Would you sell out?

Saskatoonistan · Apr 30, 2009

I alluded to my strong desire to sell out for all the money on this thread. So, I put it out to the universe, would you sell out? (Selling out can mean pumping out mediocre housewife porn for quick cash or writing angsty YA fiction with werethings and the usual emo vampire dudes that young ladies seem to be attracted to these days.)

If you were to sell out, would you become more eccentric than you already are?

Cassiopeia · Apr 30, 2009

Selling out to me means compromising and giving up on my ethics and values. I'd never do it. EVER.

Prawn · Apr 30, 2009

Saskatoonistan said:
Selling out can mean pumping out mediocre housewife porn

I am insulted. I write excellent housewife porn!

Cyia · Apr 30, 2009

I write vampires, and there's no selling out involved.

mscelina · Apr 30, 2009

Wow. How easily people hop on their high horses today!

Writing any genre is NOT selling out. To say that it is is insulting and downright silly.

HelloKiddo · Apr 30, 2009

Would you sell out?

Yes

If you were to sell out, would you become more eccentric than you already are?

I don't understand this question. Wouldn't selling out make us less eccentric? My logic is that if we just produced in mass quantities what the public wanted we wouldn't be caving into into our inner weirdness. Our art would be "normalized" and, in my view, the artistic aspect of our personalities would then be pretty much lost.

Unless you mean, would we cave even further into that weirdness in our private lives to compensate for what we're losing through our lost art?

To that my answer is...I don't know :Shrug:

Cassiopeia · Apr 30, 2009

I don't think I said that writing in any genre is selling out. I believe I was saying I would NOT sell out my ethics and values. Though I can see the confusion given the OP's post.

The Lonely One · Apr 30, 2009

No selling out.

Yes more eccentric.

Yes clowns on unicycles.

Saskatoonistan · Apr 30, 2009

HelloKiddo said:
Yes

Unless you mean, would we cave even further into that weirdness in our private lives to compensate for what we're losing through our lost art?

To that my answer is...I don't know

I am talking, so rich you go Michael Jacksony and stuff like that.

Williebee · Apr 30, 2009

rich =/= "Michael Jacksony"

Clowns on unicycles? Count me in.

Selling out... It's an interesting idea. Problem is, it assumes someone is buying.

Ken · Apr 30, 2009

... I cut compromises. In my present project I am toning down the experimental and eccentric nature of the work, because I know that if I didn't the work would be a difficult sell. So I guess in a way I am selling out. I want to be published, though, so I really don't seem to have much choice in the matter. And again, the compromises I'm making aren't all that extensive. Kudos to those who don't need to make any at all!

telindor · Apr 30, 2009

Writing housewife porn could not make me rich enough to go Michael Jacksony. I can't write that stuff. It's not a matter of selling out, it's just not what I'm good at. As for the people who can get rich writing it, well, if they're rich it's only because they're because they're good at it. It's not selling out when it's what you want to do. If they weren't doing it with passion, if it wasn't what they were called to do, they wouldn't be making any money either.

Parametric · Apr 30, 2009

If what I was writing made me stupendously rich, I'd take it as a sign that I was not selling out. Then I'd take a swan dive into a swimming pool full of cash.

KTC · Apr 30, 2009

I wouldn't sell out. I don't give a flying Pop Tart about money...so there is no motivation for me to sell out. I'm not waiting for the world to love me...so there's no motivation to sell out. Who cares. I mean, really. You live, you die. Do what you want to do when you want to do it. Don't compromise anything just to sell out for glory/money or anything else.

crazynance · Apr 30, 2009

*ponders flying pop tarts*

me too either, KTC.
I have heard of authors who really want to write in one genre, but are able to support themselves by writing, for instance, Hardy Boys books..
was he selling out? maybe. Did he get to keep writing and eating? Yes. S'all good.
I am still on my first edit of my first novel, ask me in ten years.

The Lonely One · Apr 30, 2009

Parametric said:
If what I was writing made me stupendously rich, I'd take it as a sign that I was not selling out. Then I'd take a swan dive into a swimming pool full of cash.

And change your name to Scrooge McDuck.

Williebee · Apr 30, 2009

flying pop tarts WHAT!!

Great. They made pop tarts fly, and my little car is STILL just sitting there on the road.

grumblmumblegrump...

Matera the Mad · Apr 30, 2009

Silly question. I can't. I'm too much like my MC.

dgiharris · Apr 30, 2009

mscelina said:
Wow. How easily people hop on their high horses today!

Writing any genre is NOT selling out. To say that it is is insulting and downright silly.

I have to agree. If a publisher wants a certain kind of story, and they want me to write said story, then I will write it if the price is right.

Why is that selling out?

I think sometimes as writers we over romanticize our works, as if our stories are dictated by a burning bush.

We really have to get over ourselves. In the end, we are all whores, working for our Johns

That is pretty much the entire basis of our economy. Sure, there are nicer words to use, but in the end, we do it for money. And if we're lucky, we do it for a shitload of money.

Of course, there are fringe benefits like reader enjoyment and gratification that we've written something others enjoy. But, I remember my first 'check' from a publisher.

That feeling was better than sex. From that moment on, I put on six inch clear plastic heels, fish nets stockings, and write for whomever wants some of my goodies

Mel...

Shweta · Apr 30, 2009

It seems to me there are better ways to make a lot of money than writing stuff you don't want to, especially if you're someone who cannot sell the stuff you do love yet.

But hey, if someone wanted to offer me so much money for a year's work that I would be able to do my own thing for the rest of my life? Hell yeah, I'd do it, once current projects were completed (and while they were being shopped around). But I'd do it as well as I possibly could, and probably get pretty enthusiastic about it, and I wouldn't see it as selling out :Shrug:

ishtar'sgate · Apr 30, 2009

Saskatoonistan said:
So, I put it out to the universe, would you sell out? (Selling out can mean pumping out mediocre housewife porn for quick cash or writing angsty YA fiction with werethings and the usual emo vampire dudes that young ladies seem to be attracted to these days.)

If you were to sell out, would you become more eccentric than you already are?

I don't think selling out means writing in a particular genre. I assume you mean writing specifically for a genre that sells well instead of in the genre you're passionate about. Me, I couldn't do it. I think if I wrote to chase the money my writing would suffer. I write what consumes my imagination.
As for eccentricity, I'm pretty common stuff - nothing unconventional about me.

icerose · Apr 30, 2009

I write all the time outside my normal genres and not over projects I particularly love.

Hello, it's called a career not selling out.

KikiteNeko · Apr 30, 2009

Would I sell out for my writing? No.

Would I cover myself in body glitter and pretend to like Twilight for a million dollars? Yes.

Pagey's_Girl · Apr 30, 2009

According to some of my friends, I sold out the day I started my first job with a big company.

Seriously though, for me, it would involve compromising my morals/ethics just to make a quick buck. Writing outside my genre just isn't the same thing. (That's assuming it's a genre I can write something in that doesn't totally suck, that is. For instance, you wouldn't want me to write a spy thriller for you. You really wouldn't - unless you wanted an unintentional comedy of errors.)

Devil Ledbetter · Apr 30, 2009

KTC said:
I wouldn't sell out. I don't give a flying Pop Tart about money...so there is no motivation for me to sell out. I'm not waiting for the world to love me...so there's no motivation to sell out. Who cares. I mean, really. You live, you die. Do what you want to do when you want to do it. Don't compromise anything just to sell out for glory/money or anything else.

Kevin said exactly what I was thinking.

Would you sell out?

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