Should Book Authors Pursue a Patronage Model?

blarkon writes "With ebook prices falling and some readers even unwilling to pay more than 99 cents for an ebook, some authors are starting to consider a move back to the patronage model that was successful in providing them with a living before the widespread use of copyright. Might such a model work or are the days where a midlist author can make a living off their work a relic of the 20th century?"

Re:1 million downloads @ 99c is still 990,000 doll

[larry bagina]

If you charge $1 to suck a dick and then suck 1 billion dicks, you'll be a billionaire!

Check out Open Design

[thirdpoliceman]

Open Design has been running patronage projects for role playing games for many years now. There system works very well. People can pay for various levels of commitment which gives them various levels of input into the design of the adventure or world being created. I'm a big fan of their work, and it has provided Open Design with a solid customer base. This [koboldquarterly.com] is a list of recent stuff going on with them. And, here [koboldquarterly.com] is a list of their current projects. If you are interested in chatting about this process, their forums [koboldquarterly.com] are fairly active.

Re:Competition

[xstonedogx]

I agree. The best horror novel ever written may be sitting on Amazon as an ebook for $0.99 right now. I'll never know, though, because it's a lot easier to just buy the next King book.

This is exactly why the big publishing houses still hold value for both the commercial writer and the reader. For the writer, it's the marketing, patronage (read: advances), and other benefits. For the reader, it's the filtering. Because someone has to actually take a chance on the work other than the author, there is a much better signal-to-noise ratio. And since there is a bigger audience word-of-mouth works better, there are more reviews, and etc.

Also, and this is a bit off topic but it should be said: anyone serious about making money off their work should probably stay away from self-publishing. Not only do you have all the disadvantages talked about above, but if you self-published the big publishing houses will not touch you.

Re:Competition

[AJWM]

Also, and this is a bit off topic but it should be said: anyone serious about making money off their work should probably stay away from self-publishing. Not only do you have all the disadvantages talked about above, but if you self-published the big publishing houses will not touch you.

This advice is a few years out of date. Just ask Amanda Hocking. Or Larry Correia. Or John Scalzi. You just have to be good.