Let’s talk about how creative labor is undervalued in our culture and how that shows up even here on Substack.

I often get complaints when I share other writers work here that, “I’m interested in this topic but I can’t read the post you shared because it’s paywalled.”

It’s not true that someone “can’t” read a paywalled post.

It would be more accurate to say, “I want to read this, but I don’t want to pay for it. I want this writer to write for me for free.”

(For those who truly “can’t” read it bc they can’t afford to pay $5-7, almost all writers I follow offer no questions asked comps. I comp ppl all the time. This note is not abt ppl in that situation.)

But for others, if they are being honest, they routinely drop that amount of money without a thought for a coffee or a cocktail or whatever.

I’m not being snarky here. I’m trying to highlight how we’ve all been conditioned to undervalue creative work.

It’s hard to think of another industry where ppl would be annoyed bc they had to pay $5-7 dollars for another persons labor. And yes ppl tell me it’s “annoying” that I linked to a paywalled post. (You can sign up for one month and then unsubscribe if all you want to do is read that one article; tho you get a lot more than one article for that amount typically).

Just something to ponder. I’m not trying to shame anyone. Also the generosity of so many readers here who do understand the value of creative work is incredible.

I’m just trying to highlight how most of us have been conditioned to place monetary value on things that are not that important and undervalue things that are.

We always need to be examining the mostly unconscious beliefs we have absorbed from culture—and the idea that people should write for free is definitely a common one.