Announcing ‘Deviant Dollar’ Stories

Yesterday I tried something a little different. I wrote a short story, converted it to digital, sold it on Smashwords and here on the website. It sold for 99 cents and was called SNOWMEN.

Why did I do this? Various reasons.

The biggest being that as a writer, a content creator, I should get paid for what I create. Not Stephen King or James Cameron dollars, of course, but something. I give away free podcast novels that no one donates to…that’s the brutal truth. It seems that for people to fork over their hard earned dollars to a creator, they feel they should be getting something specific. Like a short story, a piece of art, a song or two. I’ve got hundreds, hell, maybe even a few thousand supporters of my work, yet no one donates to help me continue to do what I love to do, and what they apparently love to hear: storytelling.

That’s fine. I’m not placing the blame on any one or any model of creative output. I will continue to tell stories for free and put them up on the website. I appreciate the support and hopefully when the time comes for my book to be on shelves, you’ll go out and buy a copy to show your appreciation for the hundreds of hours I’ve put into podcasting my fiction. Thank-you in advance.

However, I’ve come to the conclusion that the FREE model is no longer a sustainable one for the creator. Sure, there may be the odd person that breaks out of the mold and goes on to have great success by giving their work away for free, but those people are few and far between nowadays.

I’m getting married in a few months, moving to a new country, and starting a new life with my wife and daughter. FREE just doesn’t cut it anymore and I need to generate some extra income, no matter how little it may be, every cent helps.

I sold SNOWMEN to sort of test the waters to see if most of you thought I was worth 99 cents. Based on the response, I’d say the majority of people agree that yes, the content I create is worth a buck. I’m still scratching my head over why more people don’t donate willingly to content creators, but that’s for another blog post.

So based on the response I got from yesterdays little experiment, I’ve decided to move forward with a project I’ve been noodling on for a while now. I’m calling it ‘Deviant Dollars.’

Once or twice a month I’ll be putting up a short story here on the website and on Smashwords and selling them for a dollar. The price of a taco, as my buddy Matt Wallace puts it. The goal is to, of course, generate some income for me and my family, while doing what I love to do: tell stories. If 50 people purchase a Deviant Dollar story, that’s 50 bucks. By selling directly to the you, the reader, I’ll most likely earn more money than if I were to submit them to short fiction markets, and you won’t have to wait the 6 months to a year to see that story in print. It’s fast, it’s direct, and it cuts out the middleman. That’s another factor that weighed in on my decision to do this.

There are going to be people that say I am undercutting the market. That I am bringing down the cost one should expect to pay for something, thus making it hard for other creators to charge more for their work if they should choose to do so. To those people I say this: you pay your bills your way and I’ll pay mine my way. I’m not worried about the online fiction market, it’ll be just fine whether anyone charges or not. I think a buck is a reasonable price to pay for a short story of 2,500-3,000 words. If you don’t, that’s your problem. Not mine. Don’t buy one.

I have yet to decide if I am going to offer audio versions of these stories. If there’s enough call for it, then maybe I will. But I’m telling you now that if I do, those will sell for 2 bucks. Audio takes up a lot more of my time than sitting down to write, and I know that my time is worth 2 bucks. At least.

I hope you can appreciate my position here, and why I am doing this. I’m not greedy, money hungry, or a snake oil salesman. I’m just a guy that likes to tell stories, and thinks he should be paid for his wares every once in a while. I don’t think that’s too much to ask from anyone.

Thank you for your continued support and even if you never purchase a Deviant Dollar story or donate to my free fiction, you and I are still cool. Keep the emails of encouragement coming, and I’ll continue putting out content for you to enjoy.

~James