@marywhal / marywhal.tumblr.com
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[i.d. version of the “don’t make me tap the sign” simpsons meme. in the first panel a bus driver says “don’t make me tap the sign.” while driving. the second panel is a close up of the sign the driver is tapping. it reads “random BIPOC on the internet are not here to be your educators. either compensate them for their time and advice, or reach out to experts within that community that educate as their job. also, google is free.” end i.d.]
He was so real for this.
I love how certain things are validated in the new extra, like how Shen Yuan handles grief. Shen Yuan “dies” in his world, transmigrates into a new world, and has to grapple with the fact that he will never see his loved ones again. How does he handle it? By throwing himself into his new role as Shen Qingqiu and attempting to minimize thoughts about his family. Shen Yuan gets unceremoniously thrown back into his original world and original body without any way of getting back home to his husband or any guarantee that he can. How does he deal? By throwing himself into the role of filial son and good brother trying not to worry his family who he hasn’t seen in over a decade with his “temporary medical emergency.”
If nothing else, mxtx has remained completely consistent with her characterizations even 10 years out from the novel’s publishing. Really love that for her!
the greatest thing about having a cat is it just scratches my inherent itch to be annoying. life is just so much better when you can walk through your living room and point at the animal minding her own business on the couch and go “itsababyyyyy” in a really fucking stupid voice
minute rice? forsooth. twould be far stranger if the rice were not minute, but rather enormous
Now that all 3 McElroy brothers have had vasectomies, I realized every episode of MBMBAM is now me listening to my Three Wise Eunuch Advisors
HEY, UH
The people who are putting my tiny self published book (Here, the World Entire, aka the book I poured my whole dang soul into!) up on piracy sites / requesting a pdf of my book on piracy sites:
CAN YOU LITERALLY THE FUCK NOT
I’m very glad that people want to read my book! It brings me joy that I very truly cannot even begin to explain! It’s basically my dream come true! But please don’t steal my work!
I don’t have the backing of a big publishing house. I self published, so there’s no advance for me. The only money I make off that book is through sales, and although it’s not a lot at all per sale, it’s the only source of income that book produces. I very strongly believe that writers deserve to get paid for their work. That includes me.
If you want to read my book but really can’t justify using the funds you have to do so (because hey, we’re all in different financial situations, I get it), I know it’s in a couple of library systems so it’s worth trying that. I’m reluctant to send out free ebooks now because the last time I did that someone put it on a pirating site, but you’re welcome to ask and I may decide to do so on a case by case basis.
Please, please don’t pirate books. Authors really don’t generally make a lot as it is. We’re not all JK Rowling. Minimising our already low revenue stream, especially self published authors, is shitty. It actually upsets me to think that someone who follows this blog might be one of the people pirating or asking for pirated copies. If it is you and you see this, I’m asking you to stop. I will be telling you next time.
Ehhh im pretty pro.pirate if you cant afford it you cant afford it. Pirate sites get you more audience which means more people can share it.
If you wanna stiffle that be my guest.
But your only gonna damage yourself.
Literally no. Stop. Desist. This is a super Bad Take, and also incredibly inappropriate to add to my post here. Let me explain.
I don’t need exposure. I don’t need ‘audience’. That doesn’t pay my bills. That doesn’t compensate me for my months of hard work. I don’t need people to ‘share’ my work for me free of charge by stealing it and distributing it for free without my consent.
You fundamentally misunderstand how the publishing industry works. It doesn’t work by people stealing books. That sure benefits the reader, but it royally fucks over the author. Work being shared on pirating sites does absolutely sweet bugger all for me as an author. Audiences who know they can get my shit for free aren’t going to suddenly start paying for it just because they’ve now heard of me, so your comments about building an audience are asinine; it’s not building a paying audience for me, but an audience of people who steal my shit. Some audience.
I’ve sold hundreds of copies of my book based on the quailty of it (presumably; either that or my mum has been bribing people). It’s selling itself pretty well, thanks. It’s been performed as a play! It has pretty good reviews! I don’t need to eschew being financially compensated in exchange for more audience, especially not if that audience isn’t going to fucking pay. An audience gained from a pirate site is useless to me. It does nothing for me. I have one book out currently. Every person who steals it is someone who doesn’t buy it. It’s another sale lost. It’s nothing gained. I don’t have a back catalogue for people to buy once they’ve heard of me. It’s theft and then fuck all benefit to me.
Writing isn’t all about making money and it’s a privilege to have your work out there and read, but it’s also work, and in a capitalist society, that merits being compensated for the acknowledgement of that work. I’m not just a money hungry piece of shit (or I’d have priced my book at an actually decent profit margin) but I need money to, y'know, eat. Writing is one way I do that. I can’t do that if people steal my work.
I don’t give half a sodden shit if you’re pro pirate. I’m not, and it’s my livelihood on the line here, so maybe consider people’s feelings before adding your two cents to a post. You’ve basically just ignored my feelings completely in order to add your spicy hot take to a post because apparently your misinformed opinion is more important than my livelihood. It’s not. There’s a time and a place to espouse your viewpoint. This was categorically not it.
Bought a copy, it looks dope.
Piracy, like a lot of things in life, is a subject with nuance. If you are curious to see a big blockbuster made by a major movie company that’s raked in millions in a single weekend but you don’t want to add your money to those millions because you think the series has taken a sharp dive in quality - you could make an argument for that.
If a billion dollar company is charging extortionate amounts for software you need for your livelihood, pirating that is between you and your conscience.
If you bought a thing but due to DRM or whatever you can no longer access the thing you bought, you can decide whether to pay again or pirate.
