I'm Not Paying That Much For Something I Could Make! (A Common Refrain of Fake Outrage)

If you've ever attended a convention or a craft show, you've heard some variety of the following exchange. Maybe you were a person working a booth, or maybe you were just walking by in the aisle, but at some point in time you likely heard someone ask a creator how much something was, be quoted a number, and then that someone scoffed at the price like they'd misheard. And at some point in the exchange, they said some variety of the following.

"That's ridiculous, I could make this."

And let's give this mysterious person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they could draw that drawing, crochet that stuffed animal, write that novel, or pen that tabletop RPG. It's not out of the realm of possibility. But they didn't... and if you can do it yourself, and you don't want to pay someone else for what they made, then go do it yourself.

But they won't. And if you ever hear someone say this to you, understand that they're trying to make you think your work is worth less than it is.

Perhaps you can. But you didn't. So either pay the fee, or walk.

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If You Can, Then Go Do It

I've made this comparison before, but at the risk of overstepping a line, authors, artists, and creators of all stripes hear a lot of the same indignant arguments that sex workers do from people... and it's usually for the same reason. Whether it's, "Oh, I could never charge people for doing that," or, "What am I paying you for? I could probably do this at least as well as you are," these statements are insults designed to make you lower your prices, or give the person something for free. And for some reason, a lot of us will cave, and do just that.

Maybe you think this person will enjoy the thing you made so much that they'll see how wrong they were. Maybe you're trying to be the bigger person. Whatever the reason though, if someone tries to use any of these lines on you, then show them the door, because they aren't a customer. They aren't even a potential customer. They're just trying to browbeat you into giving them something for nothing. Period.

And if you do it, all they'll remember is that you cave to being bullied.

You could kick them down a dark hole. That works too.

Now, you should absolutely charge a fair rate for the art you make. You should also ensure that you aren't spending more money than you're making just to get copies out to people. However, when someone comes up to you and insults your work (even if they veil the insult as something self-deprecating, or they try to make it out to be a joke) there is no further conversation to be had. The price is what it says on the tag... or it should go up just for them. They wanted special treatment, after all, and you can give it to them!

If you're an author, you're going to experience this behavior a lot. You're going to get random "book reviewers" sliding into your DMs and demanding you mail them physical copies of your manuscript, then getting angry when you tell them no, you aren't interested. You're going to have people at conventions lowball your books, as if the price isn't clearly marked. You're going to run into people on social media who demand free copies, then accuse you of using AI to write your books (even if the publication date predates modern generative AI programs, and they're clearly marked with No AI).

If you've ever worked retail, you recognize these folks. They're the loud, abrasive people who demand you honor expired coupons, or who want their meals comped because they deigned to come into the dump you run. They're the people who throw fits when they aren't catered to, and who storm out claiming you just lost a customer, even though they've never bought anything from you.

Now, I don't know why so many people feel so entitled to treat creators this way... but I see it happening more and more often. Not only that, but the most common excuse is that they could do the same thing you did, so they shouldn't have to pay the price you're asking.

But at the end of the day, you made something and they didn't. If they're willing to put in the time, sweat, and grueling effort it took you, they're welcome to do so. But if they want your book, your art, your game, etc., then they have to pay the same price as everybody else for it.

Don't budge. Give them an inch, and they will absolutely take a mile!

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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

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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Everything You Don't Like Is Not "A.I."

As folks know, I am not a fan of generative A.I. for a lot of reasons. The way these programs are trained steals the work from authors and artists in order to swipe money from their pockets. The products are, generally speaking, not up to the quality of paying an actual creator to make something. These programs are swallowing a colossal amount of energy, and burning through a massive amount of water as a result of their widespread use.

However, there is another annoying thing about generative A.I. that I hate... it's become the new insult the Internet is throwing around whenever they see something they just don't like.

The image has how many eyes?

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!

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It Just Keeps Happening...

