Writing on the assembly line: Informal labour in the formalised online literature market in China

Abstract

Emerging as a non-commercial, grassroots alternative to the state-controlled publishing businesses, online literature in China has formalised based on the freemium business model and with the influx of capital. However, little is known about the informality in the formal market and their mutually shaping relationship. This article approaches online literature production in China as case study of the interconnection and interactions between the formal and informal in the wider context of the creative labour debate. It begins with an analysis of the inception of online literature in the context of Chinese literary system before unpacking the formalisation process. It then examines precarity associated with the informal labour, particularly the augmented precarity under the sway of capital. Then, it focuses on surrogate writing as a new form of informality arising from the formalised market, reveals the formality therein and its economic and socio-cultural implications including its impact on the formal market.

Trusted strangers: Carework platforms’ cultural entrepreneurship in the on-demand economy

“…The issue of digitally mediated or “networked” labor has focused on the production of media and other creative products, through both waged and unwaged labor (Fish and Srinivasan, 2012; Terranova, 2000; Zhao, 2016), as well as low-status clerical work in the form of crowdsourced “cognitive piecework” (Gray et al, 2016; Irani, 2013). Studies of Uber and other task platforms consider similar dynamics in the realm of in-person services (Rosenblat and Stark, 2016; Schor, 2017).…”

Online Fiction Writers, Labor, and Cultural Economy

“…The income of the writers is a direct function of their time and effort spent on the creation of texts and exchanges with readers. At this point, these writers are no different from factory workers who spend long hours on the assembly line (Zhao, 2017). Even well-paid, well-known writers spend a considerable amount of time drafting their daily writings; hence, they are given the label "servant for words" (Zeng & Ouyang, 2014).…”

“…The constant pressure to meet deadlines can put their physical health at risk, and their personal lives are often affected. Zhao (2017) mentioned that, as writers' income is linked to readership, their income can be very unstable. Due to the reliance on the platform for promotion, writers sometimes have to be subservient to the platform by forfeiting the copyright and Intellectual property rights (IPRs) of their writings for animations, movies, or games.…”

“…However, the data we collected suggests that they do find satisfaction beyond the writing in that they are able to lead an alternative or slash lifestyle and have working conditions that go beyond the more traditional structured time, space, and relationships with others. This paper argues that different from other online celebrities on other digital platforms for live streaming and short video, in which interaction between fans and celebrities is considered as a perquisite for the cultural economy (from Fiske, 1992to Zhao, 2017Khamis, Ang & Welling, 2017), online writers are individually contracted by the commercial platform to form a microindividual cultural economy. The amount of work and pleasure derived are relatively independent from other writers and interactions between fans and writers.…”

Plagiarism in online literature publishing in China: why is it so rampant?

“…The rapid growth of creative industries – especially the online literature publishing in China – is also full of plagiaristic infringement. From time travel to fantasy, warrior legends to teen romance, historical fiction to science fiction, online literature has emerged and blossomed in China since the late 1990s (Zhao, 2016). In 2016, its market size reached 9bn Yuan (Figure 1).…”