Again, the issue is that both parties must opt in and play by the same rules.

Unfortunately, neo-patronage is entirely “opt-in,” and only a small percentage of consumers do so. Most are content to enjoy the fruits of the service an artist provides, and move on, like cattle grazing in a field not worrying about where the grass comes from.

The risk there is, of course, that when the field is over-grazed, the herd starves.

I was trying to make the point that the author earns the $$$ by giving you something you enjoy, but that's for the reader to decide, right?

I think we should all do a lot more voting with our wallet. I know I plan on it. And you know what, it wouldn't take much. $.50-$1 per podcast you listen to per month is chicken feed, but multiplied by the number of listeners it's significant.

Naturally if you're unemployed that's a different thing.

As far as your offer of production help goes, that's MUCH appreciated. I got a lot of help in producing my own by helping produce others. And I suspect if you put your offer “out there” you'll get some response.

Any chance you'll be at Balticon?

It's nice to be included in the same sentence with Cory — yeah, we share some DIY sensibilities, it's true — and we're both (he on a larger scale than me, of course) published by third parties. You mentioned Tor with Cory — my first book, “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” is published by Swarm Press and hasn't been available in it's self-published paperback form since July of 2008.

You mentioned neo-patronage. Neo-patronage doesn't have anything to do with dealing directly with a small number of fans. Neo-patronage is a compensation model that asks everyone who takes value from their experience of a piece of art to compensate the artist accordingly. The idea is that the audience is the arbiter of value… if you think the experience of reading “Brave Men Run” for free online is worth $5.00, or $20.00, or $50.00… great! If you think it's not worth anything, fine.

Under neo-patronage, if you enjoy a book, that author did, in fact, earn the right to be compensated by you, since the author provided you with a service — an experience you would not have otherwise had and, presumably, you enjoyed. So I disagree with you there — even if you haven't paid the author, they still earned the right to be paid.

When someone does work or performs a service, they deserve to be compensated — just like when you go to your day job and do your work, you deserve to be paid whether or not the boss actually pays you. You'd be put out if you didn't get paid for work you did, right?

That's the thinking behind neo-patronage. Pay what you think the work is worth, and never assume that something available “for free” has no value.

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify those points!

It seems the question of whether or not to pod cast books for free is based a lot on the motivation of the author. I got heavily (still have 20gb to listen to)into podiobooks when I 'got unemployed' at the beginning of last summer, so the FREE bit was a big bonus for me. But I have become complacent in *voting with my wallet* and not donated to the on going podcasts I regularly enjoy. Sorry writers, I DO believe your works are worth compensation as I have enjoyed your works and look forward to every episode. I will begin correcting this, even more so as I further recover from unemployment and poor financial planning on my part.

On the amount of work needed to put out a podiobook, I would like to offer something. I have been working a sound board (mainly doing live sound)since 1999 and find myself missing it quite a bit recently. I have wanted to get into mixing/production for some time. I would like to offer that help to authors wanting to podcast their work and willing to take a chance on a newbie. I will have the computer capability in a couple months to do this as well as planning on getting pro level programs to allow me to do more with excellence.

I have no idea what this will look like, just that I want to do it. If it ever adds up to more, well, that could be a fun problem to deal with should it ever come up.

Did I mention that I work cheap. Basically free. Maybe some guidance/assistance in getting what is needed to do things right, but an adult beverage or three when we meet will be fine.

Thanks for contributing to the conversation!