The Second Apocalypse

General => News/Announcements => Topic started by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:01:32 pm

Title: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:01:32 pm
Quote from: Madness
I meant to do this days ago but as it's resurfaced in my haphazard dashboard, I thought this time I'd quickly take care of it.

There's a donation button on the Official R. Scott Bakker Website (http://www.rscottbakker.com). Beyond being himself and putting himself out there naturally, I don't think Bakker is going to actively pimp himself - so I figured I'd help a little.

Though I liked the "Rather be Rich than Ugly" slogan, here's e-karma[/u] (http://www.rscottbakker.com/piracy/).

There is no easier or more direct way to facilitate Bakker's writing and our readings than this. Expand my mind :D... Donate ;)!!!
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:01:45 pm
Quote from: Truth Shines
Are you sure this is legit?  If it is, I'll definitely chip in a few bucks (bye bye new breaks  :D )
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:01:54 pm
Quote from: Madness
Lol, I made a... sizably meager donation to the man before Christmas after the site opened ;). So I should hope so.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:02:01 pm
Quote from: Wilshire
Quote from: Truth Shines
Are you sure this is legit?  If it is, I'll definitely chip in a few bucks (bye bye new breaks  :D )

It is officially his official website, he's acknowledged as much several times, so I'd assume its legit.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on April 19, 2013, 12:02:09 pm
Quote from: Callan S.
I went with something around the price of a book, with the notion it's over a time span between, like a year, as if buying a book from him each year (which would actually be more than the cut he gets from the normal price of a book - but it's the principle). I've certainly bought into a bunch of the nuts posts at TPB.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Rots on May 03, 2013, 03:10:43 am
I donated to the cause. God knows what i gave is a poor representation of what i have received from RSB these last 10+ years.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on May 03, 2013, 03:31:23 am
Even monetarily, from what he receives in royalties, is a pittance for the expansion in brain/mind, I'd think.

For instance, he probably receives a twonie ($2 in Canadiaglish) for every book someone buys... I probably personally gave Bakker more money than all of the books I've bought :(...
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: kellykellhus on May 22, 2013, 12:42:02 am
I donated to the cause. God knows what i gave is a poor representation of what i have received from RSB these last 10+ years.

Yup, I've received so much enjoyment from Bakker's works over the years that I have no problem donating to the cause. I wish PoN reaped for Bakker the same rewards that aSoIaF has reaped for Martin. Not only would we be getting an awesome TV show, we'd also be getting tons of written material from Bakker. Sadly, that's not the case with Martin and while I have a hard time being sympathetic towards Martin's excuses for his delays, I'm totally supportive of Bakker and his current circumstances.

I'd love it if Bakker did a Kickstarter for a PoN/AE art-book or something similar. I don't know if the publishers have the rights to things like that, but if they didn't, I'd definitely be on board for it or any other cool PoN endeavor.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on May 22, 2013, 08:52:15 pm
I discovered a kickstarter for a Graphic Novel of TDTCB... I`ll have to dig up the link as it was already expired by the time I found it, with not one pledge :(.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on May 23, 2013, 10:25:25 pm
Oh geez that is a shame. Thats would be awesome.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: What Came Before on May 25, 2013, 10:59:03 pm
Not a Kickstarter: Grok!Studio: Prince of Nothing (http://www.grokstudio.com/beta/funding/projects/item/75-darkness-that-comes-before)

Same difference to me, I'm not a big fan of these kind of communal funding projects - in the case of Kickstarter, I've read that whomever owns Kickstarter (Google or somesuch, Amazon), the parent corporation takes like 20% before any product is made as the pledge marks are reached.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Callan S. on May 26, 2013, 01:07:18 am
It's sweet being a middle man!

Bit of relatively cheap website coding and then bang, people who actually use the site advertise it to more people, whilst paying you for the privilege. They bring more people, who advertise more, whilst paying you. And so on!

Complete lack of contribution on your part, but hoover in the good will and efforts of others!

It's sweet bein' a middle man!
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on January 29, 2014, 06:01:23 pm
Where would be the best place to purchase TUC in order to maximize Bakker's profit and minimize 3rd parties?
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on January 29, 2014, 07:06:45 pm
It'd be a good question to ask the man himself. I honestly don't know - and, obviously, he can't legally sell us copies privately.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wic on February 01, 2014, 02:57:06 am
I'd pay a pretty substantial amount of money to 'accidentally' be cc'ed when he emails the manuscript to his editors.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on February 01, 2014, 02:23:25 pm
Hmm... I do agree but then I also want to enjoy the final artifact first.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Callan S. on February 02, 2014, 12:56:37 pm
It'd be a good question to ask the man himself. I honestly don't know - and, obviously, he can't legally sell us copies privately.
Depends on the contract and how legally enforceable the contract is on the matter.

Remember to probe the boundries, Mike! Especially made up boundaries, like laws! :)

But in the end he says he's not a very organised guy so you're not gunna be buying off him anyway!
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on February 06, 2014, 12:44:52 pm
But in the end he says he's not a very organised guy so you're not gunna be buying off him anyway!

I wish that I could :).
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: a2person on February 15, 2014, 07:36:00 pm
I'd pay a pretty substantial amount of money to 'accidentally' be cc'ed when he emails the manuscript to his editors.

