(I should take a minute to plug my books: Webcomics, Comic Book Fanthropology and Edward Lear & the Snargetted Flartlethants of Nonsense. Go buy them!)
At the time, I couched most of my argument in terms of employers forcing more and more people to go from full-time employees to freelancers, and thus it made sense to use the long tail to provide some level of stability.
The reality is that we live in an economy that does not want you to become a success. The whole system is catered towards keeping a wall between you and rich folks. I'm not going to try banging my head against that wall trying to knock it down, or wasting my breath shouting at it. I'm okay with not being among the super-rich, so long as I've got enough to be comfortable. What I'm trying to do -- and what I'm recommending to everyone reading this -- is to set things up now so that I can be a little more comfortable in the coming economy.Now, with that in mind, there have been an increasing number of articles over the past few years pointing to how many people are getting involved in the gig economy. More to the point, how the gig economy is being sold as a positive development by corporations when in reality, it was meant to fill the gap from people who were being left behind. From this piece on The Ringer from a couple years ago...
It’s not a coincidence that it [the phrase 'side hustle'] originated in black newspapers while Jim Crow still existed, as the concept was rooted in the idea of looking for other routes to financial stability because the “main” hustle was unavailable in a literal sense. In this way, the “side hustle” was originally an act of economic defiance. Now, the phrase has been bastardized into an advertisement for the gig economy, a way to make discounted, disposable labor seem hip.We can see all of this play out in comics in multiple forms. Creators work on their personal passion projects to have work in constant circulation, coupled with startup funds from Kickstarter. Then, if they're able, the book gets picked up by a big publisher and they're able to get wider distribution. (Although much of the promotion still falls on their shoulders.) And then they might get tapped by Marvel or DC, which they'll often happily do for the steady paycheck, but you'll find they don't turn over many of their bigger ideas and properties over to the publisher because they wouldn't get ongoing revenue from the characters' use.
This kind of perpetual hustle is often looked highly upon, but should it be? From the same Ringer article...
Performing whatever paid work is available is sometimes a necessary step to literally surviving, and working on a passion project in one’s free time can help launch a new career. Neither situation is aspirational. Both belie an economic system that is not designed to lift masses out of poverty, but rather one that both creates and maintains poverty.How many comic creators are still tabling at local conventions, even with a string of Marvel or DC credits to their name? Frankly, I see this situation as getting worse. It's certainly been exasperated since I wrote that previous piece, and I don't know that I see any signs of that changing any time soon. (Try asking any politician about "universal basic income"!)
I'll finish up with the same conclusion I wrote back in 2011...
The reality is that we live in an economy that does not want you to become a success. The whole system is catered towards keeping a wall between you and rich folks. I'm not going to try banging my head against that wall trying to knock it down, or wasting my breath shouting at it. I'm okay with not being among the super-rich, so long as I've got enough to be comfortable. What I'm trying to do -- and what I'm recommending to everyone reading this -- is to set things up now so that I can be a little more comfortable in the coming economy.
I'm no more a soothsayer than the next guy with a blog. But I see zero indication that things are going to get better any time soon. So I suggest you pay attention to what webcomic creators are doing now, because I think their business model is what's going to save your tuchus in the next decade or so.
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