Friday, May 1, 2015

Looking for Paid Contributors to WashCo Chronicle

BOONSBORO, MD - For a while now, I've been wanting to find a way of paying independent contributors to WashCo Chronicle. As I've said before, I'm not interested in making money off WashCo Chronicle - but I'd love for my independent contributors to!

Today, Jason, who runs the DarkTechObserver Blog and YouTube, gave me a link to a website which may allow me to do just that.

Patreon is a crowdfunding website which allows you to make regular contributions to artists, writers, musicians, etc.

There are two funding models which I could implement.

The first funding model, I setup a single Patreon account for WashCo Chronicle. Then I use any contributions to pay contributors on a per-article basis.  The upside to this is, once a dedicated stream of funding is established, I could pay contributors immediately for articles I review and accept. The downside is, I wouldn't be able to accept paid articles until there's a funding stream.  This also causes some legal headaches for me, as I'd have to make each contributor a paid contractor, fill out tax forms, etc.

The second funding model, and the one I'm really leaning towards, is having each independent contributor create a Patreon account, and include a link in their articles. This could result in higher returns for independent contributors, if the community favors their articles.  This would leave the "quality" judgement in the hands of the community, instead of my own personal opinion. This would also result in contributors receiving payment monthly, instead of a per-article basis.  Independent contributors could use the same Patreon link on their own personal blogs/etc. as well.  And best of all, it removes a lot of legal headaches for me.

I really want to help empower the community, and help provide additional income to those who need it.  I believe this might be an excellent chance.

What are your thoughts? I want to hear them.  Would you be interested in becoming a paid contributor to the WashCo Chronicle?  For readers - which funding model would you prefer?

Please email me, WashCoChronicle@gmail.com

Ken Buckler is the editor of the WashCo Chronicle