Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: thoughtful
  • Music: Glee, "Express Yourself."

I am considering doing a thing.

So here's the thing:

I am writing a lot of stories set in the history of the Price-Healy family, slowly pushing my way toward the modern day. There are also stories set in the present day, such as the Antimony-centric novella, "Bad Dream Girl," which is going to appear in the anthology Glitter and Mayhem. A lot of these get given away for free on my website, in a variety of formats, with covers and everything. I like keeping the canon centralized.

That said, unless an anthology is commissioning something, it can be hard to carve out the time for what is essentially unpaid work. I need to prioritize my time according to what I'm getting paid for (which is why, for example, the rate of "Velveteen vs." stories went up so sharply when I got a print contract). So...

How would people feel if I opened a "tip jar," with the understanding that for every X amount of dollars, I would add a story in one of my universes to the master list of Paid For Things? Those stories would still have to fit around everything else, but it would make them easier to schedule, and would also make my lights easier to keep on. The stories themselves would remain free on my website, so if you didn't want to donate, you could just stand back and wait for nature to take its course.

Thoughts?
Tags: contemplation, requesting things
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  • 279 comments

tuftears

March 11 2013, 23:53:19 UTC 4 years ago

I could see people wanting tchotke if they're frequent or large donators. Maybe something like 'This episode brought to you by X, Y, and Z' or 'write me in as a random bystander (unnamed but described)' or even 'write me in as someone who gets killed', or maybe physical stuff like bookmarks, bumper stickers ("My other car is a ghost pirate ship!"), I dunno!

seanan_mcguire

March 12 2013, 00:10:52 UTC 4 years ago

The point at which people want tchotke is the point at which I can't do this anymore. I'm not a trained pony, and sadly, going "X pays for my time" doesn't leave room for "X pays for my time only I have to subtract Y to make swag that I then have to distribute for free to anyone who qualifies for it."

Saying "this is optional and no one has to do it but if you do there will be new stories sooner than later" shouldn't come with strings, and when it does, I stop making myself a target for those demands.

I'm sorry if this seems strident. I know what breaks me.

tuftears

March 12 2013, 00:15:33 UTC 4 years ago

Not at all, it's quite understandable. A lot of different attitudes toward commerce and creativity are going to bump into each other on the internet, and everyone has to set their boundaries where they're comfortable and where it won't conflict with the other demands on their time and well-being. I was thinking Kickstarter, but maybe I should have been thinking 'e-busking'?

seanan_mcguire

March 12 2013, 03:11:49 UTC 4 years ago

That's actually why I'm not doing Kickstarter. This wouldn't be buying a story of X length at Y time; it would be tossing into a hat and when the hat is full, I finish the next thing in the line and you can read it for free whether you contributed or not.

elisem

March 13 2013, 03:42:03 UTC 4 years ago

it would be tossing into a hat and when the hat is full, I finish the next thing in the line and you can read it for free whether you contributed or not.

That has a beautiful simplicity to it and I like it very much.