Behind the Scenes
Let’s Keep It Real
I’m a little obsessed with this New York magazine article about James Frey. He has a fiction factory where he enters into partnerships with writers that may or may not pay off for both parties involved.The advance is $250 up front followed by another $250, it’s pretty ludicrous. You may or may not get credit for your work. You can’t audit so you’ll never know how much you really should be making on royalties. Here’s the contract which is both cynical and corrupt but if you’re a sentient adult who signs this contract you get what you get. Writer Maureen Johnson weighs in on the more troubling aspects of that contract. John Scalzi writes an open letter to MFA programs about educating writers on the actual business of writing that is one of the best conversations about this topic I’ve ever seen.** The folks at Pop Matters have an opinion. Then there’s this guy who basically says, “This is the reality of publishing.” I was going to write a big long post about this topic but then I changed my mind. Let’s get real. I think most of us, at some point or another in our careers, would have considered signing this contract and getting into bed with James Frey. Before I knew any better, I would have. As I read the article, a part of me thought, “I’d work for Frey. Where do I sign up?” I have student loans, man. My student loans have loans. I would let Frey be my rainmaker. I have too much of an ego to not get credit for my work so I dismissed those thoughts pretty quickly, but they were there and frankly, I think a lot of writers were/are thinking the very same thing. That is a sad commentary on how indebted and poorly compensated most of us are. I am equally certain that even with all this negative press, Frey will never stop having a supply of writers. His business model will continue to succeed for the same reason people continue to pay $20 per submission to Narrative and enter writing contests and otherwise pay to be published. The desire to be published, for some, is so desperate and so intense they will do whatever it takes. Frey knows this. He knows this and is comfortable with exploiting that desperation by creating a Ponzi scheme or a lottery, where he dangles the hope of commercial success in the faces of the relatively hopeless. One of the reasons we’re all so up in arms about this whole thing is because of what we’re willing to do. We’re not comfortable with that.
**As an aside, it would also be useful to talk about how many small presses/magazines are publishing without contracts, or with crappy contracts, a scenario where, in the long run, everyone is vulnerable.
Tags: cynicism, james frey, the business of publishing
whats a contract between friends
Too much of an ego to not get credit for your work: AVIVA, MY LOVE is a pretty good movie that deals with just that idea. I only say this because I watched it 2 days ago.
before i knew any better, i wanted to be infamous more than i wanted to be rich. i think i’m now (and always have been, really) too selfish to sell something without my name to it.
i think what gets me so angry about this whole thing is the “that’s the way it is” message frey is trying to send. i don’t care to know the “truths” about publishing. most of them make me too angry to care.
$45,000 for a degree that leaves its holders in a position where they’ll willingly sign away rights to their work for $500? Isn’t that the larger scandal here? Where are the great publishing deals these writers should be holding out for?
That’s an interesting question, but I don’t think anyone is owed a lucrative publishing deal. I mean, if your career plan is, “I hope to get a big book deal,” you’re kind of delusional. The real scandal, I suppose, is that young writers aren’t being accurately educated on the consequences of going into debt for a degree that may or may not translate into gainful employment. A corollary to that is, as Scalzi notes in his post, that writers in MFA programs aren’t being educated about contracts and the business of writing.
Why does it help to know about contracts if you have nothing to sell? Why do MFA programs promote themselves as professional education if the market for the skills they train you in barely exists?
I agree with you, Roxanne, which is pretty much what I said in my piece at Pop Matters that you link to – there is a real seductive element to this horrid deal. I just think there are probably other lottery tickets people should buy with their writing instead of this one.
Great post, Roxane.
Good post, Roxane. Rather than just point to Columbia’s high tuition as a culprit, serious exploration needs to take place about what other non-publishing gigs they can pursue. Too many people leave MFA programs with the idea that they’re unsuited for any profession outside the academy (re: teaching comp on an adjunct basis).
Even if you’re wearing red socks you might end up with a nail through your foot.
Love this, Roxane. Thanks for posting the John Scali link. I think he’s absolutely right.
Let’s get real. I think most of us, at some point or another in our careers, would have considered signing this contract and getting into bed with James Frey. Before I knew any better, I would have. As I read the article, a part of me thought, “I’d work for Frey. Where do I sign up?”
I didn’t feel that way at all. I was immediately turned off by it. Of course I’m desperate to be published (what writer isn’t?) and I’m in the age range of people Frey is pitching to (I’m 23), but I wasn’t tempted. I know next to nothing about contracts or the business of book publishing in general, but I do know that contract is way too sketchy with not nearly enough payoff for the amount of work required.
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