(cont'd)- I'm giving away hundreds of listings
on the Vault, and as a result of doing so, won't see one thin dime of income
on the site until October or later - Given all the
time and money I've already sunk into developing the site, I don't even expect to earn back my upfront investment until sometime next year - I'm already personally reaching out to publishers
on behalf of authors who are listed in the Vault,
on my own
time and my own long distance
bill, despite the fact that I don't stand to earn so much as a finder's fee if any of those contacts result in an offer - I make my The IndieAuthor Guide available for free
on my author site and blog - I built Publetariat, a free resource for self - pubbing authors and small imprints,
by myself, and
paid for its registration, software and hosting out of my own pocket - I shoulder all the ongoing expense and the lion's share of administration for the Publetariat site, which since its launch
on 2/11 of this year, has only earned $ 36 in ad revenue; the site never has, and likely never will, earn its keep in ad revenue, but I keep it going because I know it's a valuable resource for authors and publishers - I've given away far more copies of my novels than I've sold, because I'm a pushover for anyone who emails me to say s / he can't afford to buy them - I
paid my own travel expenses to speak at this year's O'Reilly Tools of Change conference, nearly $ 1000,
just to be part of the Rise of Ebooks panel and raise awareness about self - published authors who are strategically leveraging ebooks - I judge in self - published book competitions, and I read the * entire * book in every case, despite the fact that the honorarium has never been more than $ 12 per book — a figure that works out to less than $.50 per hour of my
time spent reading and commenting In spite of all this, you still come here and elsewhere to insinuate I'm greedy and only out to take advantage of my fellow authors.
Just in case you doubted the power of money to frustrate attempts to rein in greenhouse gases, read Margot Roosevelt's news story in the Los Angeles
Times about the successful effort,
paid for mainly
by oil companies, to put an initiative
on the fall ballot that could suspend the state's pioneering, and troubled, climate law, Assembly
Bill 32.