[noblethrasher]

Well firstly, most of the best writing isn't produced by people that are having fun the whole time. Most of it is the result of authors showing up to work, day after day, whether they felt like it or not.

Secondly, authors aren't the only people behind a good book. As evidenced by the typical "Acknowledgements" section, there's also the reviewers, editors, typesetters, artists, as well as long-suffering spouses and kids.

But crucially, people produce their best work under some kind of coach; and coaching is not generally fun. So coaches need to be paid, which means that performers need to be paid.

[averagewall]

Yes, that's all true. But I'm talking about the case where authors aren't making much money compared to the effort they put in. What if the end product is so unuseful or so interchangable with thousands of similar free products that nobody wants to pay for it? In that case, I think it's wrong to ask somebody to give money to such an author. They're generating a product that costs more to produce than what it's worth.

Some musicians hire expensive guitar coaches, have help from friends, hire producers to record their music and in the end they're made something that nobody wants badly enough to pay for, so it's an overall loss. I'm talking about these cases. Why should we insist that somebody pay them for their time rather than how desirable their product is?