The Price of Pride...

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/03/a-fair-days-wage-for-fair-days-work.html

Wow, firsties, super glad you're back Nik..!
I've taken large breaks so I can't get upset when others do it but I gotta say, I have missed your words (I checked your blog every day huh...)

This topic, about writing and being paid for it, boy does it compel me to want to study it, to want to throw thoughts on my screen...
And after my brain has churned for a smidgey, well I can see that it sorta breaks down into perspectives (doesn't everything..?)
So let me dig through my satchel for my perspective shotgun a second, let me load that puppy with opposite sides of the spectrum and hey, since you're there with your walls so high and mighty, let me take some practice shots no?

(I don't mean to insult as usual, your walls appear to be so high and mighty because that's the way I want to envision them, that's my perspective and I cherish it...  It's just that so much of what I write is like one millistep away from being offensive and rude and about three thousand other negative adjectives and I have to specify that I don't use my words like that, I have too much respect for my heroes.)

We have two things in our worlds.  Products and desires for such products.  Those two elements will probs never change, that equation is solid and not goin' anywhere.
We can either be a product haver or a product wanter and sometimes both, although usually not for the same product.  Either you want something you don't have or you have something that others want, still with me?
Now, if you happen to have the thing that others want, well it's a magical special place and good things usually happen huh.  Most of the time, you hold your hand up, tell the world that you have this special "thing" and wait as the offers line up, hopefully in a nice neat row so you can see the order of things, particularly the large end first.
And if you don't have the thing, well you're one of those standing in line with your wad of cash (or other offerings) and if you're not quite lucky enough, you're somewhere in the middle or the back.

The next part of the equation is how super cool and awesome your product is.  Now insert this right before the equals sign, if your product is the only one on the planet, if it is in high demand and only usable once or, if it is replaceable and able to be sold to all those in the lines behind you, well you need a gigantic multiplier huh.
Whereas if your product is none of the above, your multiplier is almost nothing, makes sense?

So I think that was enough math for a Monday.  My noodle's all kinds of swirled...

Let's say you're one of the product holders, one of the really super cool, super awesome, can be sold down the line in the trickle downs.
How does it feel when someone straight up steals it and doesn't even say thanks.
With a quick check, I can see that the first four Wild's End comic books are downloadable as "torrents".  If you're not sure what a torrent is, you probs haven't been one of the product desire-ers in a while eh.
Torrents are what the pirates of the world use to download illegal content from the big bad internet.  They download movies, music, tv shows, books, comic books, porn, cookbooks, video games, self help books and the list really is monstrously gigantic and there seems to be no method, for stopping the pirates anytime soon.

Basically, once one person has purchased your product, captured it with a digital scanning device and shared it, anybody else can come along and take it.  For free.  For pretty much, forever.
So again, shotgun smoking, I ask, how does that make a product holder feel.

To me, well it stings a bit.  Not only did I not say they could come and take my product but they didn't even say thanks.  Or that they wouldn't use my work to sell to others in their trickle down.
They didn't even encourage me to produce another product so they could steal that one as well.
Given this equation, why would anyone choose to be a product maker..?
Is product making a dying industry just like the Blockbusters of the world and the third party self publishers?

Or is there another position we could take.  Is it time for Change to rear it's ugly head and stomp us into submission?
I don't know exactly but I have another blast loaded, ready?

In the past month or so, a video game has surfaced from a one-man-band creator.  This person pretty much created a new game that has become exceptionally popular despite it's very small size and budget.
The game is called Stardew Valley and if you type this in your Google, you can find gobs of stuff written about it.
I'll leave a link at the bottom in case you need some proof but here's the scenario.

A product maker sells his product for fairly cheap, making it relatively easy to afford compared to others.
The product is so loved and so cherished that the pirates that downloaded it, played it for a day then went and uninstalled it, paid the full price for it and thanked the maker.
Then, these same pirates turned around and, on the very pages that they used to steal with, they praised this game, they told others that they spent their money on it and the trickle down, became a trickle up.
Now before you accuse me of firing blanks with my shotgun, I'll shoot once more...
This game has broken the system so graphically, that others are offering to pay for the game, so that those who are still pirating due to the cost can show their support.  You know, for those that truly can't afford the fifteen bones (about ten pounds for my British friends).

Yeah, stick that one in your Monday morning breadbasket and shake.
A product that changed the way people pay for it.
A product that could not be controlled by it's maker, could not be "secured" and was entirely dependent on the people in line...
Became a donation.

It was given to the world knowing full well, that it would be stolen, that it would be copied, abused, left out at night next to the trash bin.
But it was so cool and so moving that people walking by, stopped and picked it up, they brushed it off and went to the door, knocked and slipped a ten dollar bill under the door as thanks.

I think that's how I want to do it.  I can't stop the pirating, I can't stop the sharing and I don't seem to be able to prevent the poverty.
But if I create a product someday, something that is so special and awarding...  Well I think I will give it to the world's people and ask for nothing in return.
Should they feel compelled to reward me or send me ten bucks, I will thank them.
But I'll also have to understand if they don't.

If a big, or small, publisher wants to invest in a writer, how do they know that they won't sell one copy and watch as fifty thousand others ignore their price tag?
The burden on the creator is sorta minimal.  If they don't want to produce something, they don't have to.  They can choose to stop being creatives.
But the burden on the middle people, the ones trying to profit from a system that no longer supports them, their burden is about as large and heavy as those castle walls around your position.

I so love the way I must think when contemplating your topics Nik.  Its such great brain exercise and while it might seem like I'm blasting away without a care, the truth is much different.
I can't criticize if you don't start the conversation and I hope that one day, I can start conversations and others will fire at my walls with both barrels.

http://kotaku.com/stardew-valley-players-fight-piracy-by-buying-pirates-t-1763316633