(no subject)

[pensnest]

Awesome weekend with nopseud, ephemera and chalcopyrite visiting. We inspected the brand new Viking exhibit at the castle, and had Afternoon Tea at Biddy's for lunch on Sunday (which was excellent) as well as succumbing to the lure of leather jackets and a triceratops skull. Really, Norwich is an excellent place.

Fluffy was kept busy chasing the feathers-onna-fishing-line toy. Sable showed unexpected smarts by visibly connecting the little red dot she had been chasing with the small laser pointer chalcopyrite was holding, but she was otherwise unsociable unless there was cheese on offer.

And a great deal of tea was drunk. I had purchased Yorkshire Tea's Breakfast Blend, to make quite sure that nopseud could wake in the mornings and not suffer from caffeine withdrawal.

*

There have been various contributions to a more-or-less debate about making money from fanworks, so it's something I've been thinking about lately. In general, I think the argument about monetising fandom activities doesn't actually apply to fanfic, and indeed, when someone manages to parlay fanfic-writing into a paid publishing career, we mostly cheer; I'm not really talking about being paid for fanfic, but about how it feels. And in my mind, it's connected with knitting.

No, wait a sec.

I knit things I want to knit, and offer them to people I think will like them, or else keep them for myself. Occasionally I'll be asked for something - my niblings have expressed a gratifying eagerness to receive aunt-knitted garments, and I have obliged.

But I don't take commissions. I don't want somebody to pay me for my knitting because it would undervalue it. The cost of the lovely yarn is as nothing to the cost of my labour even at minimum wage*. Nobody would pay that. And I don't want to be underpaid - I don't want to say cost of yarn plus £20 or something, because that's ridiculous and insulting, even though it would be £20 that I wouldn't otherwise have for doing something that I'd be doing anyway. Except that if someone's paying me, even if they're not paying me a reasonable amount, there's extra pressure to produce something perfect. It's not 'something I'd be doing anyway' with that amount of extra pressure, or indeed with the extra pressure of someone else being involved in the decisions - which pattern to use, which colours, what kind of yarn. No, thanks. I'll do it for love and keep it or give it away as I choose.

Now, writing fanfic is different in quite a lot of ways. But.

A friend of mine used to be involved with professional publishing, and I well remember talking to her about how things worked, and being glad that I was not involved with all that. No hard, necessary commercial deadlines for me. (I like deadlines, but missing anything except a SeSa deadline is forgiveable.) No word limits - I can write the story until it is done, and then stop, without caring if it is the right size to fit the space available. No requirement to make editorially-requested changes—if I don't like my beta's suggestions, I don't have to follow them. All that.

It kinda feels like knitting on commission. Do you see what I mean? At the moment, I don't want to monetise my writing, I want to do it for love. That could change, but then the writing would also change.

I'm not sure I've made the argument very well, or entirely sure that it's even valid, but in my head (or possibly in my heart) it makes sense.




* 'by the yard' is probably a better way to pay, but I'm a slow knitter so my *time* would still be rated very cheap

Comments

[dine]

this makes perfect sense to me - I think this mindset is how many of us used to feel, and I'm still behind it as a general precept of fandom

[pensnest]

Yeah, it's a comfortable place.

In fairness, I think probably most of the 'monetising fandom' discussions aren't so much about being paid to write (some of them may be) as getting money from fellow fans in some other way/for some other reason. But doing it for love has always been fandom for me.

[sylvaine]

Ooooh, this is an EXCELLENT point about undervaluing your work because nobody will pay what it's actually worth. The only time I feel differently about that is for charity auctions, because, well, that is ultimately about all of us giving to a cause rather than assigning an inherent value to our output.

[pensnest]

I had a MacMillan Coffee Morning, and put (among other things) some of the scarves I had knitted on sale, inviting anyone who wanted one to put a donation into the pot. Sold a couple, I think. I think that equates pretty well to our fandom charity auctions - the product is worth something to the purchaser. Admittedly, we can't pre-write or pre-record or pre-illustrate the story, but it's as close as it gets! And it's very much the same kind of deal, I think - we pay the charity, not each other.

[nopseud]

How would you feel about charging people to download a pattern you'd created, though? I think that's a better analogy for fanfic, as published books aren't sold at a price that adequately compensates the creator per individual book sale, either.

[pensnest]

Hmmmmm. As it happens, if I created a pattern I doubt I would charge for it - a lot of the patterns on Ravelry are free. That might be an analogy for another kind of fanwork, maybe? I've seen suggestions that people may be charging for help with vidding. It could well be reasonable to want compensation for sharing that kind of expertise, I dunno.

It also helps that I don't need the money....

[frausorge]

What you said about added pressure really makes sense to me, and maintaining more control by not accepting money. "the writing would also change" really pinpoints that succinctly.

I'm realizing, reading this, that all my musing on the subject so far has been on the question of whether I'm prepared to pay to read fanfic. It never even occurred to me to seek to get paid myself. But then, I guess I also have the luxury of earning enough elsewhere that I can afford to keep the writing (process) to myself.

[pensnest]

Funnily enough, I think I might be more prepared to pay to read it than to be paid to write it! I suppose that's because I actually *have* paid to read fanfic, back in the 1990s, because zines were where it was, and you had to buy them. The writers didn't get paid, they just got a free copy, and the publishers were generally honour bound not to make a profit, just to cover their costs (if possible). Once the internet became a place where one could get Moar Star Trek, I didn't do a lot of zine buying any more.... I think there are still some zines being published, but I'd be *very* picky about the author and contents before I'd shell out for one nowadays.

[watervole]

I think the luxury of being able to write for free is an important part of it. Fanfic tends (I suspect) to be a culture of the better off, as it requires internet access as a minimum these days.

[pensnest]

I agree that not needing the money is a luxury - but I think these days, with internet access so common, it may be cheaper than when we had to buy zines to get our fix.

[watervole]

I'm thinking more from the writer's angle. I'm sure there were some people who relied on writer's free copies to maintain their habit.

[pensnest]

That's true, I'd forgotten the free copies.

[turps]

I'm glad you all had such a good weekend.

[pensnest]

Norwich is small, handy, and packed with interesting stuff. You must definitely come for a visit sometime!

[watervole]

I get what you're saying. It is a craft activity of a kind. That's why writers want feedback, because we offer the stories to people we think will like them.

[pensnest]

Yes - it's a love exchange! I do, as it happens, sell cards I've made, but I sell them for charity rather than for me. That way, they are something I've done for the pleasure of doing them that manages to raise money for worthy causes. Also, I don't have to price them, I can just ask people for donations they think reasonable. Which, on reflection, I guess fans who put out a 'tip jar' are also doing?

[rikes]

That sounds like a lovely fannish weekend!

[pensnest]

It always is! You must come and visit.

[turlough]

That sounds like the perfect weekend! I really must come visit you again so I can see more of Norwich. And meet the kitties!

[pensnest]

I think you will enjoy the kitties, when you have the chance.