Charlie Jane Anders has an interesting post over at io9, about science fiction writers who serialize their works and rely on the generosity of readers to donate using PayPal accounts as tip jars.

I seem to remember Stephen King trying something like this, and how it ended up. It wasn’t a financial failure for King, who is thought to have netted more than $600,000 from his foray into reader-subsidized online serializations. However, the number of paying readers diminished exponentially with each chapter released.

Still, if a writer of modest talent can achieve a devoted following and make even $10,000 over the course of their serialization, they’d be doing better than a lot of  authors who work with bonafide publishers.

(image from pastelpoetry)