sustainable funding models

[mizkit]

Somebody in comments asked, more or less, what this “sustainable funding model” thing with the Hot Time novella was, so now that I am feeling less damaged than yesterday (my toe is now wonderfully purple. It doesn’t hurt as much and is healing up fine) I thought I’d try to address it.

Gratuitously, though, I’m going to mention at the top rather

Comments

[drivingblind]

You are so awesome to me right now (shock) for giving out this kind of detail and perspective. Thanks!

[mizkit]

My pleasure! :)

[robertlfleck]

Fascinating, and another good arrow to have in a writer's quiver.

Of course, I think the current version of old-world patronage is actually called "a spouse with a stable job." ;-)

Changing business models and disruptive innovation

[amberley]

Good luck with the Novella sale! Although taking it off the market after a limited time seems strange to me: what's the value of having written words that aren't earning anything? But maybe it's a useful experiment to see if the potential scarcity (act now or you'll never see it!) outweighs the desire of some future fan to give you money. Turning away money seems odd to me

Re: Changing business models and disruptive innovation

[mizkit]

Although taking it off the market after a limited time seems strange to me: what's the value of having written words that aren't earning anything?

Ah. I should've mentioned that, but forgot to. The value is that traditional publishers still generally prefer material that hasn't been hanging around online, and the publisher most likely to pick this story up--Luna, who published the Negotiator books--feels that way Very Strongly Indeed.

Amanda Palmer's in a whole different league than I am, engagement to Neil Gaiman nonwithstanding. :)

And yeah, the price per word has come out much more like 4 cents a word (maybe 5, with the people who've now bought in), so it's a damned bargain, if you ask me. :)

Re: Changing business models and disruptive innovation

[pers1stence]

Also, there's a certain psychological value to the ideas of urgency and exclusivity. Those two concepts are what underlie a large portion of fundraising for nonprofit charities. Anytime you can create a sense of those things, no matter if they are merely perceptual rather than actual, your results (response rates and actual $ raised) will be higher.

Urgency gets people off their arse and motivates them to actual pony up their money, rather than either a)re-thinking the purchase or b)meaning to make the purchase but not ever getting around to it.

Exclusivity/insider access helps create buzz and makes people feel special. People will pay for that; isn't that part of why people go to conventions and attend panels? Or join fan clubs or forums where the creative/expert authorities hang out?

Time-limited offers in this context work on both those principles, on top of the one that Catie mentions above about publisher preference.

Re: Changing business models and disruptive innovation

[bryant]

I think one of the important things about Hot Time is that it's an experiment in the directions that Cory Doctorow and most crowd-funders aren't taking -- i.e., it's not winding up as a freebie. Personally I'm a huge fan of the Creative Commons and so on, but I think it's really important that other directions also be explored, else how will we know?

(Michael Stackpole may know. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was the single author making the most from direct online ebook sales.)

[sixteenbynine]

I agree with the "1000 true fans" perspective, including the caveat that finding that many true fans is an extremely difficult endeavor. Fans all have varying levels of commitment. But if you can find a way to satisfy their different commitments, then you have more of a chance of making them into long-term fans of one kind or another, and driving the total up.

I'm considering a "crowdfunded" project akin to the one described here, although as you have hinted, this is not something that is meant to replace existing work but to augment it. In my case, it isn't meant to replace either my other self-published work or my day job. (My day job situation is precarious enough; I'm no longer employed fulltime.)

So I'm curious to see where this goes, in both our cases.