On SOPA, PIPA and Hypocrisy

January 20, 2012

heidit General Musings, Writing , , , , 9 Comments

So it’s old news by now that SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) have been withdrawn. And all through the world, individuals have cheered their enthusiasm, noting, I guess, that the system “works.” I can’t argue the ins and outs of SOPA and PIPA. I know the meanings behind them and I understand the rationale, if not the minutiae. So I won’t bore you with my ruminating on the merits or demerits (is that a thing?) of SOPA and PIPA.

What I will do, however, is talk about how alarming it is that the main players involved were massive, billion dollar organizations whose entire interest is to protect their monopolies and their profits. Oh sure, they acted like they were concerned with the little guy–the average Facebook user and Google searcher. But they’re not. And I’m not just aiming my guns at those who wanted to see SOPA and PIPA dismantled, I’m talking about those in favour of the acts, too.

Because at the end of the day, all the people cheered that Google and Facebook managed to get that big, bad old SOPA law withdrawn, but what seems to have been lost in all of this is that these organizations actually said very little of use. Terms such as “oppressive regime” and “pro-Internet” aren’t all that useful to me in this debate. Nor is the organizations’ stated desire to protect “Freedom of expression.” Because I find it very hard to believe that Google and Facebook care all that much about freedom of expression, unless it negatively affects them, which means that I don’t trust them when they say that my “freedom of expression” is at stake.

Disgusting acts of censorship have occurred in favour of SOPA and PIPA, despite those who wanted the acts withdrawn saying they were against censorship–I’m speaking here of the boycott of GoDaddy that resulted in the organization withdrawing its support of SOPA (read about it here). Because nothing says “Pro-Internet” quite like having organizations planning a “Leave GoDaddy Day” and threatening to move more 1,000 domains from the site after GoDaddy stated its support of SOPA and PIPA. Yup. That SCREAMS pro-Internet/anti-censorship to me.

Facebook is against the censorship of the Internet but famously, has been accused of censoring the photos of women breastfeeding and not only removing the photos but freezing the accounts of said women. (You can read an excellent article by Anne Douglas on this situation here.)

We are once again stuck in a world where it’s us versus them, pro-Internet versus anti-Internet, and that’s a terrible, terrible place to be.

But don’t worry, I’m not letting those in favour of SOPA and PIPA off the hook. Because the public face of “anti-piracy” and “copyright protection” was none other than Hollywood, including the studios, those magnificent bastions of copyright protection and digital rights enforcement. Assuming, of course, that you’ve completely forgotten the dark ages of television, around 2007-2008, when the writers’ strike lasted for over three months (a particularly terrible time in history that I refer to as “My Depression”). Remember what the big issue was? That’s right, writers wanted to be paid for the digital rights to their works. And big business Hollywood studios DIDN’T WANT TO PAY. (According to an article by the AP, prior to the writers strike, writers received approximately 3 cents on a DVD that sells for $20. Following the strike, the writers now make 3.5 cents on the same DVD. I kid, of course. Obviously, they wound up with 2 cents per DVD.)

You might be tempted to argue that Hollywood studios, by virtue of protecting copyright and its royalties, would have more money and therefore pay writers more, but then I would be tempted to call you the most naive person on the planet (and I would have to resist the urge to kick you in the shins). Because Hollywood doesn’t care about its writers’ copyright or about paying them fairly. It, like Google, Facebook and everyone else, wants to protect its own profits.

And so I, as an outsider and a writer, am left to wonder who the hell actually cares about protecting the little guy’s rights. Because I am damned sure positive that none of the players publicly involved in the garbage over the past few days give so much as a tiny rat’s behind about my rights or the rights of the person next to me (and I speak here about writers in general, since very few American lawmakers or companies care even a sliver about a Canadian, let alone a Canadian writer). But I don’t really want to speak out about the issues involved because I’ll be accused of being greedy, or selfish or anti-Internet or in league with the pirates, depending on which stance I take.

SOPA and PIPA should have been a time to have meaningful debate and discussion about the nature of copyright, the ways to go about protecting copyright and what the organizations’ responsibilities are in doing so. Instead, the debate was framed by large organizations with a vested interested in downing (or protecting) SOPA and PIPA not because the rules where inherently fair or unfair but because the rules negatively affected those organizations that have a monopoly. The “debate” that occurred involved use of stupid, marginalizing rhetoric on both sides that did nothing to further discussion or highlight the real issues, which made it almost impossible for people with actual, intelligent things to say–from both sides of the debate–to participate. And that makes me sad.

At the end of the day, the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA was not necessarily a victory for the Internet or for the average Internet user. It was a victory for Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and all the other big organizations that wanted it withdrawn. That’s it. And if we learn nothing meaningful from this experience, then how can we expect it be any better the next time around? Will the rule of thumb when creating Internet copyright law simply be, “Don’t piss off Facebook and Google?” Will they ever come up with meaningful legislation if honest discussion can’t be had?

Anyone have any thoughts? I’d actually like to hear from both sides on this–not the big business sides, but the little guys–and what their honest thoughts are about SOPA, PIPA and copyright on the Internet. I’m genuinely interested in what people on both sides have to say. Really. Just leave the name-calling out of it, please (and I promise not to call you naive, or kick you in the shins).

Marketing Tip: It’s Not Just About the Writing

January 17, 2012

heidit Business, Writing , , , , , , 5 Comments

Okay, I know a huge portion of your job as a writer is the writing (and writing-related tasks). Obviously, when you market yourself as a writer, people want to know about your writing and focus on the writing services you provide. So when you go to meetings you talk a lot about the projects you’ve completed, written work you’re proud of and how your writing benefits the potential client.

