Activism Doesn’t Pay
“Being a freedom fighter, a force for good, is a wonderful thing. You get to make your own hours, looks good on a resume, but the pay… sucks.” – Alfred Bester, Babylon 5
Being an atheist activist or any activist for that matter is a lot like being a freedom fighter in that sense. Sure there are a handful of people who might write a best-selling book and make a lot of money, but most of us are not so fortunate.
Yesterday, Sam Harris posted a blog post about how the nature of publishing had changed and how making money publishing books is becoming harder to do. In my opinion, this fact will make it even harder for activists to make a living. Most blogger activists like me hope to publish at some point, but as it becomes increasingly harder for publishers to make money, it will also be increasingly harder to get published.
Self-publishing is one avenue, but it rarely makes enough money to support someone. For me, the only revenue I get for my activism is the occasional donation (mainly from the same three or four people) and my Examiner articles (which don’t pay much). I am super grateful to the people who do donate (especially to one person in particular) and I do my best to use those funds to further my atheist activist activities. I often use some of the Examiner money for the same purpose.
Ideally, I would love to be able to not just fund further atheist activism but to also be able to pay my bills. I have noticed that a lot of atheist activists are having the same problem. Even people like Sam Harris who does presumably pay his bills through his work are struggling to find ways to increase their income. I have the pre-requisite amazon bookstore, google ads, and shirts for sale and none of that really helps.
So I am open to suggestions. How can atheist activists make a living? How can we continue to push memes and get ideas out there in the market place of ideas and pay the bills through our hard work?
