I don't disagree with you, but my impression of the whole devtome thing was to get more people involved, as a basis to better support open source development with the rest of devcoin. I thought the problem was that progress was just too slow / ineffective, and other things (like attracting commissioned work) was the next approach.
I don't know what the metrics of devtome were, but say if only one out of every 1000 people are actually interested in having a long term relationship with the devcoin project, as a supporter/investor, what's the best way to find them?
Sidhujag mentioned in his post that the devcoin project started becoming an umbrella for profitable open source developments. I actually think that's a far better idea than to rely on donations entirely. It reminds me of China Pre and Post capitalist restoration.
Slow progress - perhaps. People don't need to have a long-term relationship with devcoin, but then getting paid needs justifying through value to others or it's just random charity.
Not going to happen, but I think the best way to find them would be to stop paying. Focus resources on actually funding valued open source work and people who value their work first for the sake of that work not financial reward - either direct payments where value is demonstrable, or revenue driven where debatable and let participants build or not build up what they think has value. Which may still include devtome and many devtome writers but not with current incentive structure.
That's not a popular opinion, and likely construed as 'writer-bashing'. It isn't, it's unsustainable economics bashing. People here seem to miss the point that devcoin prices on value. It swings to low prices and never really recovers as a function of pay, and then a function of the lowest common denominator. If the real world pays $X for 1,000 words then any equivalent dvc payment > X will be sold and the price will revert over time. All else being equal, at some point each/most rounds market mechanics work to drop the price to a level commensurate with or closer to what 1,000 words may be worth. And then lower because a lot of devtome writers aren't professional writers or, to put it politely, writers.
All else isn't equal though, so price variance is higher. But the point remains. I see the incentive structure (not devtome, or writers, or dumps) as the problem. If devtome's subsidy is perpetual without justification, then that's cool - creative commons writing is considered valuable for the mere sake of writing - but it's at the cost of everything else this project could be and that doesn't work for me.