79 ms·
I'm surprised that anyone can read this coldly factual post about volunteer work that benefits society and pays next to nothing ... and then somehow come up wit
by nyeah 2y ago
I'm surprised that anyone can read this coldly factual post about volunteer work that benefits society and pays next to nothing ... and then somehow come up with an antagonistic response.
YMMV. But I never read about St. Francis, say, and thought to myself "Shut up already. What ever made you think the bird gig was going to pay off?"
EDIT: "Benefits society" in the aggregate. This particular woman may write utterly worthless books that benefit nobody. I don't know.
- paxys 2y agoThere are an estimated 4 million books published every year. Not all of them are "volunteer work that benefits society". I'm going to go ahead and assume it's a very, very tiny minority of them. Most writers (and certainly every single one I know) have nothing to contribute to society except their own vanity. I have nothing against creative expression, but when people start splashing a bucket of paint on a canvas and going "I'm an artist, I deserve to have a comfortable life" I can't help but roll my eyes.
- nyeah 2y agoWhen did she say she deserved a comfortable life? She writes. She doesn't get paid. Where are these bad vibes coming from?
- paxys 2y agoWhat was your takeaway from the article?
- nyeah 2y agoAlmost no writers make significant money from their writing.
- paxys 2y agoAnd what was the call to action?
- nyeah 2y ago"Buy books." My turn. What about the article is making you roll the eyes and go Socratic on my ass? Whence the bad vibes, bro?
- 6stringmerc 2y agoThat you think a for profit endeavor is volunteer work! I’m a writer, and as I note above, it’s not that you missed the point of the article and discussion here, you got it and turned it upside down and painted it day glo orange. Either way, it’s bristling.
- CRConrad 2y agoYeah, you're right: nyeah isn't the one who missed the point of the article. And yes, most of the discussion here is indeed "day glo orange". I think that's mostly because so many people are bristling with anger at the author's entitlement... Which AFAICS exists only in their misreading of the article.
- 6stringmerc 2y agoVolunteer work? Did we read the same article? The author got income and inked a deal with a publishing house - explicitly that means doing it for the money - and the result is a whinging about how sour they feel about the whole thing. The is ain’t Anne Frank’s diary in the slightest.
- nyeah 2y agoSure, she will eventually get 3,750 GBP for a year's work. Compared to living expenses that rounds to zero, but ok its not precisely zero.
- 6stringmerc 2y agoThat’s not volunteer work, that’s being a stupid exploited laborer who voluntarily joined a shitty situation. Am I being obtuse about this? The author is very clear about being sore that people “assume” as a published author she got a great payday. This should’ve been a Facebook post to her family as a way of telling them to stop asking for money, not an indictment of audiences not doing enough.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- nyeah 2y agoPreach it, brother.
- joseda-hg 2y agoThe alternatives being - Not writing, making everyone worse off - Writing for the love of the art, no deal, and the author being worse off - Or taking her current deal, the world gets her book, and she gets some money (Trusting her revsplit is better than average, as she claims, so no sense on other possible deals) At least to me doesn't come across as sore, she's explaining a common misconception of a situation she's in
- CRConrad 2y ago