the kind of tip jar I'd like

So a reader gave me, through Amazon, a really generous gift, for which I'm deeply grateful. It makes me feel even worse about how awful of a correspondent I am with people who write to thank or praise me. Those emails mean the world to me. And they do especially because I can be, well, a prickly pear. The trouble is, I have a hard time writing back.... I don't really know why. I have always found it far easier to argue with people I disagree with than to express solidarity with people I agree with. It's a character flaw. Please understand that I value everyone who reads this, even those who hate read it.

The world of media continues to ponder how to keep itself financially solvent. I've thought a lot about all of the different ways that monetization can happen. It really does seem like there's a handful of unattractive options for most bloggers out there. You can festoon your blog with ads, or you can rattle the tip jar fairly constantly. I don't begrudge anyone who does those things; it's just that neither are pleasant and neither seems likely to raise much money for all but the most popular blogs. One of the things I've noticed about the new Andrew Sullivan endeavor (to which I've subscribed) is that even with the paywall, he's having to constantly plead for more subscribers. Still, I'll take that over "sponsored content" any day.

I have the luxury of doing this for fun. I've never had a tip jar, or anything, but I have had people buy me things from my Amazon wish list before. I'm always humbled when they do. But it's a lot to ask people to pony up, at a minimum, $20-$25 for a book. So here's what I wish existed. What I'd like for people to be able to do would be to pitch in however little bit they wanted for a specific book that I need. A lot of these academic books on my list are pretty pricey. But if people could throw in a spare $3 or $5 to a specific book I would be currently highlighting, it wouldn't take much from anybody individually. I know entering your credit card info is always kind of dicey, but maybe this sort of thing could be set up through Amazon. Would be cool if there was that kind of program.

In any event: thanks for the gift, and thanks again to all of you. It makes me happy to know that I bring something to the table for you guys.