I once heard someone say that no artist would trade hard work for recognition and no pay. That is odd because that is exactly what the most successful artists do.
Some people are opposed to putting their work out for free and tire of people claiming their samples without paying for them. Now, you would think that means if you want to make any money with art, then you should hoard it all as much as possible. From what I observe, this is completely wrong. (Unfortunately, these are personal experiences, and I am not really going to go into academic or journalistic citations.)
Talking to artists at conventions, they say that their biggest sellers are the bound collections of their works, despite the entirety of the artist's archive being available for free online. Other artists, who also put the entirety of their work online, will get hounded by their fans to add a donations page to support their work. That is right, people approach them and and ask for a means of giving them money.
So, the question is, "Why are some people paying for content that is readily available while others won't pay for content that is being carefully guarded?" The reason is that people do not pay for content. They don't value it, especially when they can call it up on a screen whenever they want. It doesn't matter who owns the copy-write or where the disk is located. Once it is published, people can just pull it up Willie-Nillie! (Willie-Nillie. always gets an exclamation pint in my book!) So, what are they buying? When it comes to print copies there is a certain pride and utility of owning a physical book. People are willing to pay for that. When it comes to donations, people are not paying for the art they have already viewed. They are paying to support the art that will be made and viewed in the future. They are buying a future experiences. That is the lesson. If you want people to pay you have to trade them something they don't have.
Then the question is, "How does one get them to want it?" The rules of supply and demand would say to make it scarce. There is one problem with that; there are far too many content creators out there for art to be anywhere near scarce. One cannot even find, let alone process, all of the GOOD free content in a lifetime. So, what does one do? Well, one advertises, and good products advertise themselves. In this digital age, it doesn't even cost anything to distribute the entirety of an artist's portfolio. Well, it costs server time, and hosting fees, but those are negligible compared to printing fliers and cards. Also, the time invested in creating the content, as much as it was, is already sunk. Hording the work cannot recover that. One might as well put it out there.
Why would one do this? The reason is simple; make people want the work. Put enough out there such that they form an attachment to the work and the artist. The previous work only exists to make future sales. These sales can be physical sales such as prints and merchandise, sales of service such as commissions, contracts, and consulting fees, or overall traffic generating ad revenues and donations.
Every professional and semi-professional with whom I have talked follows this model. Now, they are mostly web-comic artists and illustrators, but I also know an up-and-coming author who just started distributing the electronic version of her first novel for free. Print copies still cost you (I have bought multiple print copies because I give them away as gifts.)
So, if you are hording your work, why are you doing it? Obviously, people don't want to have their credit stolen to or to have someone profit off of their hard work, but other than that, why are you not trying to distribute it? Are you not confident that people will love it and ask for tangible collections? Do you think they won't like it enough to want to pay you to produce more? If they don't love your work that much, then they will not pay you anything to begin with, and if they do love it that much, then they will throw money your way, sometimes without you asking. Until, you get to that relationship, just keep working on your craft and building your audience. Even when you get there, keep working on your craft and building your audience.
Anyway that is about all I have for you, and that is why I license the content on my site the way I do.
I want people to see my work. I want to use it to connect with my audience, and if they like it enough, I will try to sell them something tangible.
Links to people who follow this model:
Here is the completely awesome author about whom I was talking, Tominda Adkins. Read her books. They are amazing, and the first one is free.
http://www.vesselbooks.com/p/about-vessel.html
Every webcomic I read in the list on the right side of the screen has a complete archive for free. Many of authors make a living off of just that. I have purchased their books just because I love having a physical copy in my house and because it is a way to support them while they make more awesome web-comics. Also, some authors have been contracted for side-projects because of the notoriety they derived from their comics.
Special note: Axe-cop is available for free in it's entirety online, and it gained so much notoriety that it now has it's own cartoon show on a major network. http://axecop.com/
My Friend, Ill-Esha, is a professional composer/performing DJ who just put out an album awesome album Download it here and pay what you want: http://gravitasrecordings.com/ill-esha-open-heart-surgery/
Her main site is here: http://ill-esha.com/
Further arguments of why people don't value content:
People still purchase music despite being able to download and distribute it rather readily. Also, people still purchase concert tickets, despite being able to pull a youtube video of all of the songs whenever they want. The reason: people are buying the experience, not the music. The music is readily distributed (Both legally and illegality) Also, they are buying the right to say that they support their favorite artists.
People still purchase books despite there being libraries because people enjoy having the books in their house even after they have read them once. That is why the remaining bookstores let you read for hours without being disturbed. They aren't selling content. They are selling physical books. Even electronic books have a certain attachment to them, because, gosh-darn-it, those paper-whites are so cute.
People still pay for movies despite already knowing the story going in (especially when it is adapted from a book) The reason is that they are paying for the experience, not the content.
People buy sports tickets despite being able to turn on a TV from the comfort of their home. They want the experience of game-day, and the pride of saying they were there.
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