The only support I ask is that you buy my books. If you want to help me stabilize my life, and maybe get some extras for yourself, I have three crowdfunding options: monthly patronage, intermittent sponsorships, and rare Kickstarters. I also have a one-off tip jar used towards buying rat treats.
Patronizers
Do you want to pay me for breathing? You can offer monthly support through Patreon or directly on my own store. I would prefer you use my site and avoid Patreon’s cut, of course, but whatever works for you is fine.
$5/month gets you ebooks of almost everything I write.1 Depending on how much money you toss in my hat you can get your name in books, join a monthly video hangout with me, or make me mail you print copies of everything not only signed, but made out to you personally.
Both Patreon and my store have the same benefits and cost you exactly the same. My $1/month tier is a single yearly $12 so that the credit card companies don’t siphon away $4 of it, but $5 and up can be charged monthly or quarterly or yearly.2 I would also say that my privacy policy is better than Patreon’s and more strictly enforced.
No matter which you choose, I appreciate all my Patronizers.
Sponsorships
If I’m writing a technology book you particularly want to support, you can sponsor it. Sponsoring helps with the initial expenses of writing a book, and keeps the pet rats fed as I’m making words. I mean, just look at those faces. How could anyone say no?
Sponsors get their name in ebooks, or both print and ebook. Also, I send print sponsors a physical gift.
Sponsorships go on sale after I have fulfilled the previous print sponsorship and am making words on the new project. They end when I complete the first draft of a book and send it for technical review. I have a mailing list where I announce when sponsorships open and when they’re about to end.
Kickstarter
While your Patronizing and sponsorships help me survive writing the book, occasional Kickstarters are about production expenses and improving the book. Kickstarters run for thirty days or less, so if you see one act quickly.
Again: all I ask is that you buy my books. I appreciate more support, but it’s not necessary.
- Why “almost”? I don’t have the ebook rights to the Absolute books, so I cannot legally include them.
- When someone says “Oh, I’d back you if I could pay once every leap year,” having my own store lets me say “Done, now pay up.” (You know who you are, sir.)