Blog / 2018 / Not Like Any Other Business
June 7, 2018
Artists are usually on their own running their business, doing the freelance thing. It’s difficult. And when people conflate us with companies, it’s only harder.
For example, a few years ago, I published my book Crime Against Nature and, at that time, I was using a particular platform to distribute free PDFs of the book. The platform needed the email address of anyone who wanted the e-book because it automatically sent a link to the person requesting the PDF. When I went through the emails of everyone wh’d asked for the book—and there were a lot because Boing Boing did an article about the book—a significant portion of the emails were angry coded messages like: F***You@NotGivingMyEmailAddress.com
And I get it. People are fed up with companies ripping off their information and spamming them, so they lash out. But the fact that they’re lashing out at individual artists means that people think the art business is like any other business. It’s not, and I get more into just how different it is in this half hour video about how artists make money.
Art is the love of other humans made tangible across space and time. When a person can’t get a hug from a friend, art is there to make them feel seen and understood. Please share my work with your favorite people!
Maybe this post made you think of something you want to tell me? I’d love to hear from you.
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