I'm going to focus on fiction writers, because that's what I do ... One option is to press for alternative compulsory licensing schemes such as PLR to provide

I'm going to focus on fiction writers, because that's what I do ... One option is to press for alternative compulsory licensing schemes such as PLR to provide grants for productive writers. Drawback: this lets politicians cap authors' incomes and erects barriers to entry. Also, the example of the performing rights societies (like BMI and ASCAP) is a terrible one. Another is for writers to charge for speaking gigs on the side -- as public intellectuals. Some already do this. Most can't; writing tends to be the domain of introverts. A more promising route is the revival of the serial novel. Back in the late 18th/early 19th century, pirate printers would release their own copies of popular work as soon as it came out. So the goal of the author was to stay ahead of the curve. Charles Dickens is the best-known name these days, but was an exemplar of a publishing model where he shipped a chapter a month to his own printer, who would print the signatures (bound pages) and distribute them via itinerant booksellers. (Collectors would collect the signatures and take them to a book-binder when the serial was complete.) This model can in principle work today -- you subscribe, and each day/week/whatever a chunk is delivered to your email account/phone/Kindle/whatever. The books will eventually leak, but while it's being produced the author has a very short-term monopoly on the latest instalment. (Also: they can in principle cut off anyone who they identify as a leaker, by use of fingerprinting (rather than DRM). Thus giving subscribers a moderate incentive not to leak.) Also: Kickstarter. Also: Schneier's "street performer protocol" (essentially a pledge, possibly with funds held in escrow so you pay up-front, the author writes the book when enough folks have signed up, and you get your copy as soon as it's released).