The question was asked (paraphrased) : “Do you, as a writer, want to get paid for your work, or earn royalties?”

As a writer, I want to get paid. One of my ideas to achieve that is by releasing sponsored, CC licensed versions of some of my stories. They can be downloaded and shared freely once so licensed.

These are four very short stories I’d like to release in such a way:

All were previously published in Bytes (a short & flash fiction collection title of mine that is no longer available for purchase).

I’ve set the goal amounts for each based on 5 cents per word. Sponsoring them allows an independent author to get paid for her work (and pay some med bills!), and makes them free to everyone from the moment the goal amount on each is reached. They will be released in DRM free PDF format, available for download on my site(s) and Smashwords. They will not be released in any other fashion (as either an unsponsored version or as part of a future collection that requires purchase).

A $5 (USD) donation will get you listed as a sponsor in the ebook you select.

Ex. “Precious Illusions has been brought to you by the generosity of the following: (list of sponsors’ names; can be linked to your website/blog)

This is my chosen CC license:

Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

cc by-nc-nd

If interested in sponsoring one or more of them, here’s how:

I appreciate your time in reading this!

Excerpts:

Another Adventure | It Was Necessary | Stay with Me | Precious Illusions

Amid the dire predictions for publishing, the fumbling about with ebook pricing and the growing hysteria over book piracy, one thing has become perfectly clear: authors need to adapt.

What may not be so clear is that authors can get paid for their work without restricting either availability of it or readers’ convenience.

Read more »

I haven’t seen a big announcement about it, but last week, while making changes to a few of my ebooks distributed through Amazon, I noticed the following:

Personally, I immediately switched all my titles as shown: Do not enable digital rights management.

Hit the ‘publish’ button, and now they’re all DRM free at Amazon. It only took a couple of days.

Since people are still talking about Kindle versions of ebooks being DRMed, I think this has slipped under the radar. Most of those who choose Amazon as a distribution platform likely aren’t aware they now have a choice.

Just thought I’d try spreading the word a bit.

Basically, this is a test of a new sort of ‘business model’.

I will release a free to download, sponsored/ad-supported version of Resurgence in PDF, DRM free format with a Creative Commons license (free to share/attribution/non-commercial/no alteration/deriatives) if there are people willing to donate to make such a version available.

The donations will be my compensation as the author.

Resurgence is a short story/longer flash fiction piece of 2, 263 word count. It’s sci fi/fantasy.

Compensation amount is $ 113.15 ( five (5) cents per word).

Donate $5 or more, and you’ll be listed at the front of the sponsored version as one of the people who’ve made it available for free download. Your name and/or web site link, whichever you choose. The sponsored version will be available here, at my imprint site, and at Smashwords, and hopefully on other people’s web sites shortly thereafter.

The unsponsored version will remain available for purchase for those readers who’d rather not have ‘ads’ in their ebooks (it’s only 99 cents at full cover price).

If the response is good, I’ll do the same for more titles with different sponsorship options.

Do you want to set Resurgence free? Donate!