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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sparkle_cz" data-source="post: 9271895" data-attributes="member: 7044879">I write RPG stuff for tiny little Czech market and budget for proper artwork is a HUGE issue here. The publishers barely sell enough books to pay for layout, grammar checks and basic administrative and graphics. Artwork is usually at loss and the publisher has to obtain it through volunteers or the writer has to co-fund it and he will never get that money back.At the same time, unfortunately, our customers demand quality artwork. They are used to foreign sourcebooks with stunning artwork and judge very harshly our low-budget and amateurish artwork and give lower ratings because of it in reviews.To make matters worse, there is one Czech project with a super-wealthy owner that pumped insane sums of money into a stunning artwork for his pet project (and he will never get that money back) but it gave the community unrealistic expectations.So now, for me as a small writer, this situatiuon is difficult. Customers don't want the author to use AI artwork, but they will also be dismissive of his work when the artwork is sub-par, and refuse to buy the product.So, my options are essentially:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Use AI artwork and face the backlash of the community</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Take a loan and pay quality authors from it, I will never see that money back</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spend a huge amount of energy trying to obtain volunteers who will do quality artwork for a fraction of a proper pay, out of friendship or pity</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spend a huge amount of energy trying to find a rich sponsor (Tried. Didn't find one.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Go with really cheap artwork that will not be that good, and face the backlash and mockery and diminished sales.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Try to combine artwork from public domain art and assets purchasable from photo banks. This will still require to pay some graphic designer who can combine it into something good looking, plus someone can still boycott it because he wouldn't appreciate the photobank assets even when they were legally purchased. Some anti-AI bot can still flag the picture as AI.</li> </ul>At this moment I am going with the last option. I will try to avoid AI. But you should know that it is exhausting that I have to deal with this issue instead of having more energy to write quality content. And I know writers from my social bubble that have given up this fight and use AI. Not because they are unethical stealing as*h*s but because they are desperate. They know that they don't have money to pay artists properly. If they are pushed too far, they will burn out and quit writing altogether.So please, if you are against AI artwork (which is understandable), at least be benevolent towards low budget art in books from small publishers. Give the work a chance even if it doesn't look visually good. Don't consider artwork quality when you rate it in reviews.I, as an author, will try to avoid AI, but I need to see some understanding and goodwill from the other side as well, or this is not sustainable.</blockquote>

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