No "free" ride in the e-publishing handover

It was only a matter of time, and now it's happening. The e-revolution has already begun to inspire vigorous, thoughtful and practical suggestions about the way in which the creative community should engage with the digital transformation.

Charlie Hill, who writes in the Writers' Hub blog, has just launched his own manifesto. There are any number of possible responses to this fascinating document, of course, but what caught my eye were these items:

1. Step away from the Kindle

2. Take collective Action

3. Invest in authors

This, at face value, contains quite a contradictory response to the challenge of e-publishing. On the one hand, Hill declares that the traditional publishing model and e-publishing are different creatures (I disagree). On the other (item 2), he recognises the significance of Amazon. (Yes, absolutely.)

Thirdly, reverting to a traditional mode, he declares "Invest in authors". (Hear, hear.) The general tenor of the manifesto is decidedly in support of the creative individual. What lies beneath it – and which is very interesting – is his explicit challenge to the idea of "free".

"Free" has had, and is still having, a good run for its money, but if this manifesto is a straw in the wind – who knows? The hour may be at hand at which writers of all sorts get remunerated in the way they used to in the bad old days.

My own guess, at odds with item 1 of Hill's manifesto, is that writers will have to engage fully with all aspects of the digital revolution (including the Kindle and Nook) before they negotiate a path back to the protected domain of copyright and royalty.

I don't think we can pick and choose from the menu of the new technology like fastidious gourmets. It's all or nothing. As Shakespeare says, nothing will come of nothing; it has to be all. Only then can we begin to reconstruct the literary landscape in a way that's fair to readers and writers alike.