The Writers’ Trust of Canada asked in a survey that will be open until Jan. 18, 2022, how they could improve their mission statement. I have to confess, in my case that’s like asking a guy with a loaded pistol in his hand what you can do for him. I used up just about every one of the 200 words allowed in my response, and still hadn’t run out of bullets for my list of reasons they should include ‘Advocacy’ in their mandate. Here’s what I wrote…
‘Advocacy’ on behalf of writers should be explicitly included in the WT mission statement.
Rewarding individual writers through grants and prizes is a good thing, but it’s not enough. Writers’ incomes have been declining significantly over the last decade or more and measures need to be put in place to ensure payment for work done.
Most urgently, in this era of quick turn-around ‘used’ books, is the need for royalty payments to authors on the resale of their works.
Also needed are protocols and programs that assist writers and publishers tapping into the online market through ‘Direct to Web’ – that is, books as websites – or similarly formatted and targeted publications.
D2W enables writers to:
- promote books more effectively on social media;
- engage ‘audiences’ at every stage in the writing and publishing cycle;
- reach global audiences;
- explore new revenue options.
Literature is foundational to the Arts & Cultural wellbeing of our society. It is a discipline that permits a unique blend of individual freedom of expression combined with the ability to critique and celebrate modernity in depth.
‘Advocacy’ should be a word that appears in the Writers’ Trust mission statement.
Ditto to other organizations whose overall mission is to foster and sustain literary excellence in this country.