But pirating something from a billion dollar company is not the same as pirating a self-published book, or an indie-game, or even a book from a small press. The margins in publishing are tiny. Most authors have a second job because they earn so little from their writing. If you pirate their stuff, you’re hurting their chances to support themselves with their writing.
Libraries exist. Basically every writer I’ve met is pro-library. If you can’t afford to buy a book, get it from the library instead. In the UK, I get a few pence when people borrow books from the library (the actual system is convoluted, but it means I can earn a little bit of money from library borrows). Don’t pirate books. Whether you pirate other stuff, I’ll leave to your judgement, but seriously, pirating books directly hurts the authors.
#i would argue even pirating books from rlly popular authors from big publishing houses is super bad #like #maggie stiefvater talks about how people pirating the raven cycle books meant the series almost got cancelled half way through #cos people were pirating them rather than buying #so to the publisher it looked like no one was interested or reading them #even authors with good publishing deals arent usually rich #hearing about authors with 6 figure book deals is the exception #thats like extraordinary #i will say this time and time again #you camt pay lip service to the idea that artists should be payed for their work and then turn round and pirate books #everyones cool with paying artists until it comes to actually paying artists
Agreed; book wankery (because piracy is still too cool a word) doesn’t only harm self published authors. Owing to the current publishing revenue model, it also has the potential to destroy the income and career growth of traditionally published authors. Don’t be book wankers. Buy the thing, or borrow the thing, but don’t steal the thing.
I would like to advocate that book wankery can be okay on some specific occasions. If I’m thinking wrong, please explain to me.
For context, I boycott Amazon and live in France.
1) Disability. I don’t like buying ebooks, unless there’s no app, no DRM. I’m old-fashioned that way. When I buy a book, I buy a book. I don’t want the app to come and change my book or delete it behind my back. But I can’t read without my ears anymore, so I buy your book, pirate your ebook, and use my old robotic text-to-speech (no AI) to read the book.
2) Book doesn’t exist anymore. Anne Rice’s book have been unavailable in French for a long time, for example. Some publishers start translating and publishing a series and then stop reprinting it. In Anne Rice’s case, it was hard to find used copies at a reasonable price.
3) Testing waters. Book with disabled or queer or other representation, when you’ve never heard of the author or publisher before. When you feel like there’s a risk you’re going to give your money to something unsavory. Don’t tell me one only has to look up reviews online, because sometimes it’s full of bots, sometimes there’s none, and sometimes the book just reached an audience that doesn’t think like you do.
4) Ecology. Publisher print abroad and doesn’t use ecological paper, but charges you the same as a publishing house that do so? Don’t buy their books.
5) AI. Publisher use AI for writing, corrections, illustration, traduction, or marketing? Don’t give them money!
Book wankery is a tool that can help you spend your money better. It doesn’t mean not spending your money at all. And you can always dedicate a lil bit of your time to borrowing books you’ve pirated from your local library. You already read it, yes, but sometimes this is enough for the author to receive a bit of money.
France is important to the context because we have stronger regulations about books than what you might be used to. A book has a fixed price. It doesn’t matter where you buy it, in a supermarket or your local bookshop, it’s the same price and no one can give a discount bigger than -5%, unless it’s a used copy of course.
So when you buy a brand new 20€ book at a bookshop, here is where your money go: 1€ goes to taxes, 2€ go to the author, 4€ go to the publisher, 2€ go to the printer, 4€ go to stockage and delivery, 7€ go to the library. These numbers come from a parliamentary report from february 2011, so it’s not fresh. People were wary of ebooks and amazon at that time. I doesn’t reflect well out reality of today, with colorful limited-edition hardcover, the kindle in your pocket and audible.
Anyway, thanks to that, you know where your money goes. If you buy a book from a self-published author, you can expect there will be 6€ instead of 2 in their pocket. Buying at a bookfair? 9€ in their pocket instead fo 2!
You can be smart about what you spend and where.
Fuck off. Actually just fuck off, and then continue to fuck off, until you’ve fucked so far off that you finally have enough distance to reflect on why adding your two cents about why it’s OK Actually, in your humble opinion, to steal from authors is definitely a good thing to add to this particular Tumblr post.
I mean it. I’m getting beyond fucked off with people like you who think that ‘well, akshully, it’s fine for authors not to get paid in this specific situation!’ is an appropriate addition to make here, on this post in which I pretty thoroughly explain the ways in which authors are being fucked over by it. Make your own pro-piracy post, if you’re so moved by the plight of people who want free shit. In my Tumblr notes, though? To repeat: fuck off.
‘Testing waters. Book with disabled or queer or other representation, when you’ve never heard of the author or publisher before. When you feel like there’s a risk you’re going to give your money to something unsavory.’
my guy have you heard of this recent innovation called a fucking library
except the addition also talks about how you can borrow books from the library that you’ve previously pirated them if you really really like them…so is the idea that you only read books in a way that gives authors their due compensation if and only if they meet with your oh-so worthy approval and deign to give them a second glance?! how generous of you! it’s a good thing most authors aren’t struggling to make a living by their work, or that would be an incredibly callous and entitled thing to say!
do you want there to be more books from this author? Then buy their books. If you read the book without buying it, the sale is never registered with the publisher and the publisher thinks the book is doing bad, and won’t give the author another contract.
If you can’t afford the book, request it from your local library! A library sale/requests/etc are counted by the publisher.
By pirating, you’re directly fucking over the author, and if you like their work….bro the best chance of getting more work from them is for them to have the funds and publisher support to write another book! If you pirate, the author never gets that :<
Elizabeth's 'Cell Dress' by Kate Hawley for Frankenstein
this site is a fucking parody of itself istg
Bingqiu’s life is a shojo scene! Is this what they call love at first sight…
