Table Of ContentAustralia Council for the Arts
December 2008
The writer’s guide
to making a
digital living:
choose your own adventure
2
The writer’s guide to making a digital living:
choose your own adventure
__________________________________________________________________________
Australia Council for the Arts 2008: published under
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License
Publication: December 2008
Authors: Therese Fingleton, Christy Dena, Jennifer Wilson
Project Sponsor: Josie Emery
Commissioning Editor and Project Manager: Therese Fingleton
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
3
Acknowledgement
In 2006, the Australia Council for the Arts launched Story of the Future to
support writers to develop new media writing and business skills and to
create new work for commercial take-up. This guide has been developed as
a discrete project of Story of the Future.
The authors acknowledge the contribution of the Australia Council for the
Arts and key program partner the Australian Film, Television and Radio
School (AFTRS). The authors also wish to thank the interviewees who
generously contributed to this publication.
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
4
Disclaimer
This guide includes references, comments and projections regarding the topic of the
craft and business of new media writing. The recipient acknowledges that these
references, comments and projections reflect assumptions by the authors
concerning the future, which may or may not prove correct.
The Australia Council for the Arts and its directors and officers, and the authors of
this guide expressly disclaim any liability, representations or warranties express or
implied contained in this publication or any omissions from it. This guide is no
substitute for legal advice and anyone seeking to rely on any of its contents should
obtain their own legal advice.
ISBN 978-1-920784-44-7
Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 2.5 Australia License
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Any reuse or distribution must include the following attribution :
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008,T he writer’s guide to making a digital living:
choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia Council fort he Arts
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguid]e
For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this
work. The best way to do this is with a nli k to this web page
[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/].
Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright
holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
5
About the authors
Therese Fingleton
Therese Fingleton has over a decade of local and international ICT
experience, gained as a project manager, IT consultant and producer. She
currently manages the Story of the Future project at the Australia Council
for the Arts; a federal education and development program for writers and
producers. In recent roles Therese has worked with diverse groups
including artists, educators, young people and entrepreneurs; presented at
the national Connecting UP and Making Links conferences in Adelaide and
Sydney; been an online moderator for Oxfam’s International Youth
Parliament and worked as an ICT adviser for a remote indigenous
community in Guatemala. Therese currently sits on the National Steering
Committee of MEGA (Mobile Enterprise Growth Alliance).
Christy Dena
Christy Dena is a cross-media specialist who works as a narrative and
game design consultant and educator. She has worked as an advisor, MC,
presenter, judge and mentor for the Story of the Future initiative and has
mentored at AFTRS Laboratory for Advanced Media Production (LAMP),
Booranga Writers Centre and De Montfort University. For the past few years
she has been giving presentations on the design of cross-media projects to
organisations including Nokia, Australia Council for the Arts, Film Australia,
Centre for Screen Business, AFTRS, ABC, ACT Filmmakers Network, Film
and Television Institute, IGDA Brisbane and the Web Standards Group. She
is currently completing her PhD at the School of Letters, Art and Media,
University of Sydney. Christy’s bio site is at [www.ChristyDena.com] and her
design-oriented blog and podcast is at [www.UniverseCreation101.com].
Jennifer Wilson
Jennifer Wilson is the principal at Lean Forward, consulting in the area of
engaging consumer experience, mobile and online, with a key focus on
social engagement and soft personalisation. Lean Forward undertakes
bespoke development in this area and assists companies in navigating the
commercial minefield of the digital environment. Jennifer’s previous roles
included Head of Innovation for ninemsn, where she investigated
developments in engagement, interaction, social networking, user
generated content and other new technologies and how these shape our
interactive futures. Prior to this, she was Managing Director of HWW,
content provider and developer of online and mobile sites, including
yourTime™. Jennifer has over 20 years in interactive communications and
sits on the National Executive of the Australian Interactive Media Industry
Association (AIMIA).
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
6
Welcome
____________________________________________________________________________
Who should use this guide
This guide is a professional development resource for creative writers. Its
primary target audience is any writer (young or old, emerging, mid-career or
established) in Australia or overseas, who aims to earn income as a
professional creative writer and is interested in how the new media industry
can enhance their craft skills and income earning potential.
