I also think people create LOLcats because it’s fun. And while that disclaimer is in place, many people are under the impression that ICHC is a little site run by a bunch of friends for a bit of fun, when in actuality there is a company behind it and that company’s goal is to make money (just like every company’s – I’m not saying that in itself is a bad thing).

The world is full of creative people who succeed in finding a rewarding outlet for their work. This is simply a cautionary tale to those creatives who seek to make a living from whatever it is that they do.

My blog is predominantly aimed at offering advice to writers, but visual artists are equally vulnerable, and for those particular readers this should serve as a gentle reminder: Creating content for the internet is all fine and dandy. Doing it for free is also absolutely fine (I’d be a hypocrite if I said otherwise). But if you ever intend your creations to become one of the few blog-to-print success stories, put your work in a place where you have control, and where, should anything come of it, you are the one that six-figure advance will go to.

I’m all for throwing money at creative people to encourage them to make more of what I like. I’m not so keen on giving money to people who are exploiting talent and good will to turn a profit.

So beware, kind reader. Posting your work to a community site (ICHC is simply the example here, but there are plenty of places which look attractive, as they promise far greater exposure for far less effort) may mean handing rights over to an unknown party who, should the community really take off, could be making hundreds of thousands of pounds from your generosity.

As for the t-shirts and other merchandise? I’ve seen no complaint, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any (or indeed that there are). I think it’s dubious practice, but that’s just me

Once more it’s in the small text of the usage of the site…

For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to Pet Holdings, you hereby grant Pet Holdings a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Websites (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels.

I think that it’s one of those things that people are going to be more wary of in the future – if they care.

Being honest I think that most people create LOLcats because it’s fun and because they want the site to succeed. Poll the people who generated the content and they’ll probably not care that they aren’t getting any money out of the deal (especially if they look at the amounts that are paid). Heck they may even buy the book in order to ‘reward’ the site that they have adopted as part of their community.

It’s a funny old thing the internet, especially the use of user generated content and it does turn around previously held ideas. Have people complained about the money that they make from their auxillary products like the t-shirts?

Well spotted, sir