Harlan Ellison: "Pay the Writer" - an outdated concept?

Harlan Ellison is well known for being . . . forthright.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE



(via WritersWeekly)

His point of view is a valid one, but it's also a little dated in this age of new media. For all his maverick bluster Ellison is an established writer who got where he is today by traditional methods. Those methods have become less appropriate now that so much free stuff is available.

New writers ('underpublished' writers, as Evo Terra of Podiobooks.com calls them) would do well to explore the alternatives. Slavishly insisting that every word carries a price-tag can be counterproductive. In essence Ellison is right, but it's worth remembering that writers can receive 'value' for their work in other than money.