when will 'if we were villains' be available to free dowload? xx
Not in our lifetime, because my publishers bought the rights so they could sell the book. If they start giving it away for free, they are not recouping their investment (and a lot of people arenāt getting paid for their work). The only way publishers can afford to keep printing books is if people keep buying them.Ā
Hereās why this question is not okay: whether this is what you intended or not (intent and impact donāt always align), what youāre essentially saying when you ask an author how you can get their book for free is,Ā āI want to enjoy this piece of art you made but I donāt think itās worth ten dollars.ā That is hugely insulting and hugely demoralizing, not only to the person who wrote the damn book, but to the agents, editors, copyeditors, designers, publicists, and everyone else who worked on it for (literally) years. The age of streaming and $1.99 eBook deals has fostered the idea that we should have all the art and media we want at our fingertips without spending any more for it than we would for a cup of drip coffee at a high school bake sale. Itās really important to keep in mindāespecially on Tumblr where a lot of art circulates without the artistās knowledge or permissionāthatĀ art is not charity.Ā An exceptionally fortunate artist who doesnāt need the money may choose to give their art away, but you should never assume that art is charity or treat it as such.Ā Art is work, youāre not entitled to it, and not paying artists (or not paying them enough) for their work not only jeopardizes their livelihoods, but it perpetuates the idea that art is (or should be) cheap.Ā
The art-is-cheap mentality is actually (ironically) why things like movie and concert tickets have become so prohibitively expensive; because people can stream everything with Netflix or Spotify and no longer pay to own movies or albums, the entertainment industry has had to compensate for that lost revenue by jacking up ticket prices, so a concert ticket that would have cost about $30 forty years ago often costs ten times that now (yes, I adjusted for inflation). What you have to remember about books in particular is that authors donāt do stadium tours. They donāt get paid for book tours; they just hope it helps them sell the book. Most authors are not Stephanie Meyer, runaway bestsellers, or billionaires. Most have to have two jobs at least just to make ends meet.Ā Most authors do not make enough to give their work away for free. Moreover, book sales are often what enable an author to publish another book and (1) continue to make art and (2) continue to provide for themselves.Ā
The good news is, that means most authors understand what itās like to be broke. They know exactly what itās like to want that hardcover and know thereās no way you can afford it. They sympathize. Theyāve been there. If you canāt afford a book, get it from the library or wait until you can. The world is not ideal and weād all like to be able to afford to buy whatever book we want as soon as it hits shelves, but thatās not the case, and pressuring or guilt-tripping artists to give their work away for free or telling them in so many words that their work is practically worthless is not the answer, because that kind of stuff makes us not want to make art at all.
theartofmadeline
gracieabrams
amandla
gummygunk
stormborns
