The Value of Work and Womanthology
There’s currently a lot of discussion going on about how women (and creators in general) need to be paid for their work in comics and entertainment. I agree with this 1000% because I like having food and shelter and an internet connection.
However the dialogue somehow changed into anger about the Womanthology contributors not being paid for their work despite the amount of money the Kickstarter raised. And that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what the project has been about from the beginning. From day one, the book was intended to raise money for a worthy cause. And that charity was picked well before the Kickstarter was launched.
The Womanthology blog has a post that lays out the initial estimates of the distribution of funds. Contributor Amanda Deibert pointed out where the information about the goals was clearly available. And even Bleeding Cool has some coverage of the discussion.
It’s a touchy subject, and an especially personal one for me. Back in 2009, I was laid off from my job as senior SEO content writer (essentially specialized website copywriting) and found that most job listings were filled with phrases like “unpaid internship” and “build your portfolio” and “valuable experience”. It’s enough to make you want to put your fist through your monitor (which is a bad idea even when you can afford to replace it).
Keep in mind these jobs weren’t even in art or entertainment. They were positions to help give businesses a public voice and face. To spread their name and message online. Marketing that could make or break a company in the long run.
But since they saw it as only writing, it wasn’t worth paying actual money for.
In this day and age, there’s very little reason for creators to work for solely for the benefit of others to get “exposure”. Writers can start their own blog or five. Artists can create galleries of their work online and often can and do earn money by taking commissions (sadly, I have yet to see anyone interested in paying money for script pages to hang on their wall.*)
Sometimes though, it’s hard to remember that what you’re doing has potential value. Toiling away on spec scripts and hosting a webcomic for free (I should really add a Donate button, at least) and reading about how even established writers are having trouble getting paying jobs can make a viable creative career seem like it’s firmly mired in the impossible rather than just insanely difficult.
Luckily on the day-job side, I was able to find a position with a non-profit that raises money for a great cause and actually respects the work of their writers. Delicious income with a side of good karma. And quality writing to promote your cause is more essential than ever. It’s no surprise that a lot of non-profits and charities are really struggling these days. It was the fact that Womanthology was intended to be a for-charity comic anthology that drew me to the project in the first place, back when it was nothing more than a few tweets and a dream.
I agree that being paid money for creative work is essential and establishes the value of said work. That said, money isn’t the only way establish worth. The fact that what you create can help others, and that the work of aspiring professionals can help alongside that of those well-established in the field shows, at least to me, that the work created does have great value. And I don’t think anyone should begrudge those who want to give back where they can or take it as supplying more ammo to those who don’t want to pay creators their due.
tl;dr - Working for free to get exposure isn’t the same thing as working for free to support a charity and getting exposure as a side effect. See this chart.
The success of Womanthology means that there’s a whole lot of money that should be and needs to be accounted for. People will have questions and they should be asked. But there’s also a lot of information available already and everyone needs to take the time to go over it before they start throwing accusations around, especially when media outlets are picking up the story.
Spreading misinformation and distrust in the project will devalue everyone’s work far more than the contributors choosing to donate their efforts. And quite frankly, painting the creators as poor hapless ladies being taken advantage of is just a bit insulting. We’re volunteers, and we’re giving something that matters.
* If you’re interested in paying money for script pages to hang on your wall, call me. Some of my comic scripts are even color-coded!
