I’ve written about Chris Onstad once before, when he announced Achewood was stopping down. An interview with him just went up at Comic Alliance discussing his return to Achewood. He is an artist whose work I respect, but have increasing difficulty seeing eye-to-eye with.
My understanding is that his readership is not the same as mine, in size or composition. I think though, that once you reach a certain tier of success, a particular type of reader emerges.
I have begun to see them in the last year or two, but thankfully not very many of them yet. They’re the kind of people who greet new updates only with criticism, and no semblance of enjoyment whatsoever. They appear to hate what the creator does, but they never stop reading.
It’s as if they want to impress you with how they get your work more than you do. They live for pointing it out. And maybe, just maybe, they believe you’ll respect and/or become good friends with them on the basis of their knowledge of your failures.
This type of fan will destroy you if you let them. In the interview Onstad elaborates on the hate mail he received after stopping his strip, and how it continues even now that it’s back. I’m not at his level, and I get some bad e-mails from time to time. I’m sure he gets a dozen every single day. I don’t begrudge Onstad his bad feelings toward hateful readers, or even how one cruel e-mail wipes out the good will of the hundred nice e-mails that came before it. It really does.
But as a non-crazy reader of Achewood, I absorb his “it’s back and fuck you if you don’t like it anymore” as his cruel e-mail to me. How can I not? I didn’t dislike it, before or now! But as a creature with eyes and literacy, he is ready for me to hate him, so he is hating me first.
You have to be able to distinguish good readers from bad. One thing I’ve talked about with various creators over the last couple years is being more firm with this kind of reader — just because someone buys all your books doesn’t give them the right to hold you emotionally hostage two or three times a week via bitter, nitpicking e-mails (or worse, full-on stalking behavior at conventions). But in this interview Onstad comes off as though he believes his entire audience is that kind of reader.
I’m also concerned about what takeaways other cartoonists and the industry at large will receive from an interview, which again seems to indicate that this is how you make money on the internet:
- Produce tons of free, great content, sixteen hours a day, without any ugly capitalist concessions (like advertising, site sponsorships or merchandise)
- Beg for donations.
This just isn’t true. I think asking for donations sets an awful precedent. It turns the creator, who is already doing all the work for free, into the supplicant. Unfortunately the entitled fan is just a product of our culture: to paraphrase The Odd Couple, they just come when you cook the meat. A handful of them are unavoidable. But you can’t bend over backwards to serve them. They trade in dissatisfaction. It’s all they contain.
By making your chief revenue stream the largesse of your readership, you risk turning everyone into an entitled fan. It lacks the clarity of “you paid for a book, so you received a book. Transaction complete.” If someone sends me $100, what are they owed? What do they believe they are now owed? That’s why I don’t accept donations for my comics.*
It seems like Onstad let these people get fully under his skin. I suppose if I had that much negativity coming my way I’d get that way too. But where was the upside? The relief? The success to be built upon? Where was all the help and guidance and positivity as far as the business side of things where Achewood was concerned?
No one enjoys the business side. No artist goes into this excited about signing up for ad networks. But with Achewood’s clout, Onstad should have been able to build something way more self-sustaining than what it was.
I’m a (comparative) idiot when it comes to business, and I’m making good money! And I’m not a 19-year-old living off Cup-O-Noodles out of an apartment I split with twelve other people. I’m doing about as well now as I would be if I had stayed a software developer. I hate shipping and store inventory management too! So I found entities to do it for me! He mentions making only $3.50 off a $25 transaction. How long did that go on before he severed that partnership?? If that’s all that was out there, you couldn’t explain the success of much smaller fish such as myself.
From what little I understand about Onstad, he’s the kind of artist who wouldn’t be satisfied regurgitating running gags, or churning out toys four times a year, or putting ads on his website. I suppose that is respectable? No, it is respectable. I respect it a lot. I used to feel like that too. But maybe if he didn’t rely primarily on donations, he wouldn’t look at Achewood as this nightmarish hellwork he has to crawl back inside of to survive.
Or maybe I’m misreading. Maybe he is re-energized to come back to the strip. I just didn’t get that impression from the interview. It doesn’t… sound like… he likes what he’s doing. Or what he’s finding it necessary to do.
I have learned that, at some point, you have to make concessions to commerce in order to continue doing the thing that you and your audience love — and hopefully will continue to love. There is a balance to strike that doesn’t involve selling the movie rights to your strip to an IP farm and cashing in on a rancid animated version with celebrity voices. Seeing a return on your work helps ward off the negativity and despair. There is no shame in trying to achieve that.
I’m sure he wasn’t having fun with Achewood if he was worried the lights weren’t going to stay on. But my God, he of any of us must have had revenue options beyond “I hope you’ll consider giving me a dollar.”
* It’s also why I was mad about being associated with Kachingle, a site that took donations on your behalf. I don’t want the money — I want to control how people relate to my work. I want your first experience with me to be “read these for free, and I also make books!” not “read these for free, and I also need lunch.”
I think the scariest thing I take out of this is that people actually like Achewood.
Aside from that, I like the way you do things. The sheer amount of content that you have had a hand in is enormous. I love the amount of things you put out, and enjoy giving you my money because it seems like you're always working on many things. So keep it up Kris, and thanks for all you do!
I think the most frustrating about this is that Onstad doesn't want to deal with merchandise or advertising but then still expects to get paid. Like he's projecting his feelings of entitlement onto his readers. And all that does is make me NOT want to read Achewood.
