How authors can stand out by defying logic

How can you break capitalism today, even a little bit, for fun and profit? Explore how financially reckless decisions, like giving away high-value content for free, can help you succeed.

Hi,

The publishing industry, like most sectors of our economy, operates on careful calculations of profit and loss. Publishers need to justify every investment, agents need to secure favorable deals, and authors are expected to treat their work as a product to be protected and monetized. Capitalism's core assumption is that rational actors will always maximize their financial returns. But what if breaking these rules could actually help authors succeed?

Consider how capitalism shapes the modern author's journey. Traditional wisdom says to guard your work carefully, publish only through established channels, and never give away what you could sell. This makes perfect sense within capitalism's framework, where every resource must be monetized for maximum profit.

Publishers, operating under shareholder expectations and market pressures, literally cannot afford to be systematically generous. They must protect their assets, maintain their profit margins, and justify every decision in financ…