Ups and Downs of Producing Online Content

When I first discovered a copied image of mine, I honestly thought it was funny. I said to myself, “Ha! I’ve made it! I’m officially cool enough to copy.” But that was also because I assumed it was some 13-year-old dufus who made this image, not as it turned out, an MD who has a 100,000-person following on Facebook.

Dr. Rana and I duked it out through Facebook messages and discussed copyright law and his interesting interpretation of it: he seriously believed that since he “drew” this image himself, it had absolutely nothing to do with my comic. Fascinating…

Now, I don’t really mind when people share my drawings without linking me. I mean, it would be great if they did, but lots of people just don’t think about that. I get that. But when people take my stuff and slap their name on–that bothers me.

I messaged Chemists Memes about this one, 

and they quickly took it down and apologized.

Now, people have obviously told me that if I were to put a copyright notice on my drawings, this would be less likely to happen. A couple notes on this:

1. Some of my widely circulated comics like Amoeba Hugs don’t have such a signature on the actual image because, quite simply, I never thought anyone would share it. Do I suffer from low self esteem? Yes. Do I have horrible foresight? Yes. Do I put signatures on all my work now? Yes.

2. For the true online image-stealer, a copyright doesn’t dissuade them, as they are easily removed–especially mine, with the white background on most of them. To avoid this, I’d have to put a really awful water mark on my comics, and I hate that.

I mean, is this what I have to do so people know something is mine? I don’t want to. It’s ugly.

3. The main reason I don’t really sweat putting intense watermarks and copyright notices on all my comics is this: I don’t make any money from this. That’s right. I am doing this for fun. I only make money from my Beatrice alter ego indirectly–freelance writing, Amoeboid sales, etc. 

If I were trying to make money here on Beatrice with ads, then shared images on Facebook, even if properly attributed, wouldn’t make a difference. Two weeks ago my mental health comic was viewed on Facebook 2.2 million times, but I got very little traffic on my actual website. I did, however, get new readers. That makes me happy.

I wrote on Scientific American this week about why I’m jealous of youtubers. When a video is shared on social media and other websites, the creator gets credit for each and every view and can make money from embedded ads no matter where the video is viewed. There is no such platform for comics, so if I want to get paid for my Beatrice-ings, I need to do what other webcomics do: sell merch, ask for donations, and write books.

While I do have a Beatrice store, I get only the tiniest fraction of the money spent there–usually $1 per item. If I were really trying to make money, I’d buy inventory and sell it on my own, but um… that takes investment money… and time. And, yeah.

I have a donate button on the website that 2 people have pressed. While I appreciate their generosity immensely, I have no plans to begin seriously soliciting donations from my readers. That gives me the jibblies. See above regarding low self esteem.

Lastly, books. I am actually working on the first Beatrice the Biologist comic collection right now. I will do a post soon with an actual launch date and more details. 

So rest assured, I’m working on ways to protect and promote my work. If you see anyone sharing my comics without mentioning me, just comment with a link to me. And if you see someone stealing and/or taking credit for my comics, then let me know so I can unleash the beast.