Working for Free (Blog)

[tatoeba]

Yep, it's possible to make a living as a painter, and very quickly. She did it by offering extra values:

valsartdiary

If she can do it, anyone can do it with any medium

[BladeRunner]

The idea of giving is rooted in receiving.

I will give much to get much or I will give and give and give and not get much back.

I will serve humanity for nothing and will find reward in the serving somehow.

Most if not all bestowal is rooted in the will to receive.

It's a trade off between the desire to give and the desire to receive.

I can create something that will aid humanity, but as part of humanity I require to receive compensation. Compensation is correct and justworthy.

Eckert Tolle while writing the Power of Now ran out of funds, he bought a lottery ticket and won $1000, this gave him the funds to finish the book which made him famous and produced much revenue for him.

There is no law that says you must give to receive. That law is fear of the natural state of existance, which is awareness, which is consciousness, which is you. Your natural state is bestowal.

You never get something when you think you don't have it. The more you think you don't have, the harder it is to get it. The world isn't witholding anything from you, you are witholding it from the world.

Dex

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Not if the publisher wants to recoup the advance in a timely manner.

Just out of curiosity, when negotiating an "advance", since I'm assuming you don't "need" the money really, do publishers normally offer a better back end deal if you dont' ask for an advance, or it doesn't matter?

I always thought that when an author takes an "advance" it's because they prefer money now (mostly cuz they're broke) in exchange for a smaller cut of the book later.

[Steve Pavlina]

To me an advance is a signal of publisher commitment. The bigger the advance, the more committed they are because they're going to want to recoup it from sales. If you're offered a very low advance, like $10K or less, the publisher doesn't have to push your book very hard to make back their money. But if you get a $100K advance, that publisher had better generate some decent sales.

[Kylark]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner

You never get something when you think you don't have it. The more you think you don't have, the harder it is to get it. The world isn't witholding anything from you, you are witholding it from the world.

I really like this!

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

To me an advance is a signal of publisher commitment. The bigger the advance, the more committed they are because they're going to want to recoup it from sales. If you're offered a very low advance, like $10K or less, the publisher doesn't have to push your book very hard to make back their money. But if you get a $100K advance, that publisher had better generate some decent sales.

That totally makes sense. Now I just need to find a publisher who wants to advance me 2.2 Million so that I know they are really committed to getting my book out there.

No, but on a serious note, it's just like when I used to run a web development company. We would take a 50% deposit on all the work done before spending a single hour doing a thing because if you don't, people don't take the project seriously and they drag their feet getting THEIR site done. When you've got 50% of their money, they magically get their S#&( together and give you the content they want on there, they make time to meet with you and move the project along.

All the sites that we tried doing without a deposit just turned into a disaster. Not because we didnt' do our job, but because the client wouldn't get us their stuff for the site, would take forever to make simple decision, etc.

Deposits and Advances can be a pretty big motivator

[munish]

Originally Posted by cdn2wheeler

Initially I was a bit annoyed at the topic.

Then I saw this, which I think is brilliant:

There is much wisdom in that statement. Well done.

Actually Steve said-

Many people have a minimum standard of living they want to maintain. I suggest you also maintain a minimum standard of giving. If you meet your minimum standard of giving, you’ll find it much easier to meet your minimum standard of living.

He also said -

If Erin worried more about the roof over our heads than the fire in our souls, she'd never be my Imzadi.

I'd rather see us both dressed in rags doing what we love than living in fear under a golden roof.

[AtlantaArtist]

I love it!
The desire to "make" money can be based on fear,
but passion for your work is always a positive creation!

I personally knew a guy who wanted to work so bad at this one cool store in Atlanta that at first he just hung out there all day, then he asked them if he could work for 'free'...they said 'okay' although it seemed a little flacky to them but they couldn't ignore his passion and value and paid him at week's end...he eventually became the a store manager of course!!

[Natsu]

I have a stict rule when working for free.

I give it for free if it's not going to be monetized.

If you are going to monetize it, you have to ask me first. If it's for an amateur fanzine which will barely cover expenses, I will grant you permission, or if it's going to be monetized for a charity cause or something, though in both cases I would ask for recognition. If you are a pro and are going to get good sounding money from the work, I will probably ask for a bit of that money.

I have nothing against working for free, as long as no one else gets any money. I am totally against working for free so other people get money. I think that a small share of that money is due if my work has helped to produce it. I think it just makes sense.