And despite all of that, Gaiman and the cast basically had to beg everyone to binge watch the whole series again so that Netflix didn't cancel them after only one season because the company wasn't convinced people wanted a second season badly enough.
While I'd like to say this is only something that heavy hitters making big budget productions have to deal with, this is unfortunately something that affects all creators out there. Namely that if we can't muster a massive audience willing to bang down the doors demanding more of our work then we may not get greenlit by our publishers, or we may not get paid enough money by the platforms we use to actually keep writing new novels, short stories, screenplays, etc. for our fans to consume.
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
The Numbers Game Is Awful
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about from the independent side of things. A little while back I started listening to Old Gods of Appalachia (go check out their podcast if you haven't yet, and support them if you can afford to), and I really enjoyed everything about it. Capitalism strained through the lens of cosmic horror and its effects on rural and poor areas is right up my alley. However, it was during one of the in-between episodes where the creators were answering questions and casually talking to their fans that I started noting numbers.
According to what I heard, the show had 5 million plays through Spotify in its first two years. Given the wide exposure they'd had, and their supportive audience, I wasn't surprised by that number, and I agree with the team that it can be mind-boggling contemplating that many people consuming something you made. However, if you break it down using the numbers I referenced in Youtube, Dailymotion, and Spotify... Challenges and Payoffs, you get into some pretty bleak profits. When all the calculations are done, that averages out to somewhere around $10,000 per year of traffic, if you assign 2,500,000 downloads/listens per year.
That's what it should have been according to the math, anyway. Seems that I got it wrong, and it's even bleaker than that!
When I reached out to the show to check my facts, Cam Collins was good enough to set me straight, and provide me some more accurate numbers. According to what Cam said, the show makes literally nothing from Spotify directly, and only a tiny fraction of their income from advertising. 90% of their income comes directly from their audience providing support.
To reiterate, this is a show that people could not shut up about for months during the pandemic. It's been given top marks, its cast and crew are truly talented people, they've had write ups in major media like the New York Times, and there's a goddamn tabletop RPG for Old Gods of Appalachia... and the only thing keeping it going is the direct support of folks who enjoy their work, and who want to help them keep the lights on so they can keep the show going.
A lot of us have this idea that when someone makes popular art, that art pays for itself just through the sheer force of its popularity. However, that perception is often the reverse of reality. Because as I mentioned back in Unfortunate Facts: Without Sponsorship, Most Authors Can't Eat, the things we as an audience think of as secondary items (creator merch, fan pledges, etc.) are actually the main source of income for most people for the simple reason that it takes an absolutely absurd number of views/listens on any platform to make enough money to pay your bills.
In the end, it creates this weird Catch-22. Because when your audience is small, or your numbers are below a certain threshold, a cut of the small amount of traffic you generate is all you'll be offered by a platform. As such, you need every view you can possibly get in order to scrape by. But if you generate the numbers necessary to make bank off of your traffic alone, that also means your audience is big enough (and that you probably have enough sponsorship deals and independent support) that the check from your views is just the icing on your cupcake... if, as it turns out, you even get that.
What Does One Example Have To Do With The Other?
Some readers are no doubt wondering what a major streaming platform that can afford millions of dollars to produce a high-budget fantasy series, and the impressive success of an indie horror podcast, have to do with one another. The answer is that in order for creators to be successful, big or small, it takes an absolutely ridiculous tide of raw numbers.
But this is, sadly, nothing new. It's just capitalism as usual.
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| This will do you, I'm sure. |
Think back to before music streaming, when we listened to our music on the radio. A lot of folks might not know this, but the band didn't actually get paid for their music being on the airwaves. The idea was that people listening to the music on the radio would lead to increased sales of merchandise (recordings, band tee shirts, concert tickets, etc.), so even if you were burning up the charts you didn't get paid until folks actually bought something from you. The reason there are so many singer/songwriters, interestingly enough, is that the writers did get paid for those radio plays, so a lot of artists made sure they did both as a way to ensure they weren't left out in the cold.
Everything old is new again, eh?
In decades past it was record labels trying to keep the lion's share of money, while paying their singers a pittance. Now it's the streaming platforms doing the same thing by demanding that channels earn their monetization (also known as "working for free" while the company reaps the benefits), or making backroom deals to ensure they have access to large libraries of content while the folks who were previously depending on royalties end up with a handful of pennies. And publishers... well, publishing hasn't really changed much in the past century and change.
And that often includes freelance writers not getting a pay raise since the days of H.P. Lovecraft when it comes to our by-word rate.
We Need Numbers (And Can't Get Them On Our Own)
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, all of that nonsense up above is the reason that creators end every production asking listeners to like, subscribe, support, and share links to our work. Because it takes literal millions of reads/listens/hits/etc. for us to make a poverty wage.
I know that as listeners we grow deadened to that constant request. It's the equivalent of an unskippable ad, and we either tune out, look away, or just skip past the text if it's in an article. But without audience help, whether it's funding our work directly or helping us build our brand by sharing our content for others to see, we're going to lose our grip and fall. Either our publishers will stop greenlighting projects that don't get an appropriate amount of attention and sales, or we just won't be able to pay our rent with what we're bringing in every month.
So if you have a creator whose work you enjoy, big or small, please do your part to make sure they can keep making art. Follow their socials, read their articles, share their posts to draw attention to them, and if they've got a playlist consider leaving it on while you're out and about just to give them a few extra hours of listen time a week.
It all adds up, and it all makes a difference, even if you feel like it doesn't.
I Could Also Use A Little Help (If You Can Spare It)
If you made it this far and you'd like to help me, specifically, here's some things you can do!
- Subscribe to The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)
- Subscribe to My Daily Motion Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)
And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!
Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!
That's all for this week's Business of Writing!
If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!
If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!
