As with programmers, I think it's a matter of education and time pressures. If a cowboy coder hasn't been exposed to a strong version control culture, and works

As with programmers, I think it's a matter of education and time pressures. If a cowboy coder hasn't been exposed to a strong version control culture, and works mostly alone, they won't have as strong a need for VC (or even know about it). When you're always under deadline pressures, you're focused on getting the product out above all else. Basically, they don't know there's a better way. They're used to hacking through Word's track changes, and they always have a deadline to meet. That doesn't leave much time for improving your toolset. Also, many writers have very idiosyncratic workflows. From what I gather their education and workplaces focus more on the craft of writing well, regardless of whether it's with a pencil or a keyboard. Whereas it's hard to contribute to a codebase without being exposed to version control.