If you ever played ‘Sims’, a game of creating a life full of endless possibilities, you must remember the mood bars. If you forgot to feed the digital avatar, an aggressive looking red line showed at the bottom of the page. The same applied to socialising, cultural intake and love life. To top up the cultural experience, the digital us could dance or read books — at least that’s where my memory takes me. I remember making my avatar sit down and read: reading somehow seemed a longer lasting cultural experience.

Is advertising invading our private — almost sacral — reading experience? Media model has been broken — Skirky just predicted most of the newspapers will soon publish no more than 3 times a week and even more will eventually go bankrupt. He also wrote about the importance to stop asking students to save print. Or at least print as we are currently consuming it. The advertising native media reality is being created. Wohoop?

For instance, why ebooks might soon have advertising? Take big football championships: to many it’s almost like a religious happening. We don’t mind advertising being stuck everywhere because somebody has to pay for the game in the first place. At the end, it’s all a matter of our perception. Yet, advertising in books, not in favour of advertising agencies, will be reaching us in form of brand sponsoring towards the writer. Let’s say Fairy, a washing up liquid brand, pays Martin Amis a comforting amount of money. It makes Amis independent from publishing houses and opinionated editors. Sponsorship is not a new concept — remember patrons? Most of the artists used to have novel ‘friends’ to pay there bills and pick up the check. Here is a list of ’patron’ definitions from the Urban Dictionary:

Pa·tron

1. One that supports, protects, or champions someone or something, such as an institution, event, or cause; a sponsor or benefactor: a patron of the arts. — Yap, know what one.

2. A customer, especially a regular customer. — Auch.

3. A noble or wealthy person in ancient Rome who granted favor and protection to someone in exchange for certain services. A slave owner in ancient Rome who freed a slave without relinquishing all legal claim to him. — Nobel Romans!

I personally like the second one. I can imagine Amis sending an invoice to the Fairy people with a little card and confetti — spot on customer care! Would he have to mention Fairy in the new book? No need — all Vice magazine content is sponsored by brands. Do we know it? Does it bother anyone? You sort of trust the Vice guys to have enough balls to do what ever they feel like doing.

What about magazines? Independent magazine content is composed on the go by the very young and the very passionate (and usually the very unemployed). We read magazines to get inspired. A few months ago I funded Firewords magazine. Is that a new game for credit card holders? For sure, Kickstarter is changing the publishing game rules.

What’s interesting is how many readers are prepared to pay for ideas. Felix Salmon, a financial journalist, wrote how Kickstarter is revolutionising our understanding of the cost and value relationship. Salmon shared his personal ‘funding’ experience:

I funded Tomorrow magazine, to the tune of $15. If some as-yet non-existent magazine had sent me a piece of direct mail, asking $15 for its launch issue, I would never have paid that. Even if an existing magazine looked really good on the newsstand, and had a cover price of $15, I would similarly never pay that. But somehow the idea that by paying the $15 up front I was helping to create that magazine — that was enough to get me to pay. I think that’s the real key here: I’m not paying for the sensation of a hypothetical idea, so much as paying to support the individuals whom I like and admire.

Firewords, a magazine featuring fiction and poetry from the up and coming talent — bless them, the world doesn’t need another literature magazine reviewing books — raised 140% of their initial goal. And yet, even if the independent sector grows stronger, discoverability remains an issue. Sites like Magpile and Stack Magazines hope to solve this — they keep selling print. Or rather surprising us how much fun it is to read print. Or help us remember?

New-born magazines like Firewords are creating content we support without it actually being created. We play along the crowd funding lines and buy into a dream. Is that a sustainable business model? The 6th page of Firewords reads:

“They call me little Good Luck. I am lucky in the little things, like sunshine on my birthday. When I go for a walk, it only rains when I have an umbrella. There are no photos of me squinting into the sun; the camera always catches my best side. I always win the coin toss; never step in dog shit”

It’s cute. For those who love reading discovering new content is a treat. Kickstarter takes me back to my childhood bedroom. The 10 years younger me is playing the video game. The only difference is that now I’m filling my own ‘mood bar’ — betting my dreams on a print title. Kickstarter is the new stock market for creativity. What am I paying for? Inspiration. What do I do with it? Reinvest it.