Monday, February 7th, 2011 at 05:00
Your a one-man-band. A blogger. A writer. A publisher. It’s not your main gig because monetising content online is hard. There are many benefits to blogging, but you’d be hard pressed to find many writers who’d argue that direct financial pay-back is one of them.
Is there a gap in the market for a service that enables content consumers to financially compensate the content producers whose material they enjoy reading? — Yes. There definitely is.
A fortnight ago, Nick Cernis blogged about a growing need for online publishing platforms to support indie publishers. One worthwhile avenue that Nick suggested exploring was a revenue sharing scheme. An endeavor that would see users paying for a premium service, the proceeds of which would go towards supporting the platform *and* those writers whose content paying users love reading.
Nick’s proposal was hypothetical; a creditable idea that would surely take some time to come about. However, fast-forward a dozen moons or so and Readability, a service that allows readers to financially support their favourite websites whilst maintaining a clutter free reading experience, has entered the fray.
Power bloggers with huge followings are probably the only writers who can hope to make a significant earning from this scheme. For the vast majority, this service provides a way for your readers to contribute in a small way towards your hosting fees. With that covered, finding time to produce the content they love reading should become that little bit easier. Win:win.
It’s a great time to be studying how the digital publishing landscape lies. Landmark developments are happening on an almost daily basis. Wondering what tomorrow will bring should be enough to keep us all on our toes.
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