Creative Working Lives – serie

Is that promise betrayed by the realities of pathways into creative work, or does a creative identification offer new personal and professional possibilities in the precarious contexts of contemporary work and employment?

Is that promise betrayed by the realities of pathways into creative work, or does a creative identification offer new personal and professional possibilities in the precarious contexts of contemporary work and employment?

This open access book explores the experience of working as a craftsperson or designer maker in the contemporary creative economy. The authors utilise evidence from the only major empirical study to explore the skills required and the challenges facing contemporary makers in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Drawing upon 180 interviews with peak organisations, established and emerging makers, and four years of fieldwork across Australia, this book offers a unique insight into the motivations informing those who seek to make an income from their craft or designer maker practice, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing them as they do so at this time of renewed interest internationally in the artisanal and handmade. Offering a rich and deep collection of real-life experiences, this book is aimed both at an academic and practitioner audience.

This open access book explores the experience of working as a craftsperson or designer maker in the contemporary creative economy. The authors utilise evidence from the only major empirical study to explore the skills required and the challenges facing contemporary makers in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Drawing upon 180 interviews with peak organisations, established and emerging makers, and four years of fieldwork across Australia, this book offers a unique insight into the motivations informing those who seek to make an income from their craft or designer maker practice, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing them as they do so at this time of renewed interest internationally in the artisanal and handmade. Offering a rich and deep collection of real-life experiences, this book is aimed both at an academic and practitioner audience.

This book systematically examines various factors that shape graduates’ entry into media work, which include the state and its policies, industrial and organizational practices and cultures, and media education.

This book explores how creativity is increasingly designed, marketed, and produced with digital products and services — a process referred to as softwarization.

This book explores how creativity is increasingly designed, marketed, and produced with digital products and services — a process referred to as softwarization.

Work of Fiction: Making a Living from Writing in the UK explores the lived experiences of fiction writers in the UK and how they make a living. Based on a substantial body of interviews with a range of fiction writers, it considers the ways that writers think about and talk about writing as work and how ‘discourses of writing’ operate to support or undermine them as cultural workers. It argues that discourses of love, luck, magic, and ‘being a writer’ function in complex ways to position writers in enchanted and elevated spaces which both nurture their practice and undermine their status as remunerated workers in the creative sector.The book shows how the positives and negatives of often precarious cultural work are played out for fiction writers. It has implications for writers in the ways that they think about and talk about themselves as workers, and how the publishing industry values their contributions.

Work of Fiction: Making a Living from Writing in the UK explores the lived experiences of fiction writers in the UK and how they make a living. Based on a substantial body of interviews with a range of fiction writers, it considers the ways that writers think about and talk about writing as work and how ‘discourses of writing’ operate to support or undermine them as cultural workers. It argues that discourses of love, luck, magic, and ‘being a writer’ function in complex ways to position writers in enchanted and elevated spaces which both nurture their practice and undermine their status as remunerated workers in the creative sector.The book shows how the positives and negatives of often precarious cultural work are played out for fiction writers. It has implications for writers in the ways that they think about and talk about themselves as workers, and how the publishing industry values their contributions.