Tips are usually given to people who provide services, especially when the service is satisfactory. Common examples include waiters/waitresses and barmen/women. Then why not authors? Indie authors especially.
Let's face it. Many traditional authors may not be rich, but at least they have a publisher to hold their hand. The publisher provides editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting, marketing, etc. Indie authors, on the other hand, do all these things on their own. We know exactly how much everything costs because the money comes from our pockets, and if things go south, we can't just shrug it off like the traditional authors who have nothing to lose because we feel the pain of every failure in our bones, and many indies don't break even on some, or even all, of their books. The services required to make a book or even a short story do not come cheap, so why not get tipped?
I hear that Wattpad already has or used to have such a program where they allow readers to tip their favorite authors enrolled in that program. I strongly believe that the same thing should apply across board. The indie part of the publishing industry is flooded; it's no easy thing to make a sale and it's much worse when you're new or upcoming. But with tipping, many authors can get the chance to earn something that could pay for the cover, editing, or both and maybe even get a little profit too.
In countries like the US where tipping is pretty much a culture, I'd like to believe that readers would not find it strange if authors were to need tips too. In fact, I heard that the tipping program on Wattpad was something that readers had fervently called for!
A good number of people realize how difficult it is to survive as an author and how costly it can be to create a good book, and also, there are those who would tip the author because they love his/her writing. Be it a donation, a reward or a show of support, I want to believe readers will not be shy about giving tips to their favorite authors or even struggling ones. Platforms like Kindle Unlimited, Scribd and Kobo Plus could be a good place to start such a tipping program! This is just my opinion though. Mind you, tipping could work just as well in direct sales and promo sales too.
If a reader thinks a book is worth more than it's being sold for, they can drop a few more dollars. I think Smashwords and even Payhip already has a "let readers determine the price" option, but then, that's one good way to get a lot of free downloads which is the direct opposite of tipping.
So, for now, I can only point to Wattpad's initiative as the only one I'm aware of. Do you know others? Have you used or benefited from them? What do you think about the whole idea of tips for authors?