There are always going to be people who criticize the things you make. That's part of the job when you're an artist of any stripe. However, the proliferation of A.I. generators has caused several problems that are tough to deal with in the wild, and they don't seem to be going away any time soon. Namely that people will either assume (or just accuse) you of using A.I. when they don't like you, your work, or both.

For instance, in the recent past I've been accused of:

- Using A.I. programs to generate RPG supplemets (even though they were published before the onset of any generative A.I. programs).

- Using an A.I. text-to-speech generator in my video essays like the one below (it's clearly my own voice, and there are dozens of videos of my speaking right into the camera in the same cadence on the same channel).

- Using A.I. to post on social media platforms due to the sheer volume of posts I make (and while I wish I had a program to do this, no, I have to make a majority of my posts manually. People always seem surprised when I respond).

While this is extremely annoying to deal with, however, I wanted to take a moment to remind folks that this isn't just the inability of many people to tell the difference between A.I. and non-A.I. content. There is definitely some of that going on, absolutely, but there's something far older at the root of so many of these comments.

Put simply, it's just haters using the most recent fad to sling mud at creators. Same as they always have.

How can I be sure of that, you ask? How can I come on the Internet and state with conviction that so many of these comments are not coming from a place of genuine concern, or an opposition to the use of A.I. generators which just so happens to catch human creators in the crossfire?

Two reasons. First, it's always an accusation (typically phrased in a demeaning fashion) rather than a question. Secondly, even if you provide evidence that it isn't A.I. (whether you have a time lapse video of you making something, you can provide the sources for all the items in the project, you have time stamps and publication dates, etc.), the goal posts move. The conversation then morphs into, "Well it looks/sounds like something you'd make with A.I.," or, "Well, if someone wanted [content] like that, they'd just use A.I. instead of paying you for it," and so on, and so forth.

And while this is annoying, and frustrating, and damaging to the calm of all the creators out there still making art with sweat, blood, and spite, I want to say something else that might be a little controversial, but which I feel is important.

Screw the haters. You don't need them to succeed.

You Just Lost Yourself A Customer!

We've all been in those stores where there's a Karen pitching a fit because she didn't get her way, and she storms out with something along the lines of, "I've been shopping here for ten years! You just lost yourself a customer!" But then it turns out that she's bought like one item there in that ten year time span, and most of the time she's just a pain to the staff and to other customers.

This is the box most haters fall into, and it's why you should just ignore them a majority of the time.

So it's agreed. We move on with the day, yes?

It's perfectly legitimate to check your sources to be sure you support creators who match up with your values. And if you don't want to support someone who uses A.I., then you're well within your rights to not do that as a consumer. However, if someone comes out of the gate swinging before they bother to check that what they're seeing is or isn't A.I. (something which can usually be established by a quick check of a sales page, or just asking the creator in question in the comments section), they're probably more interested in the fight than they are in actually finding out whether your project was made using A.I. And if you make it clear you didn't use A.I., but they're still interested in hollering? Yeah... they were never going to support you in the first place. Cut it off now, and save yourself the sanity.

Remember that no matter how cool the thing you made is, and no matter how hard you worked on it, there are some people who just won't bite. They won't watch your videos, won't listen to your podcast, won't buy your books, and won't play your game... and there's nothing you can do to persuade them.

So don't waste time trying... instead, focus on reaching people who will actually become part of your audience, and who do want you to keep making more stuff.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

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- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

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!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

The Point of Writing is Doing The Work (Giving The Middle Finger To A.I.)

I remember several years ago I was sitting in a stylist's chair getting my hair trimmed. As folks in this profession so often do, she started making small talk with me. When she found out I was a professional writer, though, it was like I'd opened a floodgate. Apparently she'd had this idea rolling around in her head for years that she thought would make a really good book. I can't remember most of it now, but it somehow involved a cartel drug dealer who got romantically entangled with his stylist, and the two of them had to go on the run from both gangsters and the ATF, trying to find some way to cut a deal so they could live happily ever after.

