtt said.
It's not easy to unlearn the old ways. Even Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen goofed with a web magazine that tried the innovative approach of updating stories online, but hired traditional TIME magazine-style writers, who "wrote long and didn't use hypertext," Youtt said. The work bored too many readers, he said.
Among the New Media are: short films that are becoming a rite of passage for new movie directors; distance learning, which requires a huge amount of text; print-on-demand publishers (beware: many are not able to deliver on time) and, of course, web-based publications and the online siblings of established print media, Youtt said. Web advertising will have to become more compelling than today's boring banner ads, he said.
"Distance education is a major career opportunity," Youtt said. "Everyone is converting to web-based learning, but no one is doing it right. One exception is Boeing, which followed employees around [an aircraft factory] with a video camera." That was much better than what many colleges are doing, he said. Many college efforts are "a lot like correspondence courses and remove the dynamism from the learning process," Youtt said.
One of the best multi-media approaches is the Discovery Channel Titanic site, which can be reached at: http://www.discovery.com/guides/history/titanic/Titanic/titanic.html.
Youtt assured writers that their work, often overshadowed by the work of programmers, is becoming more important as website developers realize programmers can't provide effective content.
While the rapidly changing marketplace means more opportunity for publishers and writers to make money from reprints, there is no guarantee writers will get a fair share, or any share, of reprint revenue, Youtt warned.
Many employers try to demand that writers sign "all-rights" contracts, which give employers permanent reprint rights in all media: print, Internet, CD-ROM, and on-line databases, he said. The NWU urges writers to cross out such contract clauses and sell only first North American rights, so they can control reprints, he said. Sample contract language is at the NWU website: http://www.nwu.org/.
Publishers claim reprint rights are a pain to calculate and not worth enough to pay for, but Youtt said the marketplace increasingly is allowing publishers to profit by selling off reprints en masse.
"I can't tell you what the value of your reprint rights will be, but it could be a lot more than what you think," Youtt said.
Youtt urged writers to keep negotiating on their own, but warned that collective action is necessary, such as the NWU lawsuit against the New York Times and negotiations with Contentville.com over reprints. (See Tasini v. N.Y. Times, and Contentville, at www.nwu.org.)
Participants found the talk stimulating and raised the possibility of organizing a local workshop on hypertext. Sample reactions:
"I was very interested in the student filmmaker sites -- and energized by his faith that the value of content would be recognized," said Susan Zakin, a free- lancer for Salon.com and a columnist with the Tucson Weekly. But she was "horrified by the prospect of widespread distance learning, which I think destroys the student-teacher relationship," she said.
"What a lot of fascinating uses of e-media," one Internet-savvy author said. "I think I might get a lot of insights from his links."
"I walked away with useful information -- that writing for the Internet involves a different kind of thinking -- i.e. non-linear (which for me, being a linear person, will be a challenge)," a business and technical writer said.
"There is tremendous opportunity for writers on the Internet now and opportunities will grow," a poet noted. "Now is the time to jump in and become web-savvy in your writing. But (you need to) keep a sharp eye on your rights."