One cannot help but wonder. Personally, I am looking at the storybowl method for a couple of works of mine, and as soon as I get them into good shape, I will give it a go...
Perhaps Cory is unable to make money in this fashion because people have come to expect him to give it away online???
I don't think Cory is at all worried about making money.
His worry is about the creative process, and about the obligation that some people think transfer of money creates.
Now, I do think he's wrong. I think it's about community, not money. People who are gonna misbehave that way think that the mere fact of being readers gives them that right, with or without money being involved. They're thinking about it as a commodity.
However. It's really unfair to decide it's just sour grapes on his part. He does get money for the stuff he puts up free online. His fans buy it anyway. But even if they didn't, he'd be okay with that. Cory is not the sort of person to have sour grapes, and jumping to that conclusion is deeply cynical in a way he just isn't.
Cory is not the sort of person to have sour grapes, and jumping to that conclusion is deeply cynical in a way he just isn't.
OK, I'm going to babble a little about this (warning! undercaffeinated author ahead!)
I know Cory very slightly -- we served on a SFWA Board together, and I think I was the SFWA Executive Director who okayed his credentials for joining the organization, 'way back in the Jurassic. Also, yanno, seen him at conventions and occasionally read boingboing.
While Cory may not be the sort of person to have sour grapes, he does have a certain tendency not to let facts get in the way of a good theory.
Case in point, a couple years back, probably at the most recent Boston Worldcon, I was in the audience at a panel Cory was on with Steve and a couple of other folks who I have forgotten (mea culpa). Cory started things rolling by announcing that writers could not make a living from their art and that, furthermore, his copyrights had never earned him one red cent. This was his schtick at the time; I think he was working for the EFN or whatever.
Anyway, Steve countered that he was making his living from his art and that his copyrights were precious to him.
Cory then did everything possible to exclude Steve from the rest of the conversation, which he was blogging as it happened.
Now... if you're gonna be a famous webguy in order to sell people books, yes, you have to be provocative, you have to be over-the-top. I don't argue with that or with Cory's career choices. What does kinda crank me up is his insistence on pushing his choices on Every Other Writer on the Planet. As jhetley says upstream, there is No One True Way.
Part of this has to do with personal need. If you've gotta have a nice house in a good neighborhood in, oh, California, for instance (I'm off Cory now and into General You territory), then your measure of "success" is somewhat above those writers who are content to live in an aging country raised ranch in an impoverished state.
I'm sure I'm shocking no one by saying that writers are in the writing game for a buncha different reasons.
Some are in it for fame. This is, IMHO, a really BAD reason to be a writer, because, face it, nobody knows who writers are.
Some are in it for the money, a slightly less-bad reason. Because, yeah, the money is better at almost any other job you can name, not to mention things like benefits.
Some writers do it because they have to write, no matter what, and they love to tell stories. This is, IMHO, the best reason, because that love is gonna come right outta the page, grab readers by the eyeballs and flow into their hearts.
Most writers write for a greater-or-lesser combination of all three reasons. Many writers never want or expect to make a living from their art. Some few writers find a way. Their way, different for each.
...and that's probably enough pre-coffee ranting for one morning.
Oh yeah, definitely not arguing that Cory's right in this case.
I'm just saying it's unfair to suggest he thinks the storyteller's bowl is a bad idea because "maybe it didn't work for him".
I have a general problem with people jumping to sour-grapes conclusions with no evidence at all. So when such a comment comes up, especially about someone I know is not that way, I make a point of mentioning that fact.
(For the record, I don't know Cory better than you do; I was one of his Clarion students last year, and that's about it.)
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Date: 2008-09-07 02:53 pm (UTC)Perhaps Cory is unable to make money in this fashion because people have come to expect him to give it away online???
As I said, one cannot help but wonder.
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Date: 2008-09-08 06:38 am (UTC)His worry is about the creative process, and about the obligation that some people think transfer of money creates.
Now, I do think he's wrong. I think it's about community, not money. People who are gonna misbehave that way think that the mere fact of being readers gives them that right, with or without money being involved. They're thinking about it as a commodity.
However. It's really unfair to decide it's just sour grapes on his part. He does get money for the stuff he puts up free online. His fans buy it anyway. But even if they didn't, he'd be okay with that. Cory is not the sort of person to have sour grapes, and jumping to that conclusion is deeply cynical in a way he just isn't.
Cory says what he does because he believes in it.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-08 11:07 am (UTC)OK, I'm going to babble a little about this (warning! undercaffeinated author ahead!)
I know Cory very slightly -- we served on a SFWA Board together, and I think I was the SFWA Executive Director who okayed his credentials for joining the organization, 'way back in the Jurassic. Also, yanno, seen him at conventions and occasionally read boingboing.
While Cory may not be the sort of person to have sour grapes, he does have a certain tendency not to let facts get in the way of a good theory.
Case in point, a couple years back, probably at the most recent Boston Worldcon, I was in the audience at a panel Cory was on with Steve and a couple of other folks who I have forgotten (mea culpa). Cory started things rolling by announcing that writers could not make a living from their art and that, furthermore, his copyrights had never earned him one red cent. This was his schtick at the time; I think he was working for the EFN or whatever.
Anyway, Steve countered that he was making his living from his art and that his copyrights were precious to him.
Cory then did everything possible to exclude Steve from the rest of the conversation, which he was blogging as it happened.
Now... if you're gonna be a famous webguy in order to sell people books, yes, you have to be provocative, you have to be over-the-top. I don't argue with that or with Cory's career choices. What does kinda crank me up is his insistence on pushing his choices on Every Other Writer on the Planet. As
Part of this has to do with personal need. If you've gotta have a nice house in a good neighborhood in, oh, California, for instance (I'm off Cory now and into General You territory), then your measure of "success" is somewhat above those writers who are content to live in an aging country raised ranch in an impoverished state.
I'm sure I'm shocking no one by saying that writers are in the writing game for a buncha different reasons.
Some are in it for fame. This is, IMHO, a really BAD reason to be a writer, because, face it, nobody knows who writers are.
Some are in it for the money, a slightly less-bad reason. Because, yeah, the money is better at almost any other job you can name, not to mention things like benefits.
Some writers do it because they have to write, no matter what, and they love to tell stories. This is, IMHO, the best reason, because that love is gonna come right outta the page, grab readers by the eyeballs and flow into their hearts.
Most writers write for a greater-or-lesser combination of all three reasons. Many writers never want or expect to make a living from their art. Some few writers find a way. Their way, different for each.
...and that's probably enough pre-coffee ranting for one morning.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-08 11:20 am (UTC)I'm just saying it's unfair to suggest he thinks the storyteller's bowl is a bad idea because "maybe it didn't work for him".
I have a general problem with people jumping to sour-grapes conclusions with no evidence at all. So when such a comment comes up, especially about someone I know is not that way, I make a point of mentioning that fact.
(For the record, I don't know Cory better than you do; I was one of his Clarion students last year, and that's about it.)