Tip Jar
People have been asking about this, so I figured I should post about it. Yes, we did add a "Tip Jar" paypal link to the store. There were a couple of reasons for this.
One of the main ones was to facilitate shipping issues. Sometimes, we have people who have to paypal me a few extra bucks for some faster or special shipping on a book they bought in the store. I figured it would be good to have a paypal link people could just follow and enter in any amount; that way, we could have different people send us different amounts depending on the situation.
The second reason I put up a tip jar was...well, I've had people ask me for one. I hesitated at first, but enough people inquired that--mixed with the shipping issues it could help fix--I relented.
(If you're wondering, people have asked for a tips link for cases where they read one of my books through a download, or read one of my essays or stories on the website, and wanted to send me a few bucks as a thank you.)
Now, I maintain that the best thing you can do for me--as an author--is to simply read my books. If you want to donate to my writing, then purchasing copies of my novels from your local bookseller is an excellent way to make sure I keep writing. Extra tips for the books are not needed. (Even if you borrowed the book from a friend or the library, you are helping me out by increasing demand for my works!)
This is especially true in the case of Warbreaker, where I would rather you not tip me for the book, but instead buy it (or check it out) when it is released. Tor has invested in paying editors to help me perfect the novel, and I wouldn't want the company to suffer because it let me put the novel on-line for free.
However, if you feel like throwing a few bucks my direction as a thanks for other content--like annotations, short stories, or essays I've posted--then I won't complain about that. I'll take my wife out for pizza or something. ;)
Again, though, let me stress that you don't need to feel guilty for not clicking that particular link. It's there for those who want it, but I don't want to imply that the content I put up here on the site is anything other than free. The content I post is my thank you to all of you who read my books and allow me to write full time.
posted by Brandon Sanderson at 4:30 AM
1 Comments:
I was wondering if you ever compared book statistics with Eric Flint's work here.
Link
I'm writing this because of your intro to Warbreaker, which shares the same philosophy, only it looks like you came to it independently of any actual market success with such tactics, success that Baen has had a long time to figure out one way or another.
P.S.
Btw, I wanted to mention that I find your novels refreshing in that they don't waste time with travel and description of scenery except when it is related to individual character development or perspectives.
I haven't realized just how much angst I acquired because of the amount of travel in fantasy novels until I read the Khaaven Romances by Steven Brust, Final Empire, and Elantris. Final Empire was also funny in that the prologue and the comments on the beginning of every chapter seemed like a subtle joke on plot lines that try to develop characters while traveling, instead of developing characters while they are actually accomplishing work.
Whereas many series might have taken 5 books just to tell about the "Well of Ascension", from the time it takes a person from a village to go to it I mean, you've already had these events occur before anyone has even started reading. That's not only a time saver, but it is an ingenious plot twist.
I also like your heroic portrayal of events and characters that have an actual sense of responsibility and makes good on these things in one fashion or another.
One of the reasons why I like David Weber's novels is because of the emotional impact of the characters.
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