[AN: Ergofiction on how to be a weblit fan]

The idea of doing a big ask for donations kind of makes me itch, but, really, they are necessary to keep us weblit writers writing.

In my own case, for instance, as soon as I'm finished asa kraiya, which is going to be within days, I will drop to writing just one post per weekday, so that I have a schedule that, between weblit and journalism, isn't killing me. But if I was making enough money at weblit so that I could stop, or even just cut back on, journalism, I could go back up to that output.

Jan Oda, founder of the e-fanzine ergofiction, has written a very good piece explaining things like maybe the biggest mistake weblit fans make: thinking that if they can spare an amount of money, it's not enough. I quote:

If you think a book is worth $5 for the author (which is more than an author gets on a normal paperback sold through Amazon!), don’t worry whether it’ll be enough and give it to the author. If 200 people think like you, the author makes $1,000. If 2000 people think like you, he makes $10,000. Which isn’t bad for a book.

(Possibly Jan doesn't even know how much more $5 is than an author gets on a normal paperback. At least ten times as much.)

Read the whole piece here.

She also has another one up with six ways to contribute to a writer's success without spending a dime (though we writers would love to see you do both!), here. I added a seventh in a comment, and I would also add, specific to Shirley and me: come out and participate in our character chats!

UPDATE: Gabriel Gadfly has even more ideas on how to support your favourite weblit writer, here. Form a local group... disseminate flyers or bizcards... costume your favourite character... translate their work into your language... (Gabriel would host a translation of his work, and so would I.)




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