hi all, all my life Ive wanted to be (a) paid writer and (b) make enough to make a decent living on, and (c) get rich. of course, Ive seen these related fantasies swirling around this crowd. I did accomplish (a) in my 20s. (b) and (c) I recognized as not attainable for very many ppl. its like hollywood, or game software development.. too much supply, not enough demand.

this site allows somewhat informal digital self publishing for cash. you set the price. 80% goes to the author!! NYT article follows. full disclosure: I am not affiliated.

I would like to see some of the better OS writers look into this & give it a shot. now I dont like our culture of capitalism where everything is for sale and has a price tag stamped on it, but I also dont like starving. money makes the world go around. [and thats one of my complaints with open source software, but thats another story].

theres some VERY talented, unpublished writers on OS that deserve a wider audience.

Buy new and exclusive books, research reports, etc for less!
http://www.scribd.com/

Site Lets Writers Sell Digital Copies
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/technology/start-ups/18download.html

Scribd: An E-Book Upstart with Unlikely Fans - BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_25/b4136054153678.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

Simon and Schuster to Sell Digital Books on Scribd.com - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/technology/internet/12books.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Publisher warms to Scribd store
http://www.physorg.com/news163989604.html

ps I am very impressed with the published writers on here, eg dave cullen [WOW!! you cannot get any more bigtime than on the big O and then blogging about it!! how @#%* cool is that!!] & others. here are two I could think of off the top of my head.. theres others but it takes awhile to find them... may post more as I find them

http://open.salon.com/blog/dave_cullen

http://open.salon.com/blog/lauren_mclaughlin

and heres a young girl that I think highly deserves to be published and partly the inspiration for this post. note-- I endorse the writing, but not the message, wink.. maybe the "a" in her name actually stands for Amoral :( .. but nevertheless, a real burning/searing glimpse into the zeitgeist of our age.

http://open.salon.com/blog/aoafedotcom