161 lines
7.9 KiB
TeX
161 lines
7.9 KiB
TeX
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\chapter{Are you going to sell this?}
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This was {\it not} where I thought I was going to go next. I wasn't
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really sure where I was going to go, but I had no idea that this was
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going to be even here until I was looking at some zines on Etsy, and
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thinking back to something that was asked about the journals that
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I was making yesterday.
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The friend who came over, asked if I was going to sell them, and to
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be honest, I have thought about doing so, but really I don't feel that
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is something that I really is something that I really am really able to
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do.
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There's several factors here. The journals are basically my own way of
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trying to create something that will help make it easier for me to be
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able to do what they are intended for (journaling).\todo{Journaling}
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At the time I was creating them, I was tipping in pages to a purchased
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notebook, and that was every week. It was a significant amount of
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work every week just to prepare things for the week, and honestly, I
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was feeling that was actually {\it easier} than what it was replacing.
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I know the current version isn't handling that idea as well as I had
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hoped that it would. I fully hoped to have it so that I would have
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something, which could end up solving the whole situation with it.
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It doesn't. What it does is gives me a basic replacement of the
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purchased notebook, in a smaller (fewer pages and I guess slightly
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smaller pages) format.
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It's in a lot of ways still an improvement, as it is closer to what I
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want, and I can just do some printing and assembling, with out having
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to search for something that works, and I can customise them as I work
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along with new versions.
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What would they give to other people? Well, as something I have put
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together, they would mostly be something that they would be buying
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because it's a way to show support for me.
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What I would rather do for people who might get these, is to have
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them be supporting me to support me, and I could use this as
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one of the things I might send them on a somewhat regular basis.
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Now, this is a little different. There's something here that I feel is
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of value in itself. The arguments I've stated above don't fully make
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the, ``I probably won't sell this,'' answer as easy to understand.
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There's a lot of other different things about why I can say that I
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probably won't sell this. I'll start with some of the easier answers.
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I'm likely to have trouble assembling them into something that I will
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have enough of to really be able to justify selling them. I just don't
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have the physical ability to regularly be doing the 2 hours that it
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takes to assemble maybe 5-10 in a good efficiency time, and I really
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also don't have the executive function to manage to sit down and do
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that when I do the work when I do have the physical ability to do it.
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Which also brings up yet another factor, which would be that I really
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would need to have these (or the journals) be something like \$30.00
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for a 40 page journal, if I was going to consider what I would need
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to charge in order to ``live'' off of the sales.
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Yes, it's a hand made item. Yes, that might get some people to feel
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that it's really worth it. But a \$30.00 monthly journal is not
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something I could justify spending myself even if it was perfect, and
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I really had access to that kind of money.
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This would probably be more like \$45.00 for a print version, if I were
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to do so with the intention of paying for my time.
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That is probably where the understanding ends up starting to diverging
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from the easy to understand reasons, and more into some form of
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cultural differences.
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I live in a deeply individualistic society in Canada, where there are
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some people try individually to create a more collectivist experience.
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This is not as strong as it is in U.S.A. or I think U.K.. But as someone
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who would really like to have a more collectivist world, it is difficult
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to have people who aren't already there understand that is really even a
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thing.
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I have spent time in Finland where there's not a speck of garbage
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around, or that was what it was like when I was in Finland. It's not
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that there's all these rigid rules as to what you do with the garbage.
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It is that when there's a question of, ``Will this harm others?'' or
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``Will this benefit me?'' the balance is more in the not harming others.
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The same thing when I spent time in Japan. My Japanese and my Finnish
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are both rather low in being able to use it. French is pretty low as
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well, and I spent a year in Montr\'eal Qu\'ebec, where there is a bit
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of a perception that if you're not speaking French (less so than other
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parts of the province) you can be treated rather poorly.
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The thing I found in all these spaces, was that by my sense that I
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am asking that they understand that I don't understand that well, but
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being willing to work with them, I felt way more ``at home'' in all
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these spaces, than I have in the vast majority of English speaking
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spaces.
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In related topic (and this is probably for another time)\todo{Write this
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up}, I was asked where I was from in the city I live in, and have lived
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in now for I think more than 40 years in total (and was born here).
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No, it wasn't the, ``But where are you really from?'' type thing that
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BIPOC people often report, but it did give me some sense of what that
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experience is like.\todo{Where are you really from?}
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So... Let's get back to where I was going... With a better
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understanding that I'm not really in that capitalistic/individualistic
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view that the, ``Will you be selling that?'' question seems to mostly
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be coming from, the idea of getting this in the hands of people who can
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afford to pay what it's worth, is a bit of an affront to my ideals.
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I absolutely want to make sure this will get in the hands of the people
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who I feel need to feel seen, and those are people who usually can't
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afford to pay what this would be worth, and one way that I have addressed
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that in the past (with digital goods), while still charging has been to
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have ``community copies,'' which I do wish to continue even with physical
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items.
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I certainly want to be able to have this (and the journal), at a price
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which feels like it is the price which the version would be fair in terms
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of the time I put into it. I'd also like to say that those prices will
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include prices which will allow community editions both in print and
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digital.
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Many artists, will sell stuff (even custom stuff), at a price that will
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``allow them to continue to do the art,'' and this is very
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understandable, that the main focus is to just be able to do what
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they want to, but I feel it often ends up being a bit misguided.
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Why? I feel it's two issues, but a big one is what I have seen about
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how to price your work. I have attended workshops both for independent
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business people (not for people who are in an MLM, or some other form
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of contracting with a corporation so you can be an independent person
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under their roof), and artists about how to price your work.
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Some of this has gone into huge degrees of detail about it, which I have
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to say works very well for some people, other situations have gone with
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some idea of really very simple things, which also works for some people.
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All of this pricing ends up with some sense that things are often priced
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at a rate much higher than those that artists who just are trying to
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make enough money to keep doing their art will price things at.
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The one thing particularly from the artist perspective, has been that by
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selling your work at a rate less than what it's worth, you end up
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devaluing other similar work from other artists.
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I feel this is true, though it feels that you can justify the idea of
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giving your work away more easily than you can justify underpricing your
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work. Especially if you are doing both pricing at a fair price, and
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being able to somehow get stuff free.
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So, I likely will be listing this as available for people who pay,
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though probably pricing at a premium over what I feel it is worth,
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and providing community copies to anyone who would like them (though
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in somewhat limited numbers).
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