Ah Monday, You Kill Me Sometimes
I would be perfectly happy to still be in bed today. Let’s get this done.
There’s a nice thoughtful piece by David Morgan-Mar (PhD, LEGO®™©etc) on his Ell-Jay about a webcomics topic we sometimes pay short shrift to: webcomickin’ for the pure pleasure of webcomickin’, with no anticipation of turning pro:
And then I find myself thinking: Hang on. If there are a few dozen webcomic authors making enough money to live on, and I’m pushing for a spot in the top 50, why am I making no money whatsoever out of my comics? (In fact, why do I pay a webhost $40 a month for the privilege of putting my comics on the Net?)
To avoid any suspense, the simple answer is that I have never treated webcomics as a way of making money. I’ve never had any expectation that maybe one day I’ll be able to run ads and sell merchandise and make some money. That “business model” has never been something I’m aiming towards.
All I’ve ever wanted out of webcomics is to do something creative, share it with people, hopefully entertain a few people, and have it as a fun hobby. Over time I’ve added a couple of other desires: To educate people with the annotations I occasionally write to accompany comics, and to raise some money for charity.
As noted on a previous occasion, Morgan-Mar is that rarest of creatures — the pro-grade amateur in the world of webcomics, who has no desire to turn pro (much like myself in the worlds of competitve rock-climbing, cricket, happying-up the ladies, and webcomics blogging). It behooves us to remember that while the word amateur has fallen into a generally negative meaning these days, its original meaning was derived from the latin amare, “to love”. A true amateur engages in a pursuit not for money or acclaim, but for the love of it. Our thanks to Dr Morgan-Mar for reminding us while some are able to turn what they love into a profession, that final step isn’t necessary to love what you do. Not everybody gets to be a pro webcomicker, but if you get out of it what you desire, then you’re pretty lucky.
- Speaking webcomickers Down Under, did you hear about how the Tourism Board of Queensland wants somebody to live on a tropical island on the Great Barrier Reef for six months and blog about how much it rocks, and they’ll pay you AUD$150,000 (approx USD$96,000 as of this writing)? Good news: it could be you! Bad news: you’ll have to compete with about 15,000 other people for the gig, one of them being webcomics’ own adventure guy, Ryan Estrada. Follow the link on Estrada’s site for his audition video and vote him up if you think it would be awesome to see one of ours get The Best Job In The World.
- Speaking of webcomics and Ryans and The Best Job In The World, I recall that Ryan North had a bit in his newsbox about a friend of his applying for the job, but it’s not there now and I maybe dreamt the entire thing? If it’s true, let us know who we could also be rooting for, Ryan (North).
- Finally, the call remains open for those who have items to donate to the Karen Ellis benefit auction. One item we know for certain will be there is the original art of the latest Planet Karen update, and Otter (of A Girl And Her Fed) is putting today’s original up for auction, complete with free shipping to North America & Europe, and kicking in $25 of her own on top. Bidding runs here until March 1st.
It’s true! It was for my friend, but she’s really got no relation to webcomics, so here I give my full support behind Ryan E!!
By Ryan on 02.23.09 3:38 pm
It’s true! It was for a friend, but she’s really not related to webcomics, so here I give my full support to Ryan E!!
By Ryan on 02.23.09 3:39 pm
I guess what I’m saying here is that it’s true and it was for a friend.
By Ryan on 02.23.09 5:32 pm
Well do let us know, Ryan! I’ll be happy to help vote another cool person into the shortlist! (assuming your friend is cool.)
By A different Ryan on 02.23.09 8:30 pm
[…] Fleen also links to Morgan-Mar’s post (so I may be getting another, bigger bump) and I’m mostly going to cover the same ground as Gary Tyrell, but I also have a far more profound thing to say about Morgan-Mar’s topic: […]
By Blog of Webcomics’ Identity Crisis: For the Love of Webcomics – MorganWick.com on 09.02.09 10:20 pm
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