That’s all fantastic.

But as a writer, you’re not just providing the client with written materials. You’re also giving them–not to make this sound too cliched, but let’s just go with it–the gift of time. Because every word you write is a word the client isn’t agonizing over. Every minute you spend on reports is time they can spend in other activities, such as choosing a long-distance carrier or hiring an administrative assistant. Every grant proposal you write is one they don’t have to, giving them the time to oversee important fundraising events, like whatever run is going on this week (seriously, there is  A LOT of running for charity going on).

Why is this important? Because when you market yourself to a client, the focus is often on the final product and the client will–understandably–put a dollar value on that product and then determine whether your cost is worth that value. But they forget about all the time, hassle and annoyance they face if they were to write the document themselves. When they view it in that light, your writing suddenly seems a lot more valuable.

Take the case of grant writing. I wrote a post about it almost two years ago, but since that time, I’ve further refined my thinking on the subject.

Some organizations want grant writers to provide their services but only get paid if the grant application is successful. On the surface, this seems fair (although you should reread my post to see all the reasons why it isn’t fair). But, if you’re only focused on the document provided, then the success of that document–whether or not it obtains the grant–determines the writers’ value to the organization.

But that perspective completely ignores that the writer, by writing the application, has now freed up the organization’s staff to focus on other, equally important tasks. The organization has not only benefited by having the application written, it has benefitted by having man-hours freed up.

To put it another way: If the organization’s staff person had written the grant application, she would (she SHOULD–I can’t speak for organizations that expect their staff to work for free, and for salaried people grant writing should appear in their job description) be paid for her hours, regardless of whether or not the application was successful. And even with a staff person writing the application, there is no guarantee that the application will be successful. But the expectation is still that the staff person would be paid for time spent writing the application. Therefore, you should be paid, too.

Another example: when you ghost-write a blog post for a small business, you’re not just providing the owner with 500 words about the secret to successful marketing. You’re making it so the business owner has more time (and energy) to devote to other aspects of his business, such as meeting with potential clients, working on a project or choosing suppliers. And, because you’re a writer, you’re probably still getting the blog post done in a fraction of the time it would take him.

When companies and organizations determine if a cost is worth their money, they often consider only the final product being offered. It’s natural that the client would say, “Well, that blog post didn’t bring in a lot of customers and I’m sure I could do it myself, so maybe I don’t need you.” It’s important to remind them that you’re not just providing written materials, you’re also freeing up their time to focus on other things–things they’re good at and enjoy.

Ask Friends for Help

January 12, 2012

heidit Writing , , , , 3 Comments

Last week, I was at the pharmacy counter at my local grocery store, picking up some antibiotics (they were for my cat, who was sick with a respiratory infection and so was prescribed some cherry flavoured antibiotics and all I can say about that is he threw it up immediately upon it hitting his throat, so that was $20 and 40 minutes of my life that were not well spent). But I digress. As I stood awaiting instructions, an advertisement taped to the side of cubicle caught my attention. It actually took two reads for me to digest what I had seen. I’ll rewrite it here for you, with the name of the company changed to prevent embarrassment.

“Let Acme Pharmaceuticals Make Your Life Easier With Diabetes.”

I know what they mean to say, but what they mean to say and what they’ve actually said are entirely different. What they mean is, they can help make the lives of people who have diabetes easier. What they’ve offered to do, however, is give us all diabetes in an attempt to make our lives easier. Now, I’m no medical expert but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who would say that her life has been made easier by having diabetes.

This should have been easily caught. I can’t imagine that more than two or three people would have read this without someone saying, “Hey, do you know what you’re actually saying here?”

When we writers work long hours agonizing over the wording of a single sentence, it can be difficult to see all the ways the sentence can be read, good or bad. That’s why I have a few people around me who I can easily ask about something I’ve written.

I have teacher friends (some of them English teachers), who can tell me if I’ve misused a word or have an improperly placed apostrophe or if the sentence is awkward and clumsy. I have people with knowledge in a variety of subjects to tell me if I’ve misstated something or if my sentence isn’t really relevant (or clever) to people with knowledge in that area (because apparently I think I’m a lot more clever than I actually am).

And then I have people who–thanks to genetics and an immaturity that runs deeper than the ocean–can turn absolutely any sentence, word or glance into some form of double entendre (and, despite my use of the word entendre, the jokes are RARELY all that high-brow). They could read a page in the phone book and find a way to make low-brow comments about most of the names they found.

If I have any question about the unintended meaning of something I’ve written, I’ll have them read it over to tell me if they can quickly come up with some sort of sexual joke based on what I’ve written. If they can’t in five to ten seconds, then the sentence is okay.

Why do I ask people who aren’t necessarily writers to look these things over? Because they can catch mistakes that I may have missed or double meanings that weren’t intended. When I’ve spent hours perfecting a few sentences, my brain will no longer catch all the possible permutations of a sentence. It just won’t. But a fresh mind–someone who is less focused on the correct grammar in a sentence and more likely to see things that the average reader will catch–can spot those things quickly, saving me the embarrassment of offering to give people diabetes to make their lives easier.

I don’t always involve them in my work, but it’s nice to know that I have people around me who are willing to read over my work and let me know if I’ve inadvertently branded something with a tagline that makes it sound like a friendly massage parlour, or an infection you pick up when you drink the water in a third-world country. It saves me time and embarrassment and it also saves my client time (not to mention potential embarrassment).

So, don’t be afraid to ask your friends–high brow and low brow–for a little help reading over stuff you’ve written. You never know what gems they’ll find hidden in your copy, but you’ll be glad they found the errors, before the general public finds them, because believe me, they will.

Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 131 other followers