Starting this new blog I’ve been reflecting on an old one back in 2009 in which I outlined my thoughts on how the future of literature in Scotland should be taken forward. What follows are the views I sent to the Literature Working Group set up that year by the then Scottish Government Culture Minister Michael Russell to make recommendations about a new approach to public funding of writers and publishers in Scotland. The Working Group didn’t adopt the proposals I put forward and, in turn, most of its recommendations were never carried out. However, much of what I wrote back then remains relevant today and, if the idea of a universal basic income is ever implemented, it could be a way in which writing and other creative work could flourish in Scotland. It should be noted that Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Creative Scotland decided to cease funding Hi-Arts in 2013 and that its writing and crafts successor Emergents Ltd was recently closed down by these bodies, thus weakening the support available to writers and craft workers in the Highlands and Islands.

Literature in Scotland: A New Approach
Much more needs to be done to enhance the quality of literature in Scotland and its international standing. For too long literature in Scotland has been underfunded in comparison to other arts provision and other areas of UK and Scottish Government spending. Although we have some world class writers and plenty of books are being published, very few writers are able to earn a living from writing and the digital age as well as online and chain bookstores are presenting significant challenges to publishers.

The remit of the working group which has been asked ‘to recommend a new approach to public sector support of literature’ is very welcome since radical changes are required to the way that writers and publishers are funded in order to meet these challenges. The current system of supplementing market forces with publicly funded bursaries, prizes and awards will not adequately nurture and sustain the growth of the kind of high quality literature in Scotland which will enhance its international reputation and bring cultural, social and economic benefits to the nation.

Surely it is unacceptable that a great writer such as Hugh MacDiarmid lived in poverty throughout most of his life and that an internationally recognised living author like James Kelman tells us that he has never been able to make a living from his writing alone? Few writers derive much of an income from book royalties, which are set as low in some cases as 7.5% of the net book price, and they have to undertake other work of many different kinds which drains away a considerable amount of time and energy from their writing.

What writers need is a system of financial and professional support at all stages of their working lives which will enable them to concentrate on their writing and to produce the best quality work possible. Such a system should not discriminate against authors on account of their age or the kind of books they write but should be designed solely to encourage excellence in all fields.

A New System of Funding
1. There are plenty of new writers emerging all the time whether as a result of their own efforts or of their participation in the proliferation of writing groups and creative writing courses. What these writers need most is the time to work at their craft, professional mentoring, sufficient outlets for their work in literary magazines, free-sheets and online, and some financial assistance to enable them to produce their first book or two.

2. Based on an independent evaluation of the quality of their work, around 40 such writers each year should be selected to be paid an annual salary of e.g. £10,000 per year for two years in which to complete at least one book. They should also be provided with professional mentoring services of the kind currently offered by HI~Arts. If the work produced is judged to be of sufficiently high quality, publishers based in Scotland should be paid a sum of e.g. £5000 per book to publish and market their books and to pay the authors at the Minimum Terms Agreement rate of between 10 and 15% of the book published price. There should be a balance amongst those writers selected between poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children’s writing.

3. Writers who have already published one or two books often find it difficult to sustain the effort to produce further books which will enhance the quality of what they have written previously and create a substantial body of work. Often they have not earned enough from previously published books to enable them to concentrate on their writing full-time and require to work at various occupations which take away time and energy from their writing.

4. Based on an independent evaluation of the quality of their work, around 30 such writers each year should be selected to be paid an annual salary of e.g. £15,000 per year for two years in which to complete a book. They should also be provided with professional mentoring services of the kind currently offered by HI~Arts. If the work produced is of sufficiently high quality, publishers based in Scotland should be paid a sum of e.g. £5000 per book to publish and market their books and pay the authors at the Minimum Terms Agreement rate of between 10 and 15% of the book published price. There should be a balance amongst those writers selected between poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children’s writing.

5. We have a relatively small number of writers with a substantive body of work behind them whose worth is generally recognised yet who do not earn enough from their writing to enable them to concentrate solely on their work to the exclusion of other paid employment. They too require the time and energy to keep producing work of the highest quality which would enhance the international standing of literature in Scotland.

6. Based on an independent evaluation of the quality of their work, around 15 such writers should be selected to be paid an annual salary of e.g. £30,000 per year for two years in which to complete one or more books. They should also be offered professional mentoring services of the kind currently offered by HI~Arts. If the work produced is of sufficiently high quality, publishers based in Scotland should be paid a sum of e.g. £5000 per book each year to publish and market their books and pay the authors at the Minimum Terms Agreement rate of between 10 and 15% of the book published price. There should be a balance amongst those writers selected between poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children’s writing.

