Tip Jar

Brian Sanderson Blog entry Posted on 06.27.08


People have been asking about this, so I figured I should post about it. Yes, we did add a "Tip Jar" paypal link to the store. There were a couple of reasons for this.

One of the main ones was to facilitate shipping issues. Sometimes, we have people who have to paypal me a few extra bucks for some faster or special shipping on a book they bought in the store. I figured it would be good to have a paypal link people could just follow and enter in any amount; that way, we could have different people send us different amounts depending on the situation.

The second reason I put up a tip jar was...well, I've had people ask me for one. I hesitated at first, but enough people inquired that--mixed with the shipping issues it could help fix--I relented.

(If you're wondering, people have asked for a tips link for cases where they read one of my books through a download, or read one of my essays or stories on the website, and wanted to send me a few bucks as a thank you.)

Now, I maintain that the best thing you can do for me--as an author--is to simply read my books. If you want to donate to my writing, then purchasing copies of my novels from your local bookseller is an excellent way to make sure I keep writing. Extra tips for the books are not needed. (Even if you borrowed the book from a friend or the library, you are helping me out by increasing demand for my works!)

This is especially true in the case of Warbreaker, where I would rather you not tip me for the book, but instead buy it (or check it out) when it is released. Tor has invested in paying editors to help me perfect the novel, and I wouldn't want the company to suffer because it let me put the novel on-line for free.

However, if you feel like throwing a few bucks my direction as a thanks for other content--like annotations, short stories, or essays I've posted--then I won't complain about that. I'll take my wife out for pizza or something.

Again, though, let me stress that you don't need to feel guilty for not clicking that particular link. It's there for those who want it, but I don't want to imply that the content I put up here on the site is anything other than free. The content I post is my thank you to all of you who read my books and allow me to write full time.