[ SECRET POST #2618 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2618 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 039 secrets from Secret Submission Post #374.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[iceyred]

It never made sense how fan artists can charge for their work but fic writers can't. I want to cash in on the creative endeavors of others, dammit!

[diet_poison]

Now that you mention it, it *doesn't* make a lot of sense.

[(Anonymous)]

There was wank here not too long about this and everyone was crying that artists have to pay for supplies and writers don't. That's not the case but it's the common perception.

[(Anonymous)]

Which is even more of a bullshit justification since a lot of artists use tablets and other digital mediums.

[darkmanifest]

But I assume they had to buy those tablets and shell out money for decent art programs. Whereas all I need to write a story is a free document program. True, both writer and artist can get by with pencil and paper if necessary, but there's no equivalent to, say, Photoshop or Wacom for a writer's modern tools.

[(Anonymous)]

There absolutely are free equivalents to Photoshop. They may not be as polished as PS, but they exist and I've seen artists do wonders on them. Just as there are programs for writers that aren't free, but better than the free tools.

And with just one commission, some artists will be able to pay for a tablet, depending on their rates. Just as a writer may for his purchase of Scrivener, for example.

[darkmanifest]

Scrivener is not the kind of baseline expectation for a writer that Photoshop is for an artist. And sure, an artist can roll with GIMP and a secondhand tablet, but there's a reason a lot more of them invest any money they make back into the craft - a better program, a better tablet, better art classes - compared to how many writers save up to buy Scrivener. Writers don't compete in a field where their fellows are commonly rocking both natural talent and a $300 collection of tools.

I don't think art is harder than writing or anything, of course, but I've used GIMP and Photoshop, and that shit ain't no fancy note-taker.

[(Anonymous)]

I spent over $400 on "tablets and other digital mediums".

Art supplies are costly no matter how you spin it.

[(Anonymous)]

This. I used to do traditional art and good markers and colored pencils are expensive as hell. That's not even counting sketchbooks, erasers, pencils, pens for inking, the scanner you need to scan your art, etc.

All of that stuff really adds up if you're doing art on anywhere near a regular basis.

[(Anonymous)]

Did you buy that just so you could do commissions and thought "yes, I'm going to earn that money back solely by doing some shady copyright art" -- because if what you're drawing doesn't belong to you, it doesn't matter what it cost you to produce that piece of art. It's your choice to purchase expensive programs and supplies. And what you produce is technically not yours to sell. It's a different matter if you use your stuff to produce and sell original art, obviously!

[(Anonymous)]

That's why everyone agrees you give the artis1 $10, maybe $20 to cover the materials for a full-body color picture, right?

[(Anonymous)]

It's a mix of the supplies issue (like the other anon mentioned), the existence of a physical copy and the probability of the work being completed.

[(Anonymous)]

But Digital Art? And also you can write stories on paper or print them out so you also got a physical copy there?

[(Anonymous)]

And back in the days of printed fanzines, people charged money for them. Your point?

[(Anonymous)]

That fanart is no different from a written product in that regard and therefore the "supply issue" doesn't exist as a game changing factor?

[(Anonymous)]

You'd be surprised how much a good quality print on good quality paper can cost. And shipping. That could bring it up to $10 on it's own.

Unless you're printing a book and having it bound, printing out copies of regular paper is like nothing.

[(Anonymous)]

...I doubt anyone would pay for a story just printed out on regular paper. You'd want to bling that shit up.

Or it could be a little hand-bound, hand-written little marvel of calligraphy.

[(Anonymous)]

Except these days you're most likely going to get digital copy instead of a physical one ifcyiu commission someone for fanart.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a vague intuition the way visual vs written reimaginings are viewed by creators/treated by copyright may also play a role, but I'm going entirely off of hunches and hearsay here, so take that with a grain of salt.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree so much. I'd be so willing to pay people to write the fics for me that I want to read. And I don't know if anyone likes my writing enough to pay me for it, but I find it kind of ridiculous that I can't even consider offering fic commissions while fanart commissions are considered perfectly normal.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

People don't write the fanfics I'd like to read, in general, and I'd definitely pay someone a few bucks (or buy them a little something off their Amazon wishlist?) so they got an incentive to go yay! at my prompts. I'd be happy to do the same. Alas, it's not accepted! :(

[(Anonymous)]

That's why I love fic exchanges because it's basically an acceptable way to "pay" someone to write fanfic for me, except I pay them (or another participant) with a fic of my own. But outside of fic exchanges there's really no way to do that. :(

[(Anonymous)]

Yup, that's really the only way, but you're so dependent on a specific curriculum and I'd love if there was a way to pay for fic all year round, whether that is in fic, money, or something else! I mean, would it be acceptable if you gave people gifts/vouchers instead of just money? idk :(

[(Anonymous)]

I know people publish and sell fanfic in print in Japan and China, you could say "but copyright!" here but then, fanart has the same legal issues. It's pretty odd.

(I've had a few of my fanfics translated into Chinese and printed, they were nice enough to send me a copy of the finished book as payment. Not that I can read them haha!)

[(Anonymous)]

I admit I write for fun and the thrill of maybe, maybe getting some kudos on AO3, that whole lame cheezy thing about making people happy, creating emotions, just through...words. It's like magic to me.

And just for the record, uh, I've had to buy tons of stuff for writing: starting with this laptop? My wifi? All these books on the writing craft? All those notebooks I've filled over the years with character sketches, mood pieces, story ideas. I'm not saying MORE than an artist but I have invested plenty of time and money into my 'craft'.

I don't blame artists for cashing in, honestly, why not? I sure would if I could. But I do sideeye the attitude they get about things like signups for bigbangs, where they seem APPALLED at the very idea that just once, just for a fun fandom exchange challenge that's entirely voluntary, they should do something without getting paid. I know at least two actually published professional writers in my fandom who still write fic 'for free'.

The other issue I have (wow I did not know I had so many feels) is how canon artists etc will often squee and support fan artists, but canon writers cannot ever even acknowledge fanfiction exists. It makes it seem that fic is somehow...dirty.