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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eyebeams" data-source="post: 2020234" data-attributes="member: 9225">I definitely don't think the poor rates for writers come from greed. I think it comes from two sources:1) The low rates are necessary to keep the book in budget. Again, I think part of the problem is the proliferation of companies willing to publish at a loss, but a lot of it just has to do with the small scale of the typical game book.On the other hand:2) Some companies treat creatives like a disposible, inexhaustible resource. In a few cases, you'll have the odd company choose whether to hire someone who consistently hands in quality work on time, or someone who's cheap that they can snatch up from the fanbase.Certainly, if an experienced writer hands in crap or late work, that's a problem, but I don't think all writers are created equal. I've written tens of thousands of words to pinch hit for new writers who've flaked out. You can't really deny that top talent is mostly moving on. This affects quality, but it also affects the climate of ideas in the industry. I think there really is a problem where you have the nth new writer whose always wanted to write a book about martial arts or elves or whatever, because there's no sense of continuity in the craft. I'm not talking about High Art; just a way to move forward and explore new ideas. Look at Malhavoc; they are successful largely because their folks *know* about the cliched topics and move past them.(Obviously, this is context-based I wouldn't claim that my own cyberpunky Termnal Identity stuff is wholly original, but it's pretty fresh for the particular electronic D20 market I'm writing for.)How do you know a writer's reliable? Here's some suggestions:1) Do they have references? This reduces the "write crap, get a credit, never work for the company again" pitfall.2) What is the *word count* of their credits? There are lots of folks with a bunch of 5K credits that look neat, but that's different than slugging home ten times that much or more.3) Have they been the sole author of any work? Aside from the fact that extra credits sometimes mean somebody's been called in to fix a book, full manuscript contracts do indicate a certain amount of trust.4) What did they write? Rules? Setting? Adventures? I know I try to aim for variety here. I've written more gearheaded stuff and scenarios than you might expect from a White Wolf alumnus, but I know that it only helps my profile to diversify even more. But a prospective hire has to *notice* this sort of thing.You can never guarantee even the best writer isn't going to flake out any more than you can guarantee no publisher's going to offer penny a word nonsense*, but I do think smart behaviour from all sides can lead to better pay and better returns.*Actually, the current record holder for "Not free, but insulting" rates I can think of is a magazine that's offering something like a fifth of a cent a word. I mean, *come on*.</blockquote>

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