The secondary audience is any artist or practitioner (producer, games
developer, publisher, funding body) whose work may be informed by this
resource.
The aim in developing this guide is to create a freely available and widely
accessible repository of knowledge and information on the theme of
professional creative writing in a digital context. While acknowledging that
writers often balance their creative writing with other professional writing
such as journalism, or entirely separate careers in other fields, this guide is
focused on what you do as a professional creative writer.
For the purposes of this guide we identify three broad career paths for
professional creative writers and tailor advice accordingly. These are:
• employed – writers within an organisation or company, who do not
retain any intellectual property (IP) or ownership of copyright and do
not have complete creative control, but do earn a regular salary
from creative writing, e.g. games writers
• self-employed – novelists, poets and any kind of author whose work
is published by a third party and who earn a royalty from their IP;
authors and performance writers who are the writers on other
people’s projects or who develop their own concepts and take
them to a film, theatre or new media production company, or direct
to a broadcaster or online publisher to be produced. These writers
possibly retain ownership of copyright depending on the contract
and usually work on time-limited projects so have to also generate
new business for themselves on an ongoing basis (selling the next
idea or winning the next contract)
• entrepreneurs – writers who develop an entire business around
professional creative writing, often with a business partner or team
and usually with some investment from third parties. These writers
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
7
definitely maintain ownership of copyright and have a greater ability
to exploit it more easily in other areas. They must understand how
to run and structure a business and be prepared to attract investors
and sell their idea(s).
We also identify three broad types of writing in the new media industry:
• digital content such as computer games and interactive fiction
• digital and traditional media combinations such as cross-platform
storytelling
• digital content to increase the reach and market of traditional media
(traditional media is the term used to describe print media such as
books and magazines, and TV, film and theatre).
The terms digital and new media are used interchangeably in this guide .
How to use this guide
In devising the focus of this publication, we have identified three
professional writing career types: employed, self-employed and
entrepreneurs; and three types o fnew media industry writing: digital,
cross-platform and promotional :
The diagram at the beginning of each chapter will guide you to those that
are most relevant to you now and in the future as your needs and interests
change.
If the chapter is not particularly relevant to one of the career or writing types
it will appear lighter than those that are :
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
8
Contents
____________________________________________________________________________
WELCOME ...........................................................................................................................6
THE NEW MEDIA INDUSTRY ...........................................................................................19
CRAFT – PART 1: NEW WRITING....................................................................................49
CRAFT - PART 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ....................................................67
COPYRIGHT IN NEW MEDIA ........................................................................................100
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION – PART 1 ...............................................................116
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION: PROMOTION – PART 2.......................................127
DIY PART 1 – CONCEPT TO COLLABORATION .........................................................153
DIY PART 2 – THE BUSINESS CASE AND BUSINESS MODELS...............................175
DIY PART 3 – BUSINESS PLANNING AND PITCHING................................................211
DIY CASE STUDIES – LEARN AS YOU GO..................................................................229
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................253
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
9
Introduction
By Therese Fingleton
___________________________________________________________________________
Avoid all paradigms, even mine! When someone says this is the way
it’s done and it has to be this way, question it, because the
landscape is changing so much.
Matt Costello, 2008
The world of the Internet, computer games and mobile technology, broadly
referred to here as the new media industry, is a rapidly changing
environment, difficult to grasp and keep still long enough to examine. It
involves professionals from all walks of life who approach it from myriad
points of view. In writing a guide especially for writers, and including the
experiences of writers already active in this multi-faceted business, this
guide will take you on a rich journey that resonates beyond any immediate
use-by date by being relevant, presented in context and designed
especially for you, the creative writer.
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide]
10
Contents
NEW MEDIA MYTHS, TRU E OR FALSE ..........................................................................11
WHERE TO NEXT?............................................................................................................17
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................18
Australia Council for the Arts
Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure , Sydney, Australia
Council of the Arts.
[http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide ]
