docholligay replied to your post “I’m seeing a lot of posts about book piracy and authors begging people…”
it’s an extension of the fandom world- artist commissions are a given, fic commissions are poorly received, I see loads of stuff on reblogging and complimenting artists but mostly complaints about writers portrayals of characters
THIS IS TRUE.
I was about to say there’s a frustrating cognitive dissonance, because everyone always asks authors for writing advice, but I realize that’s because they think they can do it, if they just have whatever secret code/inspiration the author they ask has. It’s always very general. Just a call for advice. (And while the general answers, read a lot and START WRITING, are true and there’s not really another answer to give, they probably don’t help that perception.) I see artists get asked more specific questions– how did you get that effect, what brush did you use,etc. Or, for a non-fandom non-tumblr example, when we do events for photography books, the photographer gets asked about equipment or how they captured something specific. It’s really rare to see an author get asked about a specific skill, because I think in general they’re not seen to have specific skills.
I think a lot of people see the only difference between themselves and a writer they like is the fact that the writer has already written something. And I think things like celebrity books and Nanowrimo (which I love but takes the line that everyone can write a novel) contribute to that idea, too.
SittingOverHereDreaming 