I do a lot of complaining, both on my platforms, and on my socials. Because sometimes it's important to open the vents, and let some pressure out so the engine can keep working. However, time and time again I find myself getting well-meaning comments from folks out there about how I should take a break. Go on vacation. Just set everything down and breathe for a little bit. I need to stop working so hard, and all this stress can't be good for me.
And while the diagnosis about what I (and so many of my fellow creators) am dealing with is accurate, the suggested course of treatment is a death sentence. Because we need to rest, relax, and stop pumping every bit of energy we have into this struggle, yes... but the only way to do that is if something breaks out way, and we can be successful.
Because we live inside a machine that eats money, and if we can't feed it, it will kill us. I am not being hyperbolic here... that is literally the stakes most of us are playing for.
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| And the machine is hungrier with every passing day. |
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Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!
No Days Off For Good Behavior
So, this is where I want to discuss the problem of how people in the audience don't usually understand how creators make money. This is a topic that needs to be understood by folks who wonder why it is authors, artists, YouTubers, etc. are working themselves to the point of burnout every day.
We don't do this because we like to. We do it because it's a necessity. We would love to stop, but like sharks, if we stop then we die.
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| Hey, have you heard about my Patreon? |
I know a lot of folks are academically aware of this, but creative professionals generally don't make money the way other folks do. Because most people either earn an hourly wage, or they make a salary, meaning that you are compensated for the amount of time you work. Creators, though, don't have that. We get paid either based on the project (meaning that we get a check in-hand once the work is complete and we turn it in), or we get paid based on the amount of activity our work generates.
An example of the former was that when I accepted a writing assignment for the project Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage, I was paid 6 cents per word when I turned in my portion of the book. And it didn't matter if I wrote those assignments in 1 day, or 30 days, I was paid the same amount of money for it. And with projects like my article Henchmen And Goons, I earn money based on how many people actually read the article; if no one reads it, I don't make anything. And while I earn 30% of the sales for any of my 100 Kinfolk supplements, if no one actually buys them, I don't make any money off of them.
All of that is to say that when it comes to our earnings as creators, the amount of work we put in is often wildly disproportionate to the amount of money we make. Because we could put weeks, or months of work into a project, but if no one reads it, watches it, or buys it, then that was all shoveled into a hole to disappear forever with no return on that investment. And we might put only a few hours into something, but if it explodes for no reason that we can put our fingers on, it doesn't matter, because we still get paid.
I had that with my video essay The Problem With Pentex, which is still the most-watched thing on the Azukail Games YouTube channel.
And if you are lucky as a creator, and something you made goes viral, you can afford to take a few days off. If you get really lucky, you might even be able to lower your overall output, because when more people are watching your videos, buying your books, or reading your articles, you have a steady stream of money flowing into your bank account, which allows you to relax a bit.
But if you don't have that, then you're just spending entire days earning no money. That's stressful as hell, I can tell you from first-hand experience.
The thing to keep in mind here is that if you're a creator who already has a loyal fan base, or has popular material out there that pulls in regular sales, you're already not stressed. You're probably even saving a little money for a rainy day. The creators you see who are pulling 10+ hour days, and releasing content on a ridiculous scale and schedule, taking no time for themselves, and not leaving the house? The problem those creators have is that they aren't making enough money to cover their bills, and to buy them the security they need to take a break, or let their foot off the gas a little bit. We aren't addicted to working... we aren't being paid enough to stop.
And if you want them to be able to afford the rest that you acknowledge they need, then you (and all the other folks who want them to rest) are the only people who can make that happen.
Care And Feeding Of Your Creators
I've said this so many times that my soap box is starting to get serious wear and tear, but I'm going to say it again because there's folks out there who don't seem to have gotten the message yet. Authors (and other creators) don't make money because of how hard we work. We make money because of the amount of support our audience gives us. Period, flat out, that's the way the machine works.
It does no matter how much we write, or what kinds of projects we make... if no one buys our books, reads our articles, etc., then it's all for nothing. And it is people like you, the audience who actually make up the numbers we receive which determines our earnings at the end of the day.
So if you want that creator you love to be able to buy food, pay their bills, and rest, ask yourself what you're doing to make that happen... because your efforts are what matter!
And if you don't know what you can do to help a creator, well, consider all of the following steps.
If You Have Money To Spend
- Buy their books/merch
- Send them a tip on Ko-Fi
- Become a Patreon patron
If You Don't Have Money To Spend
- Subscribe to all their socials (bigger subscriber numbers make the algorithm support a creator)
- Comment on and share the posts they make (this also makes others likely to see them)
- Consume their free content (watch YT videos, read blogs, etc., with ad block off to get them paid)
It might not sound like a lot, but creators generally don't have huge needs. As long as they're making enough money to pay the rent, keep the power on, and maybe go out for tacos every now and again, they will keep making stuff... but it takes a dedicated group of at least 50-100 folks just helping boost their signal and regularly consuming their content to actually make the wheels turn.
And yes, that takes some effort on your part as a fan. You need to visit creator's pages, make sure you leave comments, upvote them, and help spread the signal... but we literally cannot do it on our own. We are basically trees, rooted to the spot. We're trying to make the tastiest-looking seeds possible, but we need you to act as the wind the scatters them, or the animals that consume them to spread them out far and wide.
Because unless you do, we're probably going to wither and die. Maybe literally (especially for those of us who have medical debt to pay off), or maybe figuratively... but if your favorite creator has to stop creating because they're forced to work a minimum wage job that leaves them no time to make videos, write books, or do anything else... what's the functional difference from where you're sitting?
Support The Literary Mercenary
If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!
- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)
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Also,
if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to
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That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
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