Fairtrade for books?

Support your local bookshop before it's too late. I was talking to a major fiction publisher yesterday who spelled it out in the starkest terms: fewer outlets = fewer books published in future. They're already downsizing. Amazon is a brilliant sales model, but can it support authors who need to eat, clothe their children and pay the mortgage in a world that wants books but doesn't want to pay much for them?

Now there are those who might say it wouldn't harm the publishers to shrink a little, not least in the waistband. Down with all those long lunches! Isn't publishing just filled with middlemen, living fat off the talent? The regular comparisons with the music business miss the mark; writers, by and large, are not working for 'the man'; you won't see them daubing 'slave' on their cheek or turning their names into unpronounceable symbols.

But writers do not necessarily resemble exhibitionist pop stars or musicians; they certainly can't have a second revenue stream in the form of gigs. You can make a bit of money on the speaking circuit, but it robs time from your core pursuit. Of all the creative arts, writing demands the most time spent alone, writing and thinking; not blogging, or doing your own marketing, or being seen in glamorous places, or packing up boxes of books, or speaking to printers, or talking to book groups, or ringing round bookshops, or negotiating film rights. I know I'd rather my favourite authors just crack on with it.

Yes, e-books will take over the world; publishers of all people were early adopters because they mean you don't have to cart round forty manuscripts. There's a big battle going on over e-book pricing, to ensure that writers are fairly compensated for the work they put in creating the books we love. They'll do doubt carry on anyway; that mysterious magic called human creativity can't be easily stifled by mere lack of loot. But for the sake of fairness we have to find a way of supporting them.

We understand the value of fairtrade products which guarantee workers in the third world a safe environment and a decent wage; why not extend the principle to writers? A fairtrade product is an item of quality, like a garment from People Tree which has been hand-dyed, woven and embroidered by real people (I got a great pair of woolly socks which came with a tag with the name of the woman in Nepal who'd knitted them - a lovely touch). Odourless, tasteless, intangible, e-books don't have that sort of appeal.

So why not let Amazon sell the e-books to those that want them; and for people who demand something a little more special, how about fairtrade publishing? Publishers could band together to sell hard copies at real prices, via a website which explains, for the increasing number of people who just don't get it, how writers have to earn a proper wage. It could work especially well for poets: 'Just ten copies sold will help Kathleen Jamie buy a winter jumper!' 'Hugo Williams needs a new coat...'

There will always be people who just want to eat cheap, exploitative chocolate. But fairtrade writing, like Green & Blacks, could be chic, responsible and desirable. What do you think?