In the wake of a new survey which revealed a dramatic drop in author incomes, the award-winning Irish writer Julian Gough is funding his new novel with an unusual Kickstarter offering backers the opportunity to receive postcards from Las Vegas bearing whisky stains, lipstick, and even bullet holes.
Gough has dubbed his "economic-slash-literary experiment" Litcoin, and hopes the concept might be copied or modified by other writers. Winner of the BBC short story prize in 2007, and author of novels including Jude in London and Juno and Juliet, Gough says he was inspired "by the fact that James Joyce died leaving an estate valued in total at £908 … but a single letter handwritten by him sold after his death for $445,000", a situation he describes as a "massive market failure". He hopes his project – which has been hugely overfunded – could "help remodel the economics of writing".
The idea of asking his readers for help came to Gough while he was finishing his new novel Infinite Ammo, which is set in Las Vegas. The author found he needed a final research trip to the city, and although he received help with flights and accommodation from the Downtown Project in Las Vegas, he "just didn't have enough money to live on for the month, and there was only a week or two to go before I flew out".
So he put together the Kickstarter, to which readers can pledge between $1 and $10,000. For $25, backers will receive a coffee or whiskey-stained postcard from Gough in Las Vegas; for $50, it will also feature lipstick; for $100, a bullet hole; for $500, it will be written in Gough's own blood. Gough was hoping to raise $1,500 to help him fund his trip. The Kickstarter, which closes on Wednesday, is already topping $7,300.Read the whole thing, which includes a video pitch by Gough.
The point on the failure of the markets is well taken. I can imagine Robert Shiller figuring out a futures contract for posthumous letters of writers who are still alive.
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