Kickstarting a publishing career?

Here's another alternative to the whole -find-and-agent-editor-publisher-game: Use Kickstarter to finance your writing.

PBS has the story about author Tim Pratt, whose book series was left hanging when his editor got laid off from his publishing house. He turned to a few different strategies -- like serializing the book, getting donations on kickstarter, and self-publishing the (digital) book on Amazon.

Sometimes I think we're in this new digital-Wild-West of publishing, a sort of pioneer world where you get to make your own path. Yes, it's harder and harder to squeak into the Big Publishing Houses, but there are thousands of people out there making a living by blogging, self-publishing, and finding readers through their own verve. It makes me want to saddle my horse and hope that I don't end up with cholera.