The July issue of Clarkesworld went up while I was asleep, and I’m just getting round to reading parts of it. There is fiction by Tobias S. Buckell and Lisa Hannet. There’s the second part of Jeremy L.C. Jones’ fascinating mind meld of editors, and an interview with Jim C. Hines. And finally there’s an editorial by Neil about the way the online fiction market is developing. As Neil points out, more and more people are publishing free online and asking for donations from those who can afford it. All too often this is from necessity, as has been the case with Cat Valente and Tim Pratt. However, it would not surprise me to see this become the norm. As I recall, Amanda Palmer is saying much the same thing about the music business.
Neil ends with a short plea that I’d like to echo:
Spreading the word about user-supported fiction is easy and requires only a little of your time. So, aside from telling you to go read Catherynne’s and Tim’s wonderful new stories and asking you to consider tossing a coin in the hat, I’m going to ask you to pick three or four online fiction ventures and (if you can):
- Do a review or tell people about them on your blog. Pretend it’s a meme if it makes it easier. Pretend it isn’t if memes make you ill.
- Link to a story or the main site on Facebook and Twitter.
- Get an account on Stumbleupon and give “thumbs up†recommendations to your favorite works. (Honestly, this one is huge. A single recommendation can trigger a storm of new visitors.)
- If you are already doing these things, thank you, now go encourage others to do the same.
- Use your imagination and try something else I haven’t mentioned.
Give it a try. Sometimes, tough times can be eased by the simple measures of a group of individuals.