Could I have made that into a decent action romantic comedy? Sure... but what stuck with me even more than the idea was the serious tone in her voice when she looked in the mirror and said, "If you want to go in on this with me, we can split the take 50/50."

And this, I think, is what really gets to the heart of why so many people have fallen down the generative A.I. rabbit hole.

Chuck really puts it into simple words.

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!

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The Writing Is The Point

Before we get lost in the weeds, I want to make a clear distinction. "Generative A.I." refers to software programs that are trained off of data that are fed into them until they can recognize patterns, and produce something similar to what they've seen before. They also allow users to enter prompts, such as telling it to paint a portrait of a barbarian king holding an ax in the style of Frank Frazetta. Or telling it to write a short story about a secret, cannibal family in the style of H.P. Lovecraft. The main problem with these softwares is that they're thieves; the data they are fed is based on stolen work, taken from people who did not consent for their work to be used in training the software, so everything it creates is fruit from the poisoned tree. It doesn't matter how amazing the thing it made it, it's all tainted by that initial plagiarism.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that someone produced an "ethical" generative A.I. program for writers. Let's say that it was trained only on work that was given freely by writers, or that it used only works in the public domain. So you could just push a button and get a private detective story in the style of Agatha Christie, or perhaps a war story in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle (we'll assume his estate went along with this in the scenario I'm painting). You could do that.

But what's the point?

As Mr. Wendig said in the picture in the introduction, and as I said a while ago on my show Tabletop Mercenary over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, ideas are barely worth a weak piss in a stiff breeze. The idea isn't what's worth something... it's the execution of that idea that is worth something. It's the skill it takes to realize that idea, and to turn it into something that actually exists.

Consider any invention throughout history. From the telephone, to the automobile, to the locomotive, the ideas of those things aren't valuable. The execution of those things is. Saying, "It would be jolly convenient to be able to have a conversation with my friend on the other coast whenever I wished!" is not an inherently valuable thing. That idea is, on its own, worthless. The people who built the telegraph lines, and then the telephone lines, and the machinery that allowed voices to travel instantaneously over long distances are the ones that created something of value.

This is where the disconnect happens with so many people. Because we have this stereotype of The Visionary (TM) whose ideas are so powerful they can change the world. But as we've seen with Thomas Edison (who was only responsible for a fraction of the things he claimed credit for) and Elon Musk (who is responsible for nothing he's claimed credit for), vision is worthless. Vision is nothing without an engine to drive it, and to create actual momentum to make it into a reality... and if you aren't the one creating that momentum, then you weren't a meaningful part of the process.

Consider, for example, works of art that the church commissioned from the artist Michaelangelo. Sure, the church might have told him what they wanted the art to be (which figures from the bible it should feature, the general vibe the piece should give off, and so on), but when we study those art pieces, is the particular clergyman mentioned as anything other than a patron or sponsor? No, because the person who made the art is what matters. They are the one who turned vision into reality, not the patron who fed them the prompts. As such, they're the ones who deserve the credit.

If you want to be an artist, you have to make art. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. If you turned to a writer, gave them the basic pitch of a book idea, and then they wrote the book, you are not an author. The same is true if you type a bunch of prompts into an engine, and then see what it spits out.

What I Am (And Am Not) Saying

That was a lot to take in, so I want to reiterate some points for folks who made it this far.

First of all, yes, there are tools you can use as a writer that involve you just pushing a button. From character name generators to automatic writing prompts, we have had access to generative tools for decades now. Hell, when I was in high school and just starting my journey as a writer, there was a website that held weekly contest for short stories written using the automated short story prompt generator.

However, before claiming something is a tool, you need to ask yourself several questions:

- Does it use stolen material to create what you are using?

- How much of the finished project does it create for you?

