Tip Jar

[Groff]

New member, long time reader. I searched the FAQ and the forums for "tip jar" and "contribute" and other such terms.

This latest comic with Elan singing a song of sixpence so Haley could wax the crossbowmen had me rolling on the floor. I can't count my digits with my shoes off to include all the guffaws Rich has given me.

Sure, I could buy merchandise, but I'd rather pay the source for the entertainment Rich has given me. I imagine this has been asked before, but 20 minutes of searching for some way to reward Rich directly has eluded me. I must be missing something obvious.

So my question is, how can I directly remunerate Rich Berlew for the many times he has incapacitated me with laughter?

[Warren Dew]

I'm pretty sure the preferred way is to buy some of the paper books.

[jere7my]

So my question is, how can I directly remunerate Rich Berlew for the many times he has incapacitated me with laughter?

I don't have a link to the post, but Rich has said he doesn't want to add a tip jar to the site. Happily, if you buy the print books from Ookadook, much (most?) of the money goes straight into his pocket.

[Porthos]

New member, long time reader. I searched the FAQ and the forums for "tip jar" and "contribute" and other such terms.

This latest comic with Elan singing a song of sixpence so Haley could wax the crossbowmen had me rolling on the floor. I can't count my digits with my shoes off to include all the guffaws Rich has given me.

Sure, I could buy merchandise, but I'd rather pay the source for the entertainment Rich has given me. I imagine this has been asked before, but 20 minutes of searching for some way to reward Rich directly has eluded me. I must be missing something obvious.

So my question is, how can I directly remunerate Rich Berlew for the many times he has incapacitated me with laughter?

By buying merchandise either from Ookoodook or from the Cafepress link at the bottom of this page.

Rich did away with the Donate button a long time ago, and has consistantly stated that if you want to give him money, do it by buying things. He just isn't comfortable with people giving him money for nothing in return for various reasons.

My suggestion? Buy one of the cheaper prequel books. Rich gets money and you get new entertainment. Win-win as they say.

And if you want to buy one of the compliation books? Well, they are a little more expensive, but you get a boat load of extras (and thus new entertainment) and Rich gets money. Still a win-win as they say.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Buying GiantITP products is pretty much the only way these days.

I found a Donate Button using the Internet Wayback machine once, but I'm fairly sure that has been disabled.

Right now, Rich seems to be satisfied with his cash stream as is. Every suggestion I've ever seen made on these boards has been rebuffed with a polite, "I have considered that, but I am sticking with my current model."

For an artist, he has proven to be an astute businessman. A rare combination.

[Holammer]

I'll join the pile and and suggest that you buy some books. If you haven't already, get Start of Darkness and On the Origin of PCs. Both contain 100% backstory'iffic material. SoD being the best and meatiest of the two.
If Rich ever launches another kickstarter you could use that as an opportunity to donate.

[Groff]

Well, I must admit that I was hoping to toss some shekels right into Rich's denims, but based on the responses, I guess I'll just have to knuckle down and purchase tree-based copies of what's on-line! </s>

Seriously, though, if that's Rich's business model, I'm okay with that. I was just hoping there was a shortcut to those who wanted to float him a C note from time to time.

Cheers,
Groff

[homeosapiens]

On the "what if" side.

What if someone already has all the books, then he also have all the merchandise?

What if he cares for more trees not to go to waste?

Plus - kickstarter 10 in a row was best thing ever happened. Cliffhanger every day - wuff wuff<waves tail>.

[Benthesquid]

On the "what if" side.

What if someone already has all the books, then he also have all the merchandise?

Then one could buy copies for one's friends, or set the money aside for the next book/merchandise/kickstarter.

What if he cares for more trees not to go to waste?

Buy a t-shirt?

[jere7my]

On the "what if" side.

What if someone already has all the books, then he also have all the merchandise?

What if he cares for more trees not to go to waste?

Buy copies as gifts, or donate them to a local library. No new trees will be cut down; all the books are sitting in a warehouse somewhere. The next print run is presumably a long way off.

[LadyEowyn]

Is there any other way for people outside the US to buy the books?

I'm in Canada, and shipping is $20 minimum on top of the cost of the books, which is preventing me from buying.

[Yagerr]

Is there any other way for people outside the US to buy the books?

I'm in Canada, and shipping is $20 minimum on top of the cost of the books, which is preventing me from buying.

I've found comic book shops that sell OOTS.

[Hiro Protagonest]

On the "what if" side.

What if someone already has all the books, then he also have all the merchandise?

What if he cares for more trees not to go to waste?

Plus - kickstarter 10 in a row was best thing ever happened. Cliffhanger every day - wuff wuff<waves tail>.

Then you come on the forum and trigger the ad revenue.

[FujinAkari]

Seriously, though, if that's Rich's business model, I'm okay with that. I was just hoping there was a shortcut to those who wanted to float him a C note from time to time.

