How To Stop Feeling Awkward About Asking Readers To Pay You
Is it cheesy and desperate to ask for money or isn’t it?
I might want buy you a coffee but I can’t if you never build a Starbucks in your front yard.
There seems to be a great internet debate about writers asking for coffee/tip money. I feel like the argument scale is fairly even on both sides.
Is it cheesy and desperate to ask for money or isn’t it?
I once read a fellow writer’s viewpoint on why she would never ask her readers to buy her a coffee. She was convinced that throwing around coffee money will turn into a tit-for-tat game where writers start keeping a tally of who owes whom a tip.
Here’s the thing though….
She thinks of it as tipping. I call it paying it forward.
Nobody who uses tipping apps is making demands. They’re giving readers the option to show appreciation for art being consumed. They’re putting a suggestion out into the universe, not keeping a spreadsheet of who does or doesn’t fork over some cash.
Giving or receiving a virtual coffee is an opportunity, not an expectation.
Especially on Substack where we don’t have a built-in tipping option. A reader might not want to give you $5.00 every month but they might want to give you $5.00 today. And if they do, it’s not the tip that’ll change your life, it’s the feeling that accompanies the tip.
From my perspective, it’s a karma thing.
Long before I tested these tipping apps for myself (on Medium), I occasionally tipped other writers anywhere between $5 and $50 depending on the situation.
I like to tip writers because they're delightful people who deserve an unexpected smile, not because they've written something profound.
Several years ago, a fellow Medium writer randomly sent me $1000.00 😳 and I didn’t even have a tip jar. I woke up to a PayPal email advising me of the money transfer.
I felt so strongly that it was a scam that I phoned Paypal to ask if the sender was a verified user. Indeed he was.
I reached out to thank him but also to decline the money because I didn’t feel right accepting it.
He responded by saying that if I declined the money, I’d deny him the pleasure of giving it.
He basically refused my refusal.
After experiencing his incredible generosity I had no choice but to look for a way to pay it forward by tipping another writer $50.00. Not because I wanted something in return but because I could.
Why can’t we just consider buying random coffees for random writers as an acknowledgement for all the UNpaid work we do?
So, instead of assuming that everyone who wants to get paid is a prime suspect, try leaving yourself open to possibility.
You never know what might fly in through an open window.
I have enough coffee in my cupboard so if you choose to click the link below, I’ll buy a treat for my 85-pound lap dog. She’s a bottomless pit.
Do you love the idea of this tipping call to action? ⬆⬆ Let me design a custom one for you! Here’s how…
Unstack Substack deliveries are meant to be short and sweet, and not clutter up your inbox or your day. 😊
If your tolerance for tinkering with Substack is below sea level, you’ve got options! Send me your to-do list and forget about it.
In terms of a tip jar, I saw Sophia Efthimiatou, Substack’s Head of Writer Relations, address this on a video call with Sarah Fay. At about 44:00 of this video she gets into it.
https://www.writersatwork.net/p/live-q-and-a-with-substacks-sophia
She says “we don’t think it’s actually good for writers” and explains why Substack has purposefully avoided adding that feature.
Worth checking out, for an alternative viewpoint :)
So how do I send your pup a treat? 🐶❤️🦴