If something just creates a prompt, or gives you a character name, or even throws out a theme or plot synopsis for you, and it wasn't made using stolen text, that is a tool you can use as a writer. If you just feed in some prompts, and the thing in question writes a short story or a book for you, that is not a tool; that is an artificially-written story. You didn't make that happen any more than the clergyman who told the Renaissance artists what characters to sculpt or what scenes to paint is the artist of those works.

The whole point of writing is that we're telling a story. The point of reading is because we want to be told a story. Yes, writing is hard. Yes there will be stumbling blocks along the way, and things that give you trouble, and lessons you have to learn. But the work is not some obstacle to be overcome by outsourcing it to a machine. The work is the point.

Put another way, if you had a robot go to the gym for you, and do an entire fitness routine, it wouldn't make you any faster, stronger, or better. You're just wasting time and electricity avoiding the work you need to do to actually get good.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft 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!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

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!

The Generative Aspect of A.I. Isn't The Problem... It's The Theft

Since the plagiarism software is still in the headlines (and many tech bros and corporations have attempted to force it to do jobs that it is objectively not capable of doing), I wanted to take this week's update to discuss something that I feel gets either overlooked in a lot of these discussions, or which some people are simply misunderstanding. However, it is not the "generative" part of these programs that's the issue; we've had the ability to do that for years. The problem is the theft, and the absolute lack of morals regarding what these programs are trained on in order to spit out their results.

Moral? Sorry, I thought you said MONEY, that's what I care about.

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!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

It's Not What You Make, It's How You Learned To Make It

I first touched on this topic back in A.I. Started With Artists, But It's Coming For Authors, and there are some points I'd like to reiterate from that post. First and foremost, these programs are not intelligence, artificial or otherwise. They're just pattern-recognition software that sucks up data, and spits it back out at you. They're mimics that, more often than not, we anthropomorphisize so that we think they're smarter than they are. To reiterate, this is not a Terminator-style apocalypse; we are dealing with parrot programs that can do nothing except spit out various combinations of what's been put into them.

Which brings us to the second point. The reason people hate these programs is not because they're so much better than creators of all stripes. It's not because they, "allow anyone to make art/write a book," as so many out there claim when they get hate for using these programs. It's because they were fed stolen work to use as the basis for all of their creations. They are, quite literally, the product of theft. It's one of the main reasons the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that A.I. art cannot be copywritten.

Share these? With you? Why would I do that?

There are, for example, programs out there that don't use stolen material to train on, but which still generate results that can be used from what's in their database. For example, I recently talked about The Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou, which is something that I've used for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age TTRPG setting. I've generated dozens of maps of fantasy cities and towns using the push of a button, and then once I have a map I can fill in the details myself, and breathe life into the project. There have been generators for character names, random writing prompts, and more available for decades, and there are a lot of writers who've made use of those.

The generative aspect of these programs isn't the problem. If you were to take a generator and train it on public domain works like H.P. Lovecraft stories, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, or even paintings from Renaissance masters, no one would have a problem with that. Whether you used the results of these programs as inspiration for your own stories, or just to create cool cover art, you wouldn't be stealing work from anyone. You couldn't copyright anything created with the program, either, but if you're just using it for inspiration (or you don't care about making money) then that wouldn't be an issue.

But that's not how these programs are being used. Instead, businesses and corporations are stealing the work already created by artists, and they're being used to try to rip off those artists, authors, screen writers, etc. A classic example is Jane Friedman, who had to fight Amazon to have books with her name on them that were written by A.I. removed. Because if a business can pay nothing to get the material they're selling, and then make pure profit off of it, they're going to do that. Period. End of story.

So if you're wondering why so many creatives are angry at the proliferation of so-called A.I. programs, examine the source material that they're trained on. Because there are dozens upon dozens of prompts, machines, and engines that can spit out everything from fantasy cities to story prompts, but those which don't use material that was stolen from creatives don't generate any outrage.

When you're taking sides on an issue like this, look at who's on which side of the line. Then ask yourself if tech bros and corporations have ever been the good guys when it comes to situations like this.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

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!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

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!