AustLit

'For my first trip to Tassie it was Valentine’s Day. Hobart was sunny and picturesque as all hell, with the harbour featuring heavily in our sightseeing. There was also a skater I kept swapping hopefully seductive glances with until my dad noticed which totally salted the whole game. Now, jump forward a just shy of a decade to the Emerging Writers’ Festival Roadshow. During this visit there was something more difficult to contend with. More particularly, how can literary journals pay their writers fairly? What even counts as ‘fair’ when online publications pay their ‘content creators’ in exposure? When our publications have such diverse aims, budgets, demographics and access to resources? This debate is not new. Many industries struggle with a sense of entitlement from consumers wanting to have their cake free and eat it in the comfort of their own rooms. On a personal, selfish level, I totally get it. Without judging from on-high, this understanding of why people love free stuff (because it is free) is not the solution and it’s not a sustainable way to eat cake.'

 (Introduction)