This is the age of professionalism. We have professional doctors, engineers, technicians, and scientists etc. In advanced and developed countries, there are professional writers who devote their whole time to creative writing. In 16th century Europe, when the printing press has just been introduced and books started to publish, there emerged a class of professional writers who survived on the income of their writing. The famous humanist intellectual Erasmus from Holland earned his livelihood through his writings. His books were not cheap or scandalous but on serious topics and printed in thousands to fulfill the demands of people. Thus, the tradition of professional writing has long been established in Europe and America.
The professional writer in the West can earn a comfortable livelihood through writing. For instance, When Will Durant’s book Story of Philosophy became a bestseller, he decided to leave the profession of teaching and become a full-time writer. He and his wife spent their time writing and subsequently produced 11 volumes of The Story of Civilisation. They lived comfortable lives on the basis of royalties from their books. When Oswald Spengler wanted to write his classical book Decline of the West, he also resigned from his post as a school teacher and, after thorough research, produced the book which soon became the most hotly discussed book in the academic circles of Europe.
A professional writer can devote all of his time to reading and writing. To him, it is his job. If he earns his living through some other profession, the only consequence is that he will have less time for writing due to which the quality of his research and written work will suffer. For a part time researcher, it becomes difficult to have access to all sources and to devote the time required to a time-intensive pursuit.
A writer must make a personal commitment to writing. His consideration is either to satisfy his intellectual trust or to create awareness in society; in either case, he sacrifices his leisure time for the sake of the written word.
In Pakistan, it is not possible to become a professional writer and depend on the earning from writing. A writer in Pakistan is also invariably a professional doctor or chartered accountant or a social science scholar. Most of the time, he is known by his other professional identity and not as a writer. If some individual dares to become a professional writer, he suffers not only financially but is humiliated by every section of society as a useless person who has entered a useless non-profession.
Moreover, the relationship between writer and publisher are not cordial in the local context. Publishers are not in the habit of paying royalties. A famous publisher has a novel method of payment: on sell of books: if 10 books are sold in a month, the author would get the royalty of 10 books. And such novel payment arrangements aren’t the end of the story. It is common for publisher to ask the writer to pay the cost of his book. It has become a common practice to do so especially from writer living abroad. So much so, that some publishers are thriving on this practice.
Even if the writer decided to avoid these difficulties by publishing their own book, more difficulties await them. Once the book has been published, in the second stage, the writer inevitably needs a distributor or bookseller. Up till the 1980s, the commission rate for booksellers was 33%; it is now 50%. Even with the low cut, the recovery of the amount is often impossible. I remember the case of my teacher Dr Ahmad Bashir. He published his thesis on Akbar. In dealing with booksellers, he wanted to be paid in cash while the bookseller refused to deal with him unless it was on credit. Due to this disagreement, his work remained unpublished. His work was recently published by an Indian publisher and termed by many historians as a significant contribution to the study of Mughal history.
This wasn’t the end of his travails at the hands of the book business. On the request of a publisher, he started to write the history of the Mughal dynasty. When the first volume on Babur was published, the publisher refused to recognise that all rights were reserved by him as the author. As a protest, he refused to write further volumes. This was a serious loss to the Mughal historiography. There are many examples where serious researchers, after spending many years on writing a book, have failed to find a publisher.
A professional writer is neither respected by society nor by the publisher. It is wrong to assume that people do not read; people still buy and appreciate well-written books. The irony is that the writers remain poor and miserable while the publisher becomes richer and richer. They play many tricks to exploit writers. The print line may say 500 but the actual print run could be in excess of 1000. Publishers even reprint second or third editions without changing the first print line. For a writer, it is impossible to check these frauds.
I think, apart from other reasons, these attitudes play an important role in our intellectual poverty. Unless intellectual activity is properly rewarded, there will be no incentive to pursue it. Not only economic reward, these writers deserve respect for the time and effort they put into a pursuit that benefits many.
The writer is one of the pioneers of alternate history in the country.
