Networking with Writers: TANSTAFL

This is an expansion of a piece I wrote out last year to explain why a writing group I was in seemed so inclusive to some new members but so hostile to others. It is based on my experience there, but what happened so regularly there is sadly general behavior, both online and offline.

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Heinlein’s TANSTAAFL - “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” - is a concept which you should be familiar with already. Most sane people in the world understand that you don’t get something for nothing. The word "free" in the context of goods or services either means "the cost is built into something else you already paid for", or "you're the product, not the customer."

While this principle seems obvious to most, there are far too many people out there who need to be taught the similar acronym TANSTAFL (note one less A) - “There Ain’t No Such Thing As Free Labor.” While this is true everywhere in life just as Heinlein's formulation is, this piece is directed at you young people out there exploring the craft of writing and trying to network with other writers. If that's a novel concept to you, get a Sharpie and write that acronym on the back of your hand. Embroider it on your sleeve. Tattoo it across your chest, if that's what it takes to remember that labor is not free.

This principle (or more notably the breach thereof) causes a particular pattern of behavior in novice writers who join writing groups expecting half the community they've just joined to jump to their aid immediately, for free, with no reciprocity. You know who you are; you expect someone to edit your work, write you a book blurb, help you work your way out of a thorny spot in a narrative, or assist in some other often labor-intensive way with your writing, and they expect it all before you've lifted a finger to help anyone else, as if the labor of any aspiring writer is free, and merely requesting that labor entitles you to as much of it as you want.

I don’t help anyone who does this in my circles, because I know that There Ain't No Such Thing As Free Labor. Many people have the same reaction. Sure, the group might not demand payment for such assistance, but social capital has an economy much like that of hard currency. A new member to the "market" needs to build up social capital with the group before they can make a purchase.

Usually, that means critiquing a few pieces before asking for a critique, editing excepts before asking for someone to help you edit a chapter, and so on. Attempting to circumvent this step by acting as if it is a major imposition, or feigning modesty and saying that you do not think yourself worthy to offer thoughts on the works of the community you've just joined, will not meet with success.

When you're new to any writing group, buckle down and do something constructive for someone else before you ask for anything yourself. Once you have, then that someone - and maybe other someones - might be more inclined to do the same for you. As the newer member of the group, the burden of reciprocity is on you, not on the others. If you don't think that's fair, congratulations, but you will rather quickly discover that isn't relevant. It's how groups work - you have to earn your way into the group before you can make demands on its shared resources. If you can't be bothered to play by these rules, or you are in a bind, you probably need to fall back on paying for peoples' labor conventionally.

For small requests, like help structuring a single sentence, most writers are happy to help before the requester has any skin in the game as a show of good faith, but this is the sort of advice people asking for little things don't need. The entitled little bundles of chutzpah who enter a writing group and waste no time trying to milk the other members for all they're worth are the ones in need of this advice. If you just can't seem to connect with any writing group you've tried because no-one seems to care about your work, then you are probably one of the aforementioned bundles.

If that's you, though, there is hope. Tone down your expectations and delusions of entitlement when you're networking with other writers. They have at least as much work on their plate as you do, and probably more. Respect their time, and recognize that There Ain't No Such Thing as Free Labor, and you will find most aspiring writers quite ready to be helpful. Once you have demonstrated that you will put your own time into others' work, those writers - and others in the group - will be far more willing to put their time into yours.