Torus Link by Yasmine Pirouz

Please support Torus Link… if you want to and are able.

Author’s note:
When I first started sharing Torus Link online in 2015, I had the initial idea to make it entirely for free, asking nothing in return. That is— don’t apply for advertisements; don’t sell any paraphernalia such as toys, shirts, etc., and don’t even ask for donations. I wanted to do this because I fervently believed… and still do… that TL is a *gift*; meant to help the world be a better place, and thus be as freely accessible as it ever can be to everyone.

Time, tough experiences, and advice from all around me convinced me to break with this initial idea. There just is no surviving in this world— e.g. paying for online space, buying art materials, eating food, and sacrificing all that I do to make TL as the full-time job it is— without being paid to do it.

But… this said…

When I tried to follow the standard ways of making money through my comic— I went from adding banner ads to my site (until the smaller, more communal company I had joined got chewed up by a larger company which wouldn’t give ads to a ‘smaller site like mine’), to selling cards and prints of the TL cast in shows and shops (which mostly saw customers completely making no connection to TL’s tale; just buying “a pretty design”; some attempting to shortchange me; others saying ‘I need to have other stories too or executives won’t hire me’, and some seeing me as just someone to hit on… never even mind selling anything)… to eventually, eventually selling TL Vol. 1 book copies in my own online shop…

…Which yes, are there for sale now… as I openly regret the reality that me selling a copy for a reasonable price where I am is equally the price of someone’s entire paycheck somewhere else in the world, all because of the inequities between us.

For the greatest part of every commercial venture I have tried, and even still do… so much that I can’t name it all outside of TL’s pages… it has ultimately felt like a space where I’ve simply learned more and more about why it was, and/or is, broken for the ways we don’t all see each other’s value.

While on the other hand, equally throughout each venture, someone also always *linked* to me too—- pointing out what really needed to be my focus in order to make things whole:

“It’s obvious you’re not in this for the money.”
“I think the world could use a story like yours, for how divided we are.”
“I sense this is made to help people— I feel like my niece who’s been abused could use this.”

…Such that now, everything I make of TL at its core, I give first and foremost for free. I will always continue to do this to the best of my ability, no matter what money I do or don’t get in exchange. It’s my way to help in what I know is an imbalance, but it is also limited where I have to rely on help just the same. So if you have the means as you see TL’s true value, I ask you to give what you can to help me afford to be able to do this. This is how TL gets to help the world and mend the ties between all of us.

For any amount you give, you have my thanks.****

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