Actually it is quite easy to find digital copies on the web, so you can just use your computer to manufacture a copy of your own and then of course you send him the money directly; no middle-men required... just saying that's possible. Ideally, he could just distribute the books directly from his site and keep all the profits for himself. In the future maybe?
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on February 15, 2014, 07:48:31 pm
I'd pay a pretty substantial amount of money to 'accidentally' be cc'ed when he emails the manuscript to his editors.

Actually it is quite easy to find digital copies on the web, so you can just use your computer to manufacture a copy of your own and then of course you send him the money directly; no middle-men required... just saying that's possible. Ideally, he could just distribute the books directly from his site and keep all the profits for himself. In the future maybe?

I think ideally all the fans would rather do this. And perhaps it is something that will manifest as the publishing industry keeps changing.

However, I know that by supporting those sites (with hits, downloads, etc) enables a whole lot of people to read the books who have no intention of being as noble as you a2p.

It's unfortunate.

I feel the same robbery when I buy music or books. I would so rather send Bakker my $12 direct or my $10 for an album to the artist...
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Nil Sertrax on March 08, 2014, 08:34:35 pm
I once bought an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of Steve Donaldson's 1st book in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant off of E-bay for about $120 about 1 month and a half before the official release date of the book.  It was great getting the book more quickly.  Just wish the reading experience was a bit better.  Wonder if Scott's publisher produces ARCs? 

Although all that being said, I'd much rather give the $120 directly to Bakker rather than some stranger on E-bay. 
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on March 12, 2014, 12:54:23 pm
I'd pay $120+ straight to Bakker in a second for an advanced reader's copy. I would have to think about it before I got one off of ebay, but I'd still probably do that if I got the chance.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on March 12, 2014, 02:28:11 pm
I didn't realize people sold ARCs...
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on March 12, 2014, 02:50:57 pm
If someone received an ARC and then sold it, they probably shouldn't have received it in the first place.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Nil Sertrax on March 19, 2014, 11:00:28 am
Seems to be a cottage industry.  Check E-bay and you can always find ARCs for upcoming books. 
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on March 19, 2014, 01:30:12 pm
I'll definitely be keeping a look out from now on.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on March 20, 2014, 10:39:59 am
If someone received an ARC and then sold it, they probably shouldn't have received it in the first place.

+1
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on March 22, 2016, 05:37:49 pm
So Wilshire convinced me to do taxes and I've got the first bit of money that I'm arbitrarily spending on debts/school/luxury living and I'm going to make another donation to Bakker. Usually, I like to couch that in terms of "when the rscottbakker.com went online" and "Christmases" but this time I'm frustrated by his seeming inability to make money from his creations (which subsequently sabotages my own selfish ambitions that we facilitate his ability to write more for us to read in the future). Light, Time, and Gravity aside, which just existed as perpetual free reading for a long time, Bakker has recently released a "draft" of Crash Space (which being published in a philosophy journal probably didn't garner him any compensation) and now The Dime Spared.

With this in mind, you can "add special instructions to the seller," which allows you to make a comment to the "donation" recipient. I propose that those who care to, make a small donation, as if you had purchased e-stories of Crash Space and The Dime Spared, perhaps simply to remind The Man Himself of making money from his writings, and "add special instructions to the seller" that say "Thanks for Crash Space and The Dime Spared" or some such.

Cheers all.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on March 22, 2016, 07:06:40 pm
Jeez, Madness, TL:DR

Everyone: Bakker has released now 2 atrocity tales, and 3 short stories, for free reading on his blog.

He seems to think no one would bother to buy his stuff, so instead of publishing his work, he gives it to us for free.

IMO, we should attempt to convince him otherwise. Click the link below to get to his donation page.
http://www.rscottbakker.com/piracy/

Comment something to the effect of "for Crash Space and The Dime Spared"
For me, its better to think of it as purchasing the two works, rather than a hand-out.

(current exchange rate: 1 USD = 1.3 CND)
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on March 22, 2016, 07:17:01 pm
Thanks, Wilshire 8).
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: redjako on June 14, 2016, 05:15:04 am
https://www.patreon.com/ may be a good spot for Bakker as well. Though I personally wouldn't care for any "benefits" like many of the Patreon users do (like extra content, or a reading shoutout, etc.)
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: themerchant on June 14, 2016, 05:53:39 am
I use patreon to fund a few journalists, or rather they use it. Seems to work.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Madness on June 14, 2016, 01:18:47 pm
Interesting.

I still think, though, the donations button is the same thing with none of the fuss.
Title: Re: Donations to Bakker
Post by: Wilshire on June 14, 2016, 01:54:00 pm
Interesting.

I still think, though, the donations button is the same thing with none of the fuss.

One advantage of patreon is, I assume, that it more/less guarantees continued support. You pledge to pay $X for Y output. Whether that's pages written, books published, stories posted, whatever. You set up automatic payments, when the bargin is fulfilled, the money is withdrawn from your account and placed in his.

People like automatic things. Psycologically speaking, spending money is difficult, and the less you have to think about it, the less interaction you have with the money leaving your hand, the easier it is to do.

The disadvantage, I'm sure, is that the website takes a cut. It might also set a brutal pace, or be entirely unsustainable. It may encourage sub-par work, etc.

I think its a clever system, but its a pretty steep hurdle to get people to sign up. A lot of people giving a small amount for small things will add up, or a few people paying a lot, but its a pretty altruistic system, and I'm not sure the current fanbase, rich and handsome as they may apparently be, would make this type of thing worthwhile.