On April 12th, 2007, Will Shetterly posted a letter from Howard Hendrix, the SFWA‘s outgoing VP. The letter was not controversial so much as it was inflaming–pretty much everyone disagrees with it.
In particular, there is this:
I’m also opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free. A scab is someone who works for less than union wages or on non-union terms; more broadly, a scab is someone who feathers his own nest and advances his own career by undercutting the efforts of his fellow workers to gain better pay and working conditions for all. Webscabs claim they’re just posting their books for free in an attempt to market and publicize them, but to my mind they’re undercutting those of us who aren’t giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work.
John Scalzi wrote a scathing reply you can enjoy here. And then someone latched onto a phrase used elsewhere in the letter, where Mr. Hendrix speaks out against “the downward spiral that is converting the noble calling of Writer into the life of Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch” (emphasis mine).
That someone (Jo Walton) went on to create something special: International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Which is today, in fact. Here is a list of works (no doubt incomplete, check the comments for more) currently offered up on the internet at no charge by their authors. Presumably, each person was paid at least once for the work, and for at least the going minimum of 5 cents per word.
Mr. Hendrix does have a statement up at GalleyCat regarding the whole thing, in which he expresses regret for his terminology, but not his sentiment. Good enough for me; he can think what he wants. I hope the spirit of the day, today and in the future, is more about a positive demonstration of the power of electronic publishing in all of its various formats and not so much about dogpiling someone who is wary about certain trends he has noticed in an industry he’s worked in and for for a number of years.
Here is my own contribution to the day: “Songbird,” written by yours truly and published in Baen’s Universe in late 2006. I’m glad to have an excuse to put it up, and I hope you enjoy it.