It really didn't sound like he is happy to be back, and that's too bad. As much as I like achewood, the whole interview had kind of a whining vibe that was really kind of annoying. I understand how awful negative comments can be, but I feel like if you're writing things on the internet you're kind of putting yourself out there for it. It might not be right, but that's the way it is.
I've read achewood since he first started writing, and I was always happy to buy books and prints, or go to his signing when he was in town, but I've never once been tempted to put any money in his tip jar.
I actually feel weird giving donations. I would much rather buy something from an artist that I like, rather than just give them money. I don't really know how to explain it, maybe it has something to do with Donnyfightworld's comment about "projecting..feelings of entitlement."
This usually stems from not knowing how much is an appropriate donation, and it's a good reason for artists to just go ahead and set a price for a wallpaper or some other easily transferable good. Pay what you want DOES work very well for some things, however (I'm looking at you Humble Bundles/ well known musicians) but those things usually show the "average amount paid" to give you an idea on what YOU might like to pay.
I have been to Topatoco and there IS some aeswome stuff, but I don’t wear shirts with slogans or images on them, period, and I don’t wear unisex T-shirts. I only have ONE shirt that even has a printed pattern. I have ONE water glass and TWO mugs (one for coffee and one for tea) and both have huge sentimental value to me and aren’t going to be replaced unless they break. I might pick up some of the posters there are a couple I’m considering but my walls are already pretty full. It’s not that I don’t value the artists, it’s not that I don’t WANT to support them. I just happen to be outside of their merchandise’s range. It’s why I do think that having some sort of donation option from button to Flattr to whathaveyou is a good idea. In the interim, I always try to remember and click through my RSS feed even when I don’t have to, so that if any of their ad revenue is dependent on views, I contribute.
I really like the Flattr model if you want to bring donation into it. The giver sets aside a set amount to support things they love, then click the button THAT THE AUTHOR PUT, ON THAT PAGE.
The money they set aside in advance is divided among all the artists they wanted to support, less Flattr's percentage. Yes, they're getting a skim, but they're also providing a guilty free way to avoid the "but how much and how often should I give to this one versus that one…"
I should note that I don't buy merchandise because I like the webcomic. Pretty much ever. It's not about how much I love you, it's about not buying much AT ALL (I'm a bit of a minimalist that way) and VERY rarely buying anything with a logo. If I buy a thing, it is because it is the BEST example of that thing that I could find which was within my price range; a comic's adorable slogan rarely gives something that meets those criteria, but I DO want to SUPPORT them!
I'd rather have an option that lets me give creators money in a no-pressure, pre-planned, easy to manage way. *shrug*
Have you seen the stuff at TopatoCo? Most of the merchandise have no connection to the webcomics, other than being made by the same artists. According to Straub et al, t-shirts with cartoon characters on them are impossible to sell. I keep looking for shirts with my favourite characters on them but they basically don't exist. On the other hand, the shirts they do make are pretty cool, I have a whole bunch. I need clothes anyway, so why give my money to some big clothing corporation when I can give it to my favourite artists?
I have been to Topatoco and there IS some awesome stuff, but…I don't wear shirts with slogans or images on them, period, and I don't wear unisex T-shirts. I only have ONE shirt that even has a printed pattern. I have ONE water glass and TWO mugs (one for coffee and one for tea) and both have huge sentimental value to me and aren't going to be replaced unless they break.
I might pick up some of the posters – there are a couple I'm considering – but my walls are already pretty full.
It's not that I don't value the artists, it's not that I don't WANT to support them. I just happen to be outside of their merchandise's range. It's why I do think that having some sort of donation option – from button to Flattr to whathaveyou – is a good idea.
In the interim, I always try to remember and click through my RSS feed even when I don't have to, so that if any of their ad revenue is dependent on views, I contribute.
I know it's probably a fluke but my latest shirt has a main character on it and has done surprisingly well so all hope isn't lost quite yet.
I buy things from creators I like, my problem is just remembering to go back and actually buy the stuff when I get some cash. I always remember AFTER I've purchased other things and by then they are usually sold out.
To clarify my post above, I don't have a problem with creators taking donations. Someone made the point on twitter, that if you could make a living off donations then why wouldn't you? And that is an absolutely true and fair point to make. Yeah it makes me cringe to see new comics start up with a tip jar and one comic in their archive but that's a problem with the creator, it doesn't mean that tip jars are inherently flawed. Just because I wouldn't want to use one doesn't mean I should be down on other creators if they do. And maybe he's at a point where he's stuck in the middle, where Topataco or Project Wonderful can't serve his needs but he also isn't doing well enough to make dealing with a different third party worthwhile. I can get behind that.
The thing though, is why should I support someone who clearly isn't happy doing what they do? And who, by limiting their income to donations, has made it very clear that a supportive reader is someone who donates. I could just be reading too much into his hiatus blog post and that interview, but thats all I have to go on. The whole thing just makes me uncomfortable.
That? That I get. Whether it was his intent or not, that's the kind of uncomfortable that causes problems.
Cuz yeah, it's one thing to put up a tip jar. It's another thing (and I mean this generally, not regarding him particularly) to tell your audience that "if they don't give you money, you're just not going to be able to eat today." I don't generally like donation drives.
I aalcutly feel weird giving donations. I would much rather buy something from an artist that I like, rather than just give them money. I don’t really know how to explain it, maybe it has something to do with Donnyfightworld’s comment about “projecting..feelings of entitlement.”