Writers and Serial Reciprocity

Thought for the Fortnight

You often hear writers comment, perhaps rather casually, “Writers tend to be very nice and helpful people.” Indeed, I have said so myself.

We are not congratulating ourselves. On the contrary, we are noting that where writers get together, such as in online groups, they are often very helpful to one another. They pass on information, offer advice, recount their own experience, suggest sites for more information. All that and more.

I can’t speak for all writers, of course. In particular, I can’t speak for the famous names, the writers whose books we see in the windows of our local bookstores. They may be nice or they may be of a very different nature. Who knows?

But it is very striking that there is a genuine camaraderie among writers of lesser fame, especially those of us who self-publish our books, or ‘independently’ as we prefer to label the process.

Some of these authors are surprisingly successful. Each new book is eagerly awaited by many loving fans – and their respective bank balances are doing rather nicely, thank you. Others struggle to get their books bought in any number – and their bank balances struggle too. Most of us are somewhere in between. But at all parts of this spectrum, we do like to help each other.

What is going on?  Why should we bother?

I think it is a form of reciprocity, but not the usual sort.

Serial reciprocity

Years ago, I carried out research on the nature of patient support (or ‘self-help’) groups. These covered an enormous range of medical conditions, such as breast cancer, arthritis or eczema. They also covered people in particular social situations, such as looking after a child with a disability or being a carer of an elderly parent.  

My research took place before the internet had been invented and these groups used to meet in person, often in draughty church halls, to discuss the nature of their problems and any tips they could offer each other on managing them. Perhaps now they are all online. My principal interest was what people gained from such groups and what made them work.

In my report, I argued that members of such support groups were involved in a form of reciprocity, but not of the normal kind. When you ask a neighbour for the proverbial cup of sugar, you may well have given her the equivalent on an earlier occasion. This is direct reciprocity – you helped the neighbour and now she helps you.

But when you newly join a patient support group and a long-standing member gives you some advice, it is very different. You are new and bewildered and in need of help. That member was probably once in your situation and received help then. He or she is grateful for that help and happy to give back to others now in response.

I called this ‘serial reciprocity’.  It is the only piece of jargon I ever invented and I thought it fell on deaf ears. 

But I just put ‘serial reciprocity’ into Google and found it is an established concept – not because of me, I hasten to add. It has been traced back to a number of writers, including Kenneth Boulding, a very imaginative economics professor whose class I had the pleasure of taking sixty years ago. It seems that we invented the term at roughly the same time: 1981-82. He was a professor writing a major book. I was a junior researcher writing a report from a minor study.

But I do like the term and would argue that it applies in a number of circumstances. People are often eager to ‘pay back’ for help they have received, and this doesn’t have to be to those who helped them in the first place.

Or, as put in the common adage, ‘what goes around comes around’. And some people call it ‘paying forward.’

Writers

Which brings me back to writers. 

There are numerous writers’ groups on Facebook and other platforms – too many for me to mention here. The two I have found most helpful are The Alliance for Independent Authors (ALLi), whose Facebook group – now meeting on a different platform – is a go-to place for advice concerning writing, publication and marketing. The second is BooksGoSocial, a book marketing agency run by an active writer, whose Author Page on Facebook similarly works as a place to find out all sorts of information.

You are American and, for the novel you are writing, you want to know what swearwords an Englishman might use? You need to learn the best font for formatting a book?  You want to know whether a book promotion company does what it says?  Just ask. And ask again. Many writers do. And other writers answer. Often loads of them.

What is this all about?  Is it just that when writers have finished their writing for the day, they are bored and looking for something to do? Possibly. I wouldn’t rule it out.

But I also think there is a great deal of serial reciprocity amongst people with whose needs you identify. You were helped on your feet by one or more authors in the past, you are now happy to help out where you can.

And it’s a great thing, whatever you call it.

Postscript note. An example much closer to home came to my notice after this post had been written, uploaded and scheduled. This is a new Substack set up to publicise the work of those with fewer than 1000 subscribers. Known as Smallstack, it is in the process of getting under way as I write. Its aim is to provide ‘a collection of the finest newsletters with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, with special love given to the under 500 subscriber stacks out there’.

It has already stirred up a lot of interest and, ironically, has over 3000 subscribers itself, together with a lot of recommendations from other writers. Do. have a look.

Over to you: Do you have experience of serial reciprocity in your life? If you are a writer, have you either given advice or been helped by others?