How authors get paid
It’s reasonable to assume that authors want to be compensated for their time and talent when they create course materials. In general, there are three ways that authors of openly licensed materials can get paid for their work:
- External funding sources such as statewide grant programs that help fund the development of open textbooks
- Internal funding sources such as course redevelopment incentives
- Existing compensation, if your regular job includes time for course development.
Creating course materials from scratch is a lot of work and in many cases the funding options listed above will provide an honorarium rather than a robust hourly wage. Here are a few suggestions to lighten the load and help the project feel worthwhile:
- Work with a team of collaborators, including coauthors, librarians, accessibility experts, and/or instructional designers
- Incorporate existing open content (with attribution) that already meets your needs or needs some modification to be usable
- Make use of previously created original content (if you hold the copyright)
- Find avenues to receive non-financial compensation: recognition from colleagues, prestige at your institution, promotion and tenure advancement, publication and presentation opportunities, appreciation from your students.