From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   On 6/16/14 4:22 AM, mumble wrote:   
   > On 06/16/2014 01:17 AM, David Friedman wrote:   
   >> On 6/13/14, 4:11 AM, mumble wrote:   
   >>> and people are never paid as much as they have actually earned, because   
   >>> if they were there would be no profit for the employer   
   >>   
   >> That way of putting it assumes that the employer contributes nothing to   
   >> the final product, hence that "as much as they have actually earned" is   
   >> the total value of the product, not that value net of the employer's   
   >> contribution.   
   >>   
   >> If that were the case, one would not have any reason to have an employer.   
   >   
   > Far be it from me to argue economics with a Friedman.   
   >   
   > I stand by my statement that employers hire employees because the   
   > employee contributes more than he is paid for,   
      
   	Yes. But the employee contribution is usually VASTLY larger than they   
   are paid. For instance, I am in an unusual position in which my job   
   actually directly gives me access to such information for myself; on   
   average, I bring in about eight to times as much as I'm paid per year,   
   including my "loaded" costs, but not counting my IP contribution to the   
   company, which may be quite significant. Lower-level workers often have   
   far higher ratios in large companies.   
      
   >   
   > There is no reason for any employee who is capable of acting as a   
   > subcontractor to ever work as an employee;   
      
   	Sure there is. They don't WANT the hassle that subcontractors go   
   through -- which is, basically, running their own company. I don't want   
   to run my own company. I want to do a job and be left alone otherwise.   
      
      
   > As for how this applies to SF writing, the author who creates a   
   > completed manuscript from thin air, produces it in a form salable to the   
   > customer, and markets the result in its final form, is analogous to an   
   > independent business regardless of whether "the customer" is a single   
   > publishing house or the general public.   
   >   
   > The author who creates an idea and a few chapters that he then peddles   
   > to a publisher for an advance and associated indenture is at best a   
   > subcontractor, and the more direction the author takes from the   
   > publisher the closer he has moved toward being an employee.   
      
   	But that's not generally how it works.   
      
   >   
   > At least that is how I see it.   
      
   	Because you haven't done it, in essence.   
      
   	I get a contract in one of two ways: either I've actually already   
   written the book, or I've got a clear idea of what I want to write -- or   
   a clear ENOUGH idea of what I want to write that people, now having seen   
   that if I say "I'll write a book" I actually do write a book, are   
   willing to trust that I'll do it this time.   
      
   	In the latter case, you're envisioning the publisher then telling me   
   what I have to write. In fact, that's not the case, and it's a generally   
   accepted truth in publishing that outlines are mostly there to give a   
   concept structure, not to bind anyone. _Phoenix in Shadow_, which I just   
   turned in a month or so ago, *DRASTICALLY* differs from the outline I   
   turned in long ago. Drastically. I don't expect the publisher to have   
   much to say about those changes.   
      
   	What I *will* expect the publisher's editors to HELP me on is places   
   where I've made an oopsie in continuity (that actually happened to me on   
   this one, for the first time in a long time), places where my pacing   
   sucks, and finding places where I have failed to clearly bring out the   
   points that I want to make.   
      
   	Editors help make manuscripts better.   
      
   	They DON'T -- unless they suck -- try to tell you what to write.   
      
   	Now, if you propose a book you don't really want to write, okay, yeah,   
   you're committed to doing something not much fun, but that's not   
   indentured servitude, that's a personal commitment that maybe you   
   should've considered more carefully.   
      
      
      
   --   
                         Sea Wasp   
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                           ;;;	   
   Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com  Blog:   
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