The cost of sending former writers East (7)
I believe the answer is:
expense
'the cost' is the definition.
(the cost or price of something)
'former writers east' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'writers' becomes 'pens' (I've seen this before).
'east' becomes 'e' (synonyms).
'ex'+'pens'+'e'='EXPENSE'
'of sending' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for expense that I've seen before include "Money spent in the course of work" , "Cost - price" , "Incurred cost" , "Disbursal" , "damage" .)