Cheers,
Groff

Rich has stated that, unfortunately, people who give him money have this annoying habit of thinking he is indebted to them. With his current system no one can ever feel like he owes them <insert whatever> since they are always buying -something- and never just giving him money.

[Douglas]

Well, I must admit that I was hoping to toss some shekels right into Rich's denims, but based on the responses, I guess I'll just have to knuckle down and purchase tree-based copies of what's on-line! </s>

Seriously, though, if that's Rich's business model, I'm okay with that. I was just hoping there was a shortcut to those who wanted to float him a C note from time to time.

Cheers,
Groff

If you were really determined about it, you could track him down at a convention, drop it in his lap, and disappear into the crowd before he could refuse. I wouldn't recommend that, though.

But seriously, he made a deliberate decision to not take donations, in large part because he observed a tendency of people to make demands of him regarding the online comic and "justify" the demands with the fact that they had given him money for it. When every monetary transaction gets a concrete specific thing in exchange, this is much less likely.

The officially approved means of providing him with financial support are a) buying OotS merchandise, primarily the books, and b) buying ad space on the forums through Project Wonderful. If you want to place a $100/hour, cap $100 total bid on an ad that says "Thank you, Rich, for your wonderful comic", or something along those lines, go right ahead.

Edit: The top referrers list on the Project Wonderful ad page amuses me. Google, google, google, google, google, google, bing, google, google, and google.

[homeosapiens]

The tree thing wasn't individual case. I mean buying english written books and donating it to a library in Poland would have same effect as recycling them. Some people in Poland probably read oots. Say it's 10000 people (number out of the hat i admit). There are 40 000 000 mln people in Poland. Means one of 4000 is reading. Thats probably more than people who are using my local library. Statistically i'm probably the only reading person in my area.

Someone who is not reading, might not know english (not enought to read books in it at least - english in second to polish in Poland).

So when i buy next book if i have all of them already i am buying a book for no reason, and someone alse could buy it. Therefore next reprint will be one book sooner then it should be because of me. That probably would affect the trees if many people did it.

This is all theory. I mean i ve never bought any book's because im not wealthy and stuff.

But why a guy like the op should't have that tip option?

Well Rich might feel that he would feel obliged to draw more or work more if people gave him couple thousand $ in short time. <which would make me damn happy>

But does it really mean such thing? People like me read this comic for free and are very happy about it existing.

So it is customary to tip a waitress. You don't have to, but it's taken badly if you dont.

There is no custom about tipping writers. No bad feelings. No harm to be done. I mean the guy could still put money in an envelope and send it somehow (i think - i might be wrong). Why not give him that option.

It doesn't feel cheap or only for begginer comic writers.

[Douglas]

Well Rich might feel that he would feel obliged to draw more or work more if people gave him couple thousand $ in short time.

The problem is not that Rich might feel that way, but that other people might think that he should feel that way.

[homeosapiens]

If you were really determined about it, you could track him down at a convention, drop it in his lap, and disappear into the crowd before he could refuse. I wouldn't recommend that, though.

But seriously, he made a deliberate decision to not take donations, in large part because he observed a tendency of people to make demands of him regarding the online comic and "justify" the demands with the fact that they had given him money for it. When every monetary transaction gets a concrete specific thing in exchange, this is much less likely.

The officially approved means of providing him with financial support are a) buying OotS merchandise, primarily the books, and b) buying ad space on the forums through Project Wonderful. If you want to place a $100/hour, cap $100 total bid on an ad that says "Thank you, Rich, for your wonderful comic", or something along those lines, go right ahead.

3 paragraphs.
1. Why would you not reccomend it?
2. That's stupid. Of those people. But i couldn't have known about it. :/ I mean if there is a tendency like that then it is understandible not to take tips, but would this still happen if we are that far into comic? I mean writting to Rich right now about "this should be that way/ this should be other way" is ridiculous.
3. Nice idea, thought that doesn't leave option for guys that woul like to donate less then 100.

[homeosapiens]

I guess i understood wrong. You meant demands about shedule.

WWTD:
Tarquin would buy a clone for Rich, and lock him in the basement with a drip. Not to make him waste time for eating.

[jere7my]

3 paragraphs.
1. Why would you not reccomend it?

Because he said he doesn't want people to give him money. That's reason enough. Moreover, if you drop money in Rich's lap without explanation, then run off, he might feel an obligation to find you and return it, which would just waste his time.

2. That's stupid. Of those people. But i couldn't have known about it. :/ I mean if there is a tendency like that then it is understandible not to take tips, but would this still happen if we are that far into comic? I mean writting to Rich right now about "this should be that way/ this should be other way" is ridiculous.

That doesn't stop people from doing so on these forums, but I suspect Rich is more concerned with people demanding a certain rate of updates. But, again, the simple fact that he doesn't want people donating money should really be sufficient for you.

[Porthos]

Also Rich is very.... resolute when he's made up his mind about something.

It's something he's obviously given a lot of thought to. So much so that he has said that if you insist on sending money instead of purchasing merchandise that he'd just rather you donate the money to charity.

