As self-employed, self-published webcomic people, we make well below minimum wage. We also make well below industry wages. Just for kicks, last night I tallied up what it SHOULD have cost to pay us low-end industry rates to do the same jobs we already did for free on the first volume of Errant Story... simplified down to just writing, art, and lettering. The answer? $43,000, give or take, before it ever goes to print. There are about 180 content pages in a volume, which is a little more than a year's worth of updates. So, essentially, every year since 2000, my husband has put about $40,000 worth of work up on the internet, 100% free for the enjoyment of his fans. That's $480,000 worth of comic work. And yet we still get complaints if we miss updates, and get landed on if we say, "Hey, if you like the comic, could you buy our stuff or donate or something? We kinda need to pay our bills."

I love our fans (I was one!), and I love what we do... but the attitude of entitlement about it sometimes makes me want to chew through iron. Books always came from the library growing up, and these days they mostly still do (see above lack of income), but when I love a series, I buy those books.* New. Then I lend the first one to everyone I know. It's not about a need to own things, it's about a need to support what I love. That matters.

* Yours are on that list.