Yes, Publishing is a Privilege

There’s something I see a lot in author communities online, especially in Facebook Groups. An author will create a post asking for help, usually touting an AI generated cover for their book or talking about their struggles with an illustrator.

Many times they can’t find one in their budget and so are asking about turning to AI to illustrate their book. Sometimes they’ve already done that and are asking for feedback (or straight up asking people to buy their book). Other times they’re asking illustrators to cut their fees or looking for profit share models.

The specifics here don’t matter so much for what I have to say, but you get the jist of it.

Essentially, an author wants to publish the book of their heart, their masterpiece, the story that’s been calling out to them to write it.

And they justify any number of unethical or immoral practices to get it written or, more commonly in my experience, illustrated/its cover designed.

Here’s the thing that rubs me the wrong about it: the entitlement.

Because the hard truth about writing and publishing books, no matter your audience, is that it is a privilege.

Publishing Books is a Privilege… Get Over It

It’s harsh, but my stance is that you have to accept that publishing a book is a privilege and get over it.

It is a privilege to write a book. It is a privilege to be able to access the tools that help you write a better book. It’s a privilege to have the time to query a book for traditional publication. It’s a privilege to spend the money up front that it takes to self publish.

It’s not gatekeeping for people to say that time and money are legitimate barriers to writing and publishing your book. They are.

Just as with anything else in life, we are bound by the constraints of our lives. I know some authors who are writing in the space between their toddler’s naps. Others have chronic illnesses or disabilities that pose a unique challenge.

For myself, I work full-time running two businesses, and I’m a widow with four children and a zoo of pets. Finding the time to write, spending money on editors and cover designers, marketing and advertising, all of it… is a challenge.

But we all have them. We all have barriers to navigate and challenges to overcome. How you do that is part of your story of success. It doesn’t mean you are entitled to cut corners at the expense of others.

You are Not Entitled to the Labor of Others

Authors are not entitled to the labor of others because they have a dream of writing, illustrating, and/or publishing a book. I see this a lot with fiction writers using unethical means of designing book covers, and I see it with children’s book authors trying to get their books illustrated.

The story is so often the same: “I’m an author, and my dream to get this book published.”

Then inevitably next comes…

“I couldn’t afford a cover designer, so I made this with AI.”

“I can’t afford an illustrator, so I used AI.”

“Finding an illustrator in my budget has been impossible. Would anyone illustrate this in exchange for exposure or profit sharing?”

You get the idea. There’s any number of reasons I’ve seen where authors come in with a very entitled view of the writing and publication process, but just because this is your dream, doesn’t mean you are entitled to use the labor of others (including the labor of those used to train generative AI without their consent) to make your dream a reality.

No one owes you their time, energy, skills, or creativity to make your dream happen.

The AI Dilemma

No matter your personal feelings on AI and generative AI, the publishing industry has made it very clear that they do not support its use. Big 5 publishers have disclaimers about their authors and illustrators not using AI, and there have been stories recently of books being dropped being of suspected AI use.

(Like Shy Girl by Mia Ballard)

Subverting the standard that the publishing industry sets is a risky thing and not one that I typically would recommend. It’s kind of like writing a Romance and not including a Happily Ever After. Some rules are meant to be broken. Some outdated standards are meant to be subverted.

Some aren’t.

So What’s the Solution?

I mean, the simplest solution is stop being an entitled twat.

But it’s not the kindest solution, nor is it a constructive way to actually help authors facing this kind of problem.

I wish there were more resources available to help authors publish their books, but I don’t want to push this false narrative that there aren’t a myriad of ethical options, ways that don’t harm or profit from others.

Yes, they take extra time or involve some level of personal risk or aren’t a guarantee, but they exist.

Ways to Fund Your Writing and Publishing Journey

Pursue Traditional Publishing— Self-publishing is expensive, and authors are fronting all the costs of getting their books published. However, in traditional publishing, the publisher is fronting all of those costs.

Use Your Day Job— Finding time and resources to write and publish is a challenge. Think of your day job as less of a barrier and more of a funding source. View it like this: it’s not taking time away from your writing, it’s funding your writing career until your author income can take over.

Enter Writing Contests— Writing contests are often free to enter or have low entry fees. Enter writing contest to increase your notoriety as an author and use the prize money to fund things like hiring an editor, illustrator, or cover designer.

Take Out a Loan— I’m not going to go into whether this is a good option or not; you’ll have to make that determination for yourself, but taking out a loan is an option when it comes to funding your book.

Run a Kickstarter— Is running a Kickstarter campaign to publish your book a lot of nose to ground grinding in a short amount of time? Absolutely. Has it also been a great vehicle for the success of many authors? Absolutely.

Start a Patreon— Patreon is fascinating to me because I love the romanticized idea of the patrons of artists throughout history enabled them to make great art. While that’s an oversimplified version of reality, it is the basis for what Patreon is and how it functions. If you have or can grow an audience, Patreon is another viable option to find your journey.

I’m sure there are other options, like grants, to provide resources and support to authors, and I encourage you to comment below if you know of any.

At the end of the day, though, they are only tools, and publishing is a privilege. No matter how much we want everyone in the world to achieve their dreams, it’s on the authors to figure out how to make that happen, just like with anything and anyone else.

The kid who dreams of being an Olympic track runner has to have the drive to put it above all other goals, access to high level coaches and gyms to train in, parents or caregivers who can take on the task of getting them to practices and competitions.

Being an author with a dream doesn’t make you any different. It just changes what it takes to get to the finish line. You’ve still got to do the running.