Thread by @seananmcguire

Okay, well, that's a fun way to start a morning, so let's take a moment to discuss getting what you pay for, and what an author owes you.

I just got a comment on my main blog, where the Velveteen stories go up, which read, quote, "It’s been over a year since the last Velveteen post. Is Seanan no longer posting them?"

Well, one, I've talked about how my enthusiasm for Velveteen waned, a lot, when ISFic didn't make any effort to sell volume three. Why would I want to spend time and effort on something that's actively hurting me?

But okay, that's mostly been discussed on Twitter, and Twitter is a fire hose; I don't blame people for missing things when they're mentioned here. Which takes us to two:

I don't get PAID for Velveteen. Like, at all. They're not like my Patreon stories, where I am compensated for carving out the time to write and polish them; they're totally free, not locked down in any way, no firewall, no net.

I don't MIND that I don't get paid for Velveteen. I've always felt very free taking risks and doing weird shit in that setting, because I'm not getting paid. But having someone remind me that I haven't given away enough free stuff recently is not a good way to encourage me.

And maybe the comment was meant in good faith, maybe the person was genuinely curious, maybe (based on the wording) they don't realize I see all these comments. Maybe maybe maybe.

But seriously, if your comment can be read as "where's my free stuff?", maybe don't?

I promised three Velveteen stories if SPECTACULARS funded to a certain level. I'm going to keep my word, but it's going to take a little longer now; I need to grow back some enthusiasm.

I'm very tired. I don't have a conclusion, save for maybe "think about whether you're actually owed what you think you're owed, and try not to make assumptions; you may not be correct."