Sci-fi authors finding new ways to get funded

I am always intrigued by the way that authors are adapting to new publishing technologies.

One author who's been breaking all the rules is Robin Sloan. He's completely ignored the usual publishing gatekeepers and has come up with a variety of stunts that have him collecting decent money. I have no idea if his stories are worth reading as I am not at all familiar with his work, but I give him kudos for his inventiveness.

His most recent method to get his book written was to seek startup funding from donours and if he reached his target, he'd release the book for free. He made more money than most authors get for their first books.

A Canadian science fiction magazine called AE tried a similar approach and appeared to reach their funding goal, but one of their backers didn't actually have money to invest with them.

One publisher doesn't like the direction that things are going and is stepping back to make something old new again. They are publishing stories on vinyl records in an effort to get us to slow down a bit. I assume they are starving artists and don't actually want to make any money or it's a clever ruse to get people to pay attention to their company.

The downside of this migration to electronic platforms is that it will erode the future of "bookshelf porn," those delicious photos of other people's book collections that re-assure all of us bibliophiles that we are not the only ones afflicted.