Yes, donating money to charity instead of to him makes Rich happy. And, ultimately, that's what people want to do in this case, right?

[Groff]

Holy cow, I had no idea my simple query would generate such a range of responses. Considering the demographic of OOTS readers, I should have foreseen that diverse opinions would sprout from my little seed of a question.

I guess I'll just have to buy merchandise. Each of you can thank yourselves for my elder daughter's Christmas presents this year.

[NerdyKris]

Rich has stated that, unfortunately, people who give him money have this annoying habit of thinking he is indebted to them. With his current system no one can ever feel like he owes them <insert whatever> since they are always buying -something- and never just giving him money.

A lot of webcomic artists share that view, actually. Some who have done donation drives long in the past and still, 5-10 years later, get grief from people who "pay their salary".

And in OOTS case, we've been lucky, but there have been years where we went a month between updates. He stated he can't justify a donation button when he can't promise a consistent product. Heck, even look at the Kickstarter for people who couldn't understand that it was a pledge drive and not a store front.

Simply put, a LOT of people feel entitled when they make a donation, and in the case of OOTS's lack of an update schedule, there would be a lot more upset if they donated and the comic had to end next week.

[Zherog]

What if he cares for more trees not to go to waste?

The books are printed on recycled paper.

[Peelee]

donate them to a local library.

Just what I was going to say. Libraries = amazing. And they could always use more donations.

[NerdyKris]

Just what I was going to say. Libraries = amazing. And they could always use more donations.

They can always use more monetary donations. Most libraries are overstocked and actually have to destroy books that aren't checked out often. It's often done in secret, because people love to say "save the books" but don't want to pay for their storage.

Donating books to a library without asking is simply a bad idea. On the rare occasion, maybe they'll take it in. But if everyone starts donating their old books, they're just going to go right in the dumpster. There is not enough space. Look at the size of a Barnes and Noble and just think, most of those are NEW books, let alone out of print ones.

And this doesn't just apply to libraries. Any charity has specific items it needs, and quite often would rather have money than supplies. Quite often, 90% of those supplies are unusable. For instance, disaster relief victims normally just need money to pay for repairs. Leftover money can be used to buy specifically what they need. A lot of people collect fresh water/food, which is just dumped, because there's fresh water/food closer to the area that costs less to ship.

Always, always, always call ahead to ask before you start collecting donations for anyone. Quite often you're going to find yourself with a pile of merchandise you have no use for, and nobody to take it.

[Zordrath]

Is there any other way for people outside the US to buy the books?

I'm in Canada, and shipping is $20 minimum on top of the cost of the books, which is preventing me from buying.

I don't know about Canada specifically, but living in Germany I have found sites that sell the books without the cost of shipping from the US. Amazon Germany has them, for instance, as well as some German comic book or gaming shops. If you poke around a bit, maybe you'll find a Canadian site or store with OOTS in stock as well.

[The Giant]

Yes, I don't have a tip jar or a donation button. I prefer for my income to come through the sale of items when possible, due to the fact that I cannot promise a given schedule and there will always be someone who says that I should feel obligated to do so because they spent money on me. Yes, I know that doesn't hold logical water and yes, I understand that you, personally, don't feel that way. But there are always people who do when push comes to shove. There are people who have told that the only reason they gave money to the Kickstarter was because they thought it would increase the number of comics per week, even though I never said or implied that such was even possible much less promised.

The best way to support me financially is buying books through Ookoodook. I recommend the prequels On the Origin of PCs and Start of Darkness, plus the bonus book Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales. These books are filled with all-new material, so you're also getting over 300 pages of new OOTS by buying all three. Or you could buy the OOTS Adventure Game, manufactured by Ookoodook owners APE Games. There's also a coloring book, stickers, posters, etc.

The second best way to support me is to buy the books (or board game) from your local comic book store. I don't get quite as big of a cut of the price that way, but it's still decent and it also encourages the game store to buy more when the next title comes out. Plus, you save on shipping. The only downside is that Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales is not available through your local store, it's an Ookoodook exclusive.

The third best way to support me is to buy something from the CafePress store. I only get a few dollars for each item there, since their base prices are pretty high, but it costs me nothing because I don't have to make the shirts myself. Likewise, buying one of the new OOTS miniatures from Morland Miniatures only nets me a modest license fee per standard mini, but it's free money for me since Morland is doing all the work.

And finally, the fourth best way to support me is to donate the money to a charity that I would've donated to anyway. This isn't meant to be flippant; I dump waaay too much of my income into charity, so you're just cutting out the middleman (me). I've posted lists of my favorites before, but for now I'll just plug Plan (formerly Childreach) and the Ocean Conservancy. And the International Rhino Foundation. Oh, and the Humane Society. And Doctors Without Borders. And are you starting to see why this would actually help me? Sending a good charity a chunk of cash in my name will actually make me happier than sending the same amount directly to me.