A Shareware Short Story: “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story” - digg this
John Scalzi is doing something pretty cool. He is releasing a shareware short story. Called “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story”. Basically you can download the story, pay for it if you want to, don't if you don't. Now granted this isn't particularly a new idea. Cory Doctrow does it after a fashion. Podiobooks does it with podcast books. Even Scalzi has done it before with a novel. So why do it? I'll let the man speak for himself.
I’m curious to see what the market is for shareware shorts (or, at least, my shareware shorts). Basically, I think it’s an interesting experiment. Also, I think it’s a fun, fast story, one that folks will enjoy reading — i.e., if any science fiction story could make a go at converting readers into buyers, it’s this one. And finally, today I just paid a plumber lots of money to fix the pipes coming into my bathtub, and for a new faucet. I could use the cash.
As far as the money goes? Again here's John.
Half of the money you send (after PayPal/Amazon fees are subtracted) will be donated to The Lupus Foundation of America, a favorite charity of Subterranean Press publisher Bill Schafer (who has graciously given me permission to use Subterranean’s beautifully designed and typseset version of the story). The other half goes to me, because it’s nice to get paid.
Certainly a worthwhile cause. You can get the details here.
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