Tip Jars and Rant Space
The fabulous Jim Hines blogged about author “tip jars” today and I find myself in perfect agreement with him. I’ve come across my fair share of online tip jars and every time it seemed to me like the author was begging for money. I’ve run across a few online magazines with tip jars as well, but I think this is a little different. Take Apex Magazine (which I just read and reviewed, so it’s fresh in my mind). Donations go to cover the operating costs of the magazine, which pays five cents a word to authors. The site is also bereft of annoying ads, isn’t hosted on a free webs site and they go very far to meet the needs of readers (offering ebook forms, audio forms, quality fiction etc).
There’s a number of other sites that do this, Clarkesworld has their Citizenship drive, Fantasy Magazine has a donate button, you get the point. There’s a difference in my mind between keeping a market going and tipping an author. Maybe it’s because as an author I feel it’s wrong to ask people to just give me money. I’ll sell you a book or an article or story, but it’s not your job to support me just because you enjoyed one of my stories.
If you do want to help support me (and honestly unlike Jim, I have to admit I could really use it) then buy a copy of Rot (if you really want to support me, you can buy a print copy instead of an ebook copy), or a copy of Private Lessons (which isn’t horror), write a review of one of my books, or recommend it to a friend, or pick up any of the anthologies and magazines I’ve been in.
But I’m not here to be supported by you, the reader, I’m here to entertain you (hopefully). And I’m here specifically, as in blogging despite a really low comment margin, because I have something to say and I enjoy having my own little space in the vastness of the web where I can say it without being jumped on, or censored or trolled.
I know you readers are out there (my webpage prove there are a lot of you) and that’s enough for me, though sometimes it does feel a little lonely around here. *cricket*