7. After two years, if they have fulfilled the requirements, it should be possible for such well established writers to be selected for the same financial support for a further two years. This could be continued, subject to review, with say a further 4 well established writers being selected at the end of the first two years.

8. Selection in all cases should be by a committee of at least 9 persons made up of at least 5 writers and two publishers based in Scotland and should be in accordance with equal opportunities.

9. The total cost of this new system of annual funding for writers would be around £1,325,000 including £25,000 mentoring costs rising in the second year to £2,700,000 including £50,000 mentoring costs and £2.825,000 in the third year including £55,000 mentoring costs; and for publishers based in Scotland £425,000 rising to £850,000 in year 2 and £870,000 in year 4. The total annual cost would be between £1.75m and £3.695m.

10. The operation of the system should be subject to review every two years to ensure that it is producing the intended outcomes in terms of the quality of work being produced and published.

Ideas, Essays and Intelligent Debate
One area in which Scotland is weak is in the writing and publication of well argued analytical books and collections of essays on a range of issues which encourage intelligent debate. Most academic books are over-specialised and too expensive to serve this function. There should be increased financial incentives to publishers specifically earmarked for the publication and marketing of more of these books to raise the level of awareness amongst a wide readership of important issues of a cultural, environmental, political, economic and social nature.

Literary Magazines, Newspapers and Digital Publications
Literary magazines, newspapers and digital publications are important as outlets for publication by new and established writers and as indicators of a stimulating and healthy literary culture. They are also important as places where debate and discussion of all things literary can and should take place. However, current funding is insufficient to sustain and develop these media and tends to favour well established journals at the expense of new ones.

The current level of funding of literary magazines and digital publications should be at least doubled and be allocated to both existing well established magazines and new ones with well thought out proposals for publication and development. New magazines should not have to publish four issues before being considered for funding. The admirable efforts of journals such as Northwords Now and Textualties in print and digital form should be recognised and encouraged by significantly improved levels of funding. There should be greater funding generally for digital publications which publish high quality work of all kinds, including essays and articles and which encourage intelligent debate on all things literary.

Newspapers are suffering from declining sales and are cutting costs and, in some cases, the space given to book reviews. Generally speaking, they have failed over many years to offer sufficient outlets for creative writing of all kinds and, in view of these long-term trends, it is unlikely that these editorial decisions will change. However, they could be given some financial incentives to publish online more poems, short stories, essays and non-fiction articles. Online local newspapers like For Argyll and The Arran Voice which do an excellent job with very limited resources should be properly funded to do this too and develop their valuable work.

Northings, the HI~Arts Journal, is a major source of cultural news and views in the Highlands and Islands and should receive increased funding to expand its work. Its parent body HI~Arts should receive greater funding, in particular to facilitate its writing development coordination which is doing great work through its mentoring scheme and undertaking other initiatives to develop new writers in the area and throughout Scotland generally.

There is precious little attention paid in the England based newspapers and reviews to work published in Scotland, unlike the Scottish Review of Books. It deserves to be given improved public funding to support its work and should be encouraged to feature more essays and analysis related to books and authors in Scotland.

Festivals and Other Events
The growth in the number of Book and Arts Festivals in recent years is a most important and encouraging development for writers and publishers, and it benefits book sales and the profile of literature. However, the invited authors often seem like more of the same established names and media celebrities and Festival directors should be encouraged to feature less well known writers based in Scotland more than they currently do.

The Atlantic Islands Festival on the Isle of Luing in July 2009 (which I was involved in organising) featured musicians, visual artists, ornithologists and botanists as well as writers, and was a critical as well as financial success. The crossover connections made between these artists and scientists can often be very valuable to a writer’s development. Funding should be made available for these different kinds of cross-cultural events as well as those already established and new literary festivals.

General Observations
There is a continuing need for collaborations between writers, composers, musicians, visual artists and others, and some interesting and valuable work has come out of these. This should be recognised by increased funding to enable this work to continue and expand.

Currently some writers are discouraged from applying for funding for their work by the processes they have to go through to obtain it. The process of application and the application forms themselves should be simplified as much as possible to make it easier to apply.

These proposals would go some way towards addressing the underfunding of literature in Scotland in comparison to other arts provision and other areas of UK and Scottish Government spending. Part of the justification for this change to Scottish Government spending priorities is that literature provides a strong indicator of Scotland’s state of well-being and of how it is regarded internationally, and that with this kind of financial and political encouragement the quality of our literary output and our international standing can improve. Leaving the future of writing to the tender mercies of the free market can only lead to even more ‘fast food’ books and endless cultural dumbing down. The current system of funding just won’t do, faced with what’s happening to literature and intelligent thought – a bold new approach is badly overdue.