Want to send me some dosh in appreciation for my independent scholarship and speaking and blogging, without actually spending any extra dosh at all? This is how…
When you do your Christmas or Solstice or other holiday shopping this season, you can buy gifts for people (friends, family…yourself!), or spend your own Amazon gift cards or credits after the holiday ends, by using the Richard Carrier Recommends Amazon Store. Not only can you buy stuff I’ve put in that store (lots of my own favorite or recommended stuff in several categories, from books to videos), but you’ll notice on the right margin you can buy other stuff as well (maybe from your own wishlist, if you’ve logged in to Amazon beforehand). The prices are all the same for you, but I get a small commission on every sale through there. So you basically end up getting Amazon to support my work, by using my recommendations to inspire you to give them your business.
You can also, of course, support me by just buying my books (that’s a special page just for them that includes audio and electronic editions), and now also any of my amusements or games (only one game for now, but another is on the way, though not in time for the holidays), or taking my online courses (for this and much more see my How to Help page).
When I spoke to a few people at Skepticon this year they were often surprised to learn that I don’t make very much selling my books or blogging or speaking. Anyone who knows the industry, of course, knows no one makes any appreciable money blogging. My books, as obscure nonfiction, will never make Stephen King money (or even Richard Dawkins money). And I keep my speaking fees low as a way to help the movement, so more groups can afford to bring me in to speak or debate. When all my income is added up, and taxes and expenses are subtracted, I only take home about $15,000 a year. I could just barely live on that, with extreme “starving artist” frugality. But I live with an awesome woman who earns considerably more, so I’m not living like a starving artist. I gladly operate as her domestic manservant to earn my keep at home, in addition to my cash income paying our mortgage (and property taxes & insurance to boot).
But the more money I can bring in, the more it’s appreciated by both of us, and the more it keeps me going doing what I do. Because it shows I’m having an impact and my work is appreciated and valued. The advantage of being an independent scholar is that I do not have to fear the threat or meddling of any academic institution and don’t have to kowtow to their expectations or exhaust enormous amounts of time on endless committee work and other things they bury profs under. The disadvantage is that I have to cobble together my income from disparate sources. One of which is passing the hat to everyone who wants to show their appreciation for what I do, like any street busker would. You can of course just send me money (through PayPal at richard.carrier@icloud.com) just to show me you value what I do.
But buying gifts for Christmas through my Amazon store is just one more way to do that that costs you nothing extra at all. So keep that in mind for this holiday season!
Would you please provide a link to your Baysean goods? Thanks.
Bayesian Goods.
Hey, Dick, don’t extrapolate from your own reality to create that of others. There are a shitload of bloggers who make money from it; just because FfTB is a piss stain on the internet doesn’t mean that the same is true of every other network, or individual blog.
Also: if your wife makes enough for you both to live on, why would you e-beg for money for yourself, instead of for those without cash-privilege?
You sick fuck.
What a nice person.
(I especially like the misogynistic assumption that I should just mooch off my wife and not contribute to our income.)
I would love to help, but I already got your books, all of them. I think I just have to wait until On the Historicity of Jesus comes out.
Oh, you don’t have to buy my books. You can buy anything in my store or advertised in its margin, and buy it for anyone, not just yourself. And I still get a commission.
So, for example, if you buy volume 1 of The Belgariad (a collection of fantasy novels I particularly love and recommend but didn’t write) as, let’s say, a Christmas gift for your daughter or niece or wife or friend, then Amazon will kick back to me some of the sale price, so you will have helped support me without paying anything more than you would have if you’d bought that book as a gift on Amazon but outside my Amazon store.
One thing that I would also recommend is to request your local library to buy the books. Libraries are often required to spend a certain amount of money on books every year and depend on patron input for new arrivals. They generally know what the hottest fiction work is but they are often left scratching their head for non-fiction books to buy. My local library has bought several books I requested through inter library loan this year.
15,000 a year?
Loser.
You define value by lucre?
That tells me all I need to know about you.
And you cash in on Christmas while you deny the existence of Jesus?
You really are an opportunist, sir.
And I sleep in on Sunday and party on Saturday, while I deny the existence of Saturn and refuse to worship the Sun.
Golly. What an opportunist I am.
Dr. Carrier I think you are missing some sarcasm. 🙂
Possibly.
Keep it up Richard. You’ve already changed the world for the better, and made huge contributions in combating pseudoscience. To me, these things are worth more than money.
Not sure why everyone has to be so negative here. Thanks for giving me a no-cost way to support your continued work. I’ve already bought all of your books, so this will make it easy to keep giving you support. Your historical articles on Infidels.org were instrumental in my transition from vague non-practicing Christian into committed atheist. Keep up the amazing work!!