A History of Writers from the very Beginning up until Now

A History of Writers from the very Beginning up until Now

It is official. Nowadays, unlike any other time in History, everybody can get paid for writing… as long as it is online. What you can earn varies drastically as some writers still give it away. The earnings start from a miserable one off payment of $2 per 500 words (see webmaster forums) but can exceed $100,000 a month. (Take a look at askthebuilder.com if you want an example of what makes $100,000 per month.)

Something in Common

Whatever they get paid, most online writers have something in common: they are generating content to be used by advertisers. The best example of this is the ever increasing numbers of the online freelancers who write to generate an ongoing, expanding, monthly AdSense income. They publish websites, blogs and articles (like this article published here on Xomba) and take some or all of the advertising revenue the articles generate – that’s how askthebuilder.com makes most of its money. These writers are at liberty to write about all matter of things and interests from Formula 1 Grand Prix to Vertical Farming, from Aquarius Men to Wobbling Your Fat Away, from the Price of Gold in 2010 to Are Farts Funny? Yes, it's official, nowadays anybody can write about anything and get paid!

Where Did it All Start?

Who would have predicted this situation when writing systems consisted of stone slabs and chisels? Take the slab, depicted below, discovered in Veracruz, Mexico. The script chiselled on this enormous boulder dates back 3,000 years. Its writer/chiseller is not recorded but, unlike today's online writers, s/he wouldn’t have been just anyone. Almost definitely, s/he was of or served the elite class. This is because, 3,000 years ago, mass literacy was not perceived of and writing was for the use of the ruling class only. Writing was a "mechanism of power" (Michel Foucault) and the likes of today's online writers would unlikely be let loose with a chisel in those days.

Image from Wikipedia Commons: La Mojarra Stela pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico in 1986

When Writing was a Dream

Although, the Sumerian* invention of wet clay tablets, (also about 3,000 years ago), spread the means to record symbols (usually numbers) to a wider field it didn’t bud writers as we know them. Commercial traders used the new system, but not writers as we know them. It would take something special for potential writers to realise that those stories they told could be retold to millions if only they wrote them down. Perhaps what had been happening in Egypt would bring this budding about…eventually.

From Boulders to Reeds

The precocious Egyptians had used both chiselling and wet clay until about 5,000 years ago. It was then that they discovered Papyrus and the full potential of this reed plant, which had long been used to make boats, shelters and even shoes, was seen. Papyrus was much (much, much, much) thinner surface to write upon. It was easier to carry than boulders too.

Ancient Product Development

If the Egyptians had (excuse the pun) "rushed" to market their new, lighter product which could be used (incidentally) propped on a desk or resting on a tray in lap (as in the illustration below) things might have been different and sooner. But, when the Egyptians discovered Papyrus they kept its production method a closely guarded secret.To ensure secrecy Papyrus production in Egypt was kept as a state monopoly. Consequently the distant ancestors of the people who write and publish online today (who come from all sorts of backgrounds, classes and locations) at that time were not in a position to see Papyrus let alone ponder the development of it uses. So it was for another 2,000 years. 

Image from Wikipedia Commons: Dated to about 2500BC this Seated Scribe, now in the Louvre, shows how advanced the writing system employed in Egypt was in comparison to the La Mojarra Stela. It also shows that Papyrus and writers and writing was in the service of a ruling class and confined to them and their slaves.

Very Late Uptakers

The first inkling would-be writers seem to have had, that they could spread their words around the globe, was when Egypt started to export Papyrus to Ancient Greece and Rome. This was also about 3,000 years ago and when the Myths and Legends, which had been passed orally through the generations, were first be written down. The Illiad and Odyssey can be dated by the events they recount as early as 1188BC. So, sometime between 1200BC and 200BC someone started to write to entertain.

The Writers’ First Steps

About 1,000 years later and the whole writing industry today (online and offline) begins to be recognizable in its ancient roots. Herodotus wrote the first History and 500 years after that Julius Caesar hit us with the first Propaganda. It was now 100AD but, despite the poems heard and the plays seen in Athens and Rome, writing and writers (like all Arts), were still very much of or for the upper classes. This was great (for the upper classes)  but they couldn't keep writing to themselves for much longer - could they?

Writers and Wasps

Meanwhile (or almost) in China (up until 105 AD) they had been using bamboo (sewn together in strips) and silk fabric to write on. The results were comparable with Egypt, Greece, Rome and Iraq to that date. Writing was still definitely a tool for elites and rulers. Then, as tradition has it, the Chinese court official Cai Lun sat and watched a wasp spew out a substance to make the first layer of its nest. From this Cai Lan came up with something that would put the cat among the pigeons but we’ll tell you about that in Part 2 of Everybody Gets Paid for Writing | The History of Writing, Part 2.

• Sumeria = modern Iraq

In Part 2 of Everybody Gets Paid to Write | The Latest Instalment in the History of Writers

In Part 2 we follow the progress of the developments which lead to the situation today, in which anyone can write for money as long as they write and publish online on sites such as this (XOMBA), their own blogs and websites. In addition to providing some links to useful articles for anyone thinking of writing to develop a monthly residual income with Google’s AdSense Program we look at how things might and should change in the future. How many writers will future global developments create? The link to Part 2 will be